Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Blue Room
Emily reached the house in fourteen minutes.
Nadia arrived less than a minute later.
A police cruiser was parked near the gate, but its lights were off. Serena stood in the entrance hall speaking with an officer. Margaret hovered near the staircase.
Rachel was nowhere in sight.
“Where is Leah?” Emily demanded.
Margaret stepped forward.
“You should calm down before you frighten her further.”
“Where is my daughter?”
“Upstairs.”
Emily moved toward the stairs, but Serena stopped her.
“Rachel is with her.”
“Get Rachel away from her.”
“I understand you are upset, but we need to avoid escalating the situation.”
Emily looked directly at the child advocate.
“Rachel filed fraudulent documents to take custody of Leah. She packed the child’s belongings and told her I no longer wanted her. She should not be alone with her.”
Serena’s expression changed.
“Fraudulent documents?”
Nadia opened her case.
“I can show you.”
A small cry came from above.
Emily ran.
At the end of the upstairs hallway, Rachel knelt outside the bathroom door.
“Leah,” she said softly. “You have to tell them what you remember.”
Emily grabbed Rachel’s shoulder and pulled her back.
“What did you do?”
Rachel rose.
“She became upset when I asked about the fire.”
“You questioned a six-year-old about her mother’s death?”
“She mentioned the blue room first.”
Emily knocked gently.
“Leah, it’s Mommy.”
The lock clicked.
Emily opened the door.
Leah sat on the tiled floor beside the bathtub, holding her stuffed rabbit. The pink backpack rested near the sink.
Emily crouched beside her.
“I’m here.”
Leah crawled into her arms.
“I didn’t mean to make the fire.”
Emily felt the room tilt.
“You did not make any fire.”
“Aunt Rachel said maybe I knocked down the candle.”
Rachel appeared in the doorway.
“I asked whether she remembered a candle. I never blamed her.”
Emily turned.
“There was no candle in the official report.”
For the first time, Rachel looked uncertain.
Thomas had reached the top of the stairs. He gripped the railing, breathing heavily.
“There was a candle,” he said.
Margaret stared at him.
“What are you talking about?”
Thomas entered the bathroom.
“When I found Claire, there was a broken candleholder near the study door.”
“The investigators said the fire was electrical,” Margaret replied.
“They removed the candleholder before the final inspection.”
“Who removed it?”
Thomas looked at Rachel.
Rachel’s face hardened.
“You were in shock. You do not know what you saw.”
“I know what I carried out of that house.”
Leah buried her face against Emily.
Serena stepped into the hallway.
“Everyone except Emily needs to go downstairs.”
Rachel remained still.
Serena repeated the instruction.
The officer moved closer, and Rachel finally left.
Emily sat on the floor with Leah until the child’s breathing slowed.
“Tell me about the blue room,” Emily said.
Leah touched the rabbit’s worn ear.
“It was cold.”
“Was it a room in Mommy Claire’s house?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did you see?”
“A lady.”
“Was it Aunt Rachel?”
Leah shook her head.
“Grandma?”
Another shake.
“The lady had dark hair.”
Claire, Emily, Rachel and Margaret were all blonde.
“Did she speak to you?”
“She sang.”
“What did she sing?”
Leah hummed three uncertain notes.
Emily recognized the melody.
It was the lullaby Claire used to sing, a tune she claimed their grandmother had taught her.
But Margaret had always insisted she did not know it.
“What happened after the lady sang?”
“She put me in the box.”
Emily forced herself to remain calm.
“What kind of box?”
“Blue.”
Serena knelt nearby.
“Was it a toy box?”
Leah nodded.
“There was a blanket.”
“And then?”
“Mommy Claire opened it. There was smoke.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Leah had not been in Claire’s arms when Thomas found them. She had been inside a cedar toy chest in the blue guest room, protected by blankets from the smoke.
That detail had never appeared in the newspapers.
Only the family and investigators should have known.
“Who put you in the box?” Emily asked.
“The singing lady.”
“Did you see her face?”
Leah’s small fingers tightened around the rabbit.
“She had my necklace.”
Leah wore a silver pendant that had belonged to Claire.
Emily touched it.
“This necklace?”
“No. The other one.”
“What other one?”
“The half-heart.”
Emily remembered a photograph of Claire as a teenager wearing a broken-heart pendant. One half belonged to Claire. The matching half had supposedly been lost before Leah was born.
Serena stopped the questioning and took Leah downstairs for a snack.
Emily remained in the bathroom with Nadia.
“You heard her,” Emily said. “Someone else was in the house.”
“Possibly.”
“And Rachel knew about the candle.”
“Possibly.”
Emily stood.
“I’m done waiting.”
They entered the living room.
The recording device Emily had placed earlier was still active beneath the console table. Nadia retrieved it while Emily confronted Rachel.
“Why did you mention a candle?”
Rachel shrugged.
“Children invent things.”
“You asked whether she knocked it over.”
“I was helping her recover a memory.”
“You were trying to make her blame herself.”
Margaret moved between them.
“That is enough.”
“No,” Thomas said.
Everyone turned.
He sat near the fireplace, his face gray with exhaustion.
“It is not enough.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“Thomas.”
He looked at Emily.
“Rachel came to Claire’s house before the fire because she wanted the trust documents.”
Rachel laughed.
“You have been confused since your surgery.”
“I drove you there.”
The room fell silent.
Thomas continued.
“You told me Claire had agreed to meet you. I waited in the car. After twenty minutes, I saw smoke. You ran out carrying a folder.”
“I was trying to save her papers.”
“You told the police you never went inside.”
“I panicked.”
“What happened to the folder?”
Rachel’s composure began to crack.
“I don’t remember.”
Thomas reached into the pocket of his sweater.
He removed a folded page scorched along one edge.
“I found this in your suitcase three months ago.”
It was part of Claire’s trust amendment.
Rachel lunged for it.
Officer Hale caught her wrist before she reached Thomas.
The movement was brief, but Leah screamed from the dining area.
Emily ran to her.
Rachel pulled free and pointed toward the child.
“This is exactly why she needs to be removed. Emily cannot protect her from the truth.”
“The truth about what?” Emily asked.
Rachel’s eyes were bright with fury.
“Claire lied about Leah.”
Thomas lowered the scorched page.
“Stop.”
Rachel ignored him.
“Leah was never supposed to inherit any of it.”
Nadia stepped closer.
“Why?”
May you like
Rachel looked at Emily.
“Because Claire was not the woman who gave birth to her.”
