Chapter 8 - THE SECOND DAUGHTER
Anna Lawson lived in Baltimore.
Or she had until six days earlier.
Her apartment was small.
Her job was ordinary.
She worked as an administrative assistant at a nonprofit legal center.
No criminal record.
No unusual debts.
No public connection to Carter Biomedical.
But her birth certificate contained something impossible.
Mother: Laura Lawson.
Father: Unknown.
Emma read the document again.
“My mother.”
Morales nodded.
“The birth date is three minutes after yours.”
Caleb sat beside Emma.
No one spoke.
Finally Emma whispered, “She’s my twin.”
“Yes.”
The word felt unreal.
Emma imagined another baby in the hospital room.
Another child.
Another life.
Had Laura held both of them?
Had Richard?
Did Vivian?
Emma looked at Morales.
“Why did they separate us?”
“We’re trying to determine that.”
“Who raised Anna?”
“Her legal guardian was a woman named Margaret Lawson.”
“Vivian’s relative?”
“Yes. Vivian’s aunt.”
Emma laughed in disbelief.
“So they took my sister and gave her to Vivian’s aunt?”
“It appears that way.”
“Why keep me?”
Richard answered that question later.
He requested another interview.
Emma almost refused.
Then she saw the twin birth certificate again.
She agreed.
Richard entered the room without looking at her.
Emma spoke first.
“Anna.”
His face collapsed.
He knew.
That was enough.
“You knew I had a sister.”
“Yes.”
Emma’s voice shook.
“All my life?”
“Yes.”
Caleb stood against the wall, fists clenched.
Morales watched silently.
Emma asked, “Why?”
Richard began.
“Laura gave birth early.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“She was terrified of Vivian.”
“Why?”
“Because Vivian knew about the evidence.”
Emma leaned forward.
“Why did Vivian take Anna?”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Leverage.”
Emma stared.
“Explain.”
“Laura threatened to expose Carter Biomedical. Vivian told her if she did, both children would disappear.”
Emma felt cold.
“Both?”
“Laura begged me to help.”
“Did you?”
Richard started crying.
“Not enough.”
Emma’s face hardened.
“Stop crying.”
He looked up.
“You don’t get to cry before I do.”
Richard covered his mouth.
Emma continued.
“What happened?”
“Laura created the trust while she was pregnant. She divided everything equally between the twins.”
“So Anna owns half?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Vivian separate us?”
“Because controlling two children was easier if they never knew the other existed.”
Emma stared at him.
“Vivian raised me.”
“Yes.”
“And her aunt raised Anna.”
“Yes.”
“Did Anna know who she was?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Richard looked desperate.
“After Laura disappeared, Vivian controlled all communication.”
Emma asked the question she feared most.
“Did you help imprison my mother?”
Silence.
Richard’s answer was almost inaudible.
“Yes.”
Caleb pushed away from the wall.
Emma lifted one hand.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Emma never looked away from her father.
“How?”
Richard swallowed.
“When Laura tried to go to federal investigators, Vivian claimed she was unstable.”
“With fake psychiatric documents.”
“Yes.”
“You signed them.”
“Yes.”
“You had her committed.”
“Yes.”
“And when she got out?”
Richard’s face went white.
Emma knew.
“The basement.”
“She was only there for a short time.”
Emma’s chair scraped backward.
Caleb caught it.
Emma stood.
“A short time?”
“Emma—”
“You locked my mother under my house.”
“I didn’t lock the door.”
“You knew she was there.”
Richard nodded.
Emma slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
No one moved.
Richard’s face turned with the impact.
Emma stared at him.
“That was for every night she scratched my name into that wall.”
Richard lowered his eyes.
Emma sat again.
“What happened to her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Lie again and I walk out.”
“I swear.”
“Who moved her?”
“Vivian and Peter.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was she alive?”
“Yes.”
“When you last saw her?”
“Yes.”
Emma closed her eyes.
Her mother might have lived for years after Emma was told she had died.
She imagined Laura somewhere waiting for rescue that never came.
Then Morales asked, “Why was Anna reported missing six days ago?”
Richard looked startled.
“She’s missing?”
Emma studied him.
For once, his shock looked genuine.
Morales said, “She vanished two days before Emma’s graduation.”
Richard whispered, “Then Vivian knew.”
Emma’s head snapped toward him.
“Knew what?”
Richard looked at Morales.
“She found Anna.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“But what does it mean?”
Richard looked at Emma.
“It means your engagement wasn’t the only reason Vivian panicked.”
Emma’s blood chilled.
Richard continued.
“If Anna contacted the trust first, Vivian would lose everything even if she controlled you.”
Emma gripped the table.
“Anna was trying to open it.”
May you like
Richard nodded.
“And now she’s missing.”
