Chapter 5 - The First Lie Ethan Ever Believed)
Robert Carter was released shortly after midnight.
There was not enough evidence yet to hold him for kidnapping Emily.
Diane was released with him.
Detective Ruiz was furious.
Ethan was worse.
He stood across the hospital corridor watching his father sign paperwork.
Robert saw him.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Robert walked closer.
"Your mother has always been good at creating chaos."
Ethan stared at him.
"You told me she was dead."
Robert's face remained calm.
"You don't understand what happened."
"Then explain it."
"Not here."
"Why not?"
Robert glanced toward Ruiz.
"Because there are people who will twist everything I say."
Ethan almost laughed.
"My pregnant wife was locked in my basement."
"I did not lock her there."
"Diane did?"
Robert said nothing.
"Where's Mason?"
For the first time, Robert's eyes changed.
Only slightly.
But Ethan saw it.
"Who?"
"My brother."
Robert exhaled.
"Laura has been filling your head with stories."
"I saw the birth certificate."
"Fake."
"I saw your photograph with him."
"Manipulated."
Ethan stepped closer.
"Gregory Reed is missing."
That got him.
Robert's jaw tightened.
Ethan continued.
"Mason is gone."
"I don't know any Mason."
"You're lying."
"I've spent thirty-five years protecting you."
"From my own mother?"
"From what she did."
Ethan's anger nearly exploded.
"What did she do?"
Robert looked past him toward Laura, who stood at the far end of the corridor.
His voice lowered.
"Ask her why there was another woman in that car."
Ethan froze.
Laura had admitted that.
She said she did not know who the woman was.
Robert watched his reaction.
"She didn't tell you?"
"She said you staged it."
Robert smiled faintly.
"Of course."
"Who was the woman?"
"Ask Laura."
Robert turned away.
Ethan caught his arm.
Robert looked down at his hand.
"Take your hand off me."
"Tell me."
Robert's voice softened.
"Her name was Sarah Bennett."
Ethan released him.
Bennett.
Laura had introduced herself as Laura Bennett.
"Who was she?"
"Your mother's sister."
Ethan stared.
"My mother didn't have a sister."
"Another thing she never told you."
Laura approached.
"Don't listen to him."
Robert looked at her.
"Seventeen years and that's the best you can do?"
Laura's face tightened.
Ethan looked between them.
"Was Sarah your sister?"
Laura did not answer quickly enough.
Ethan felt betrayed all over again.
"Was she?"
"Yes."
"Why did you tell me you didn't know who was in the car?"
"Because I wasn't certain."
Robert laughed.
"She knew."
Laura snapped, "I never saw the body."
"But you knew Sarah was missing."
"Because you killed her."
The corridor fell silent.
Robert's face emptied of emotion.
Laura stepped toward him.
"You needed a body similar to mine. Sarah came looking for me. She found your cabin. Then she vanished."
"You have no proof."
"I spent seventeen years finding it."
Robert's confidence flickered.
Laura looked at Ethan.
"Sarah was my younger sister. We had been estranged for years. You met her when you were a baby, but you wouldn't remember."
"Why were you estranged?"
Laura swallowed.
"Because she worked for Robert."
Ethan looked at his father.
"What kind of work?"
"She helped move money."
Robert said, "Sarah stole from me."
Laura ignored him.
"She discovered Robert was using her identity in shell companies. When she threatened to expose him, she called me."
"When?"
"Two days before the crash."
Ethan understood.
Sarah had become a liability at the same time Laura became one.
Two problems.
One burned car.
"Did Dad kill her?"
"I believe so."
"Believe?"
"I never saw it happen."
Robert stepped forward.
"Enough."
Ruiz moved between them.
"You should leave."
Robert looked at Ethan.
"You want the truth? I'll give you one piece."
He pointed at Laura.
"She didn't contact you for seventeen years."
Laura flinched.
Robert continued.
"She claims she was terrified. Fine. What about year five? Year ten? Year fifteen? She knew where you lived."
Ethan hated that the question hurt.
Robert saw it.
"Your mother made choices too."
Laura's voice broke.
"I was trying to keep you alive."
Robert smiled.
"That's convenient."
Then he looked at Ethan.
"Ask her what happened the night you were fourteen."
Ethan frowned.
"What night?"
"The school fire."
A memory returned.
Freshman year.
A storage building behind Ethan's school had burned.
Police suspected arson but never charged anyone.
Robert had taken Ethan out of school for two weeks afterward.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Robert's expression became almost sympathetic.
"You were arrested that night."
"No, I wasn't."
"You don't remember because I made sure you didn't."
Ethan stared.
Robert continued.
"You and two friends broke into that building."
"That's not true."
"One of those boys confessed."
Ethan searched his memory.
There had been two friends.
Kyle Warren.
Sam Pierce.
Kyle moved away weeks later.
Sam stopped speaking to Ethan.
Ethan had always assumed the friendships simply ended.
Robert said, "Your mother found out. She threatened to use it against me."
Laura shook her head.
"No."
"She said if I didn't give her control of the company, she'd let you take the blame."
"You're lying."
Ethan turned to Laura.
"Did I start that fire?"
"No."
"Was I there?"
Laura hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Ethan stepped back.
"You knew."
"You were fourteen."
"Was I there?"
"Yes."
His stomach dropped.
"I don't remember."
"Because you were drunk."
"I didn't drink at fourteen."
Robert said quietly, "You did that night."
Ethan looked at both of them.
Every certainty he possessed seemed to be dissolving.
His mother's death.
His brother.
His childhood.
Even his own memory.
Then Emily's nurse rushed into the corridor.
"Ethan?"
He turned.
Her expression was urgent.
"Your wife is asking for you."
"What happened?"
"Someone left something in her room."
They ran back.
Emily was sitting upright.
On her blanket rested a small black box.
It had been delivered while the nurse stepped away.
Inside was an old mini cassette.
A handwritten label read:
THE SCHOOL FIRE.
May you like
Ethan looked toward the open hospital door.
Whoever had delivered it could still be inside the building.
