Chapter 6 - the night Mara disappeared)
Lila remembered the yellow room in fragments.
Daniel did not question her himself.
A child psychologist named Dr. Hannah Cole sat with her in a protected interview room.
Daniel watched from behind one-way glass with Alvarez.
Eli sat in another room preparing for his own interview.
Lila held a stuffed rabbit.
Dr. Cole never said the word accident.
She simply asked Lila to tell her about the house.
"There was yellow paint," Lila whispered.
"Who was there?"
"Mrs. Hayes."
"Anyone else?"
"Eli."
"Your mommy?"
Lila shook her head.
"Did you expect your mommy?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"Mrs. Hayes turned lights off."
"Why?"
"Someone came."
Lila's hands tightened around the rabbit.
"What did you hear?"
"Door."
"Anything else?"
"Man talking."
"What did he say?"
Lila closed her eyes.
"'Where is she?'"
"Did you know his voice?"
A long pause.
"Uncle Victor."
Daniel shut his eyes.
Alvarez placed one hand on the table.
Dr. Cole continued gently.
"Did you see Uncle Victor?"
"No."
"How did you know it was him?"
"He says my name funny."
Daniel knew exactly what she meant.
Victor always called her Lilah with exaggerated affection.
"What happened next?"
"Mrs. Hayes took us downstairs."
"Then?"
"Car."
"Where did you go?"
"Another house."
"What happened there?"
Lila's breathing changed.
"Lady came."
"The lady who looked like Mommy?"
Lila nodded.
"Was Uncle Victor with her?"
"Yes."
"What did the lady do?"
"She looked at me."
"Did she say something?"
Lila stared at the rabbit.
"She said I wasn't supposed to be there."
Daniel felt cold.
"Did anyone hurt you?"
"No."
"What happened to Mrs. Hayes?"
Lila began crying.
Interview paused.
When it resumed, Lila whispered.
"She told us run."
"Why?"
"Fire."
Daniel leaned forward.
"What fire?"
"Garage."
"Did you see who started it?"
Lila shook her head.
"Eli pulled me."
Her voice cracked.
"We ran in woods."
"What happened after?"
"Police found us."
Daniel remembered.
The official accident report said Lila had been found wandering near Hollow Creek Road after Mara's car crashed.
Nobody ever explained why she was nearly a mile from the vehicle.
Daniel had been so shattered that he accepted the simplest explanation.
She must have been thrown free.
She must have wandered.
But there had been no injuries consistent with ejection.
How had everyone missed that?
Because someone wanted them to.
Eli's interview filled the remaining gaps.
He remembered his mother, Rebecca, driving them to a second property.
He remembered Victor.
He remembered Evelyn.
He remembered smoke.
Most importantly, he remembered a third adult.
A man whose face he could not see.
The man handed Victor a folder.
Victor said, "After tonight, Daniel inherits everything."
Daniel felt sick.
Inherits.
His father had died years earlier.
The estate was already divided.
Unless there was another inheritance.
Alvarez began examining probate records.
She found it.
A trust.
Created by Daniel's grandmother.
Value at the time of her death: ninety-two million dollars.
Most family members received portions immediately.
But a hidden clause designated a final beneficiary.
Lila.
The trust transferred fully to her when she turned eighteen.
Until then, her surviving parents controlled the interest.
If both parents died, guardianship passed to Victor Mercer.
Daniel read the clause.
His hands went numb.
Mara had apparently discovered it shortly before her death.
Someone was not after Daniel's money.
They were after Lila's.
And if Daniel died after Mara, Victor would control everything.
Daniel immediately updated every guardianship document he had.
Victor would never come near his daughter again.
But there was still another question.
Why Evelyn?
Why would Mara's twin help Victor?
And which sister had been in the car?
Alvarez reopened the accident evidence.
The body recovered from Mara's vehicle had been badly burned.
Identification relied partly on dental records and a necklace found nearby.
Modern DNA testing had never been performed.
Daniel requested exhumation.
Forty-eight hours later, the court approved it.
The result arrived six days later.
The woman buried under Mara Mercer's name was biologically related to Lila.
But she was not Lila's mother.
She was Mara's identical twin.
Evelyn Cross had died in the car.
Which meant the woman running through Daniel's childhood home was not Evelyn.
Daniel stared at the DNA report.
Claire whispered.
"Then that was Mara."
Daniel could not speak.
His wife was alive.
May you like
Somewhere.
And she had pointed a gun at him.
