Chapter 10 - The Grave)
Rachel refused to believe the photograph.
For twenty minutes she invented explanations.
A sister Evelyn never mentioned.
An edited image.
A lookalike.
A mistake.
Then Detective Morris asked the question Rachel did not want to hear.
"Did you personally identify your mother's body?"
Rachel stared.
"There was a funeral."
"That isn't what I asked."
Rachel searched her memory.
Evelyn had collapsed at work.
She was taken to the hospital.
Rachel was twenty-four and devastated.
Dean had been with her for only a few months.
Susan handled most arrangements because Rachel could barely function.
The casket had been open for family viewing.
Rachel had seen her mother's face.
Hadn't she?
She remembered flowers.
People whispering.
Dean holding her hand.
Susan crying.
But when she tried to isolate the memory of Evelyn's face, it blurred.
"I saw her."
Susan, when questioned later, gave a different answer.
"The funeral home recommended a closed viewing because of the autopsy."
Rachel stared at her aunt.
"No."
Susan looked confused.
"What?"
"The casket was open."
"For a few minutes before the service, yes."
"I saw her."
Susan shook her head slowly.
"Rachel, you refused."
Rachel felt dizzy.
"I didn't."
"You said you wanted to remember Evelyn alive."
Rachel backed into a chair.
Her memory had changed.
Or grief had filled in what was missing.
"Who identified her?"
Susan looked sick.
"I did."
"Are you sure?"
"I thought I was."
"Thought?"
"Her face was swollen."
Rachel closed her eyes.
Morris asked, "Was there DNA confirmation?"
Susan shook her head.
"Why would there be?"
The death had been considered natural.
An aneurysm.
No reason for anyone to suspect identity fraud.
Rachel pulled up the photograph again.
"If this is Mom, whose body is in the grave?"
Nobody answered.
Exhumation required time and legal authority.
Rachel could not wait for either.
Instead she searched Evelyn's old medical records.
Susan helped.
They found inconsistencies almost immediately.
Evelyn's hospital admission listed the correct birth date but the wrong middle initial.
The emergency contact phone number had one digit wrong.
The attending physician had retired and moved overseas.
The original pathology report could not be located.
None of it proved anything.
Together, it created doubt.
Nathan reacted differently when Rachel showed him the photograph.
He did not look shocked.
He looked terrified.
"You knew."
Nathan shook his head.
"You knew she might be alive."
"No."
"Look at me."
"I didn't know."
"But you suspected."
Nathan closed his eyes.
"For years."
Rachel's anger exploded.
"Why?"
"Because three years after her death, I received a message."
"What message?"
"One sentence."
"What did it say?"
Nathan swallowed.
"Stop watching Rachel."
Rachel stared.
"You thought Mom sent it?"
"I recognized the phrasing."
"Did you investigate?"
"For years."
"And?"
"Nothing."
"Until now."
Nathan looked at the photograph.
"If this is Evelyn, she does not want to be found."
"Maybe she wasn't free to come back."
"Possible."
"Maybe she was protecting me."
"Possible."
"Maybe she abandoned me."
Nathan's face tightened.
"I don't believe that."
Rachel laughed bitterly.
"You would know."
He accepted the blow.
The investigation into Marcus Lane became the next lead.
His security company had received payments from Red Oak and from another company called Harbor Bridge Consulting.
Harbor Bridge had no public office.
Its registered address belonged to an empty warehouse.
Its managing member was listed as Eleanor Vance.
Rachel had never heard the name.
Nathan had.
"Eleanor worked with Evelyn."
"When?"
"Before I disappeared."
"Doing what?"
"Accounting."
Rachel remembered the second ledger.
"Was she involved in collecting evidence?"
"Yes."
"Is she alive?"
Nathan nodded.
"Last I heard."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Rachel showed him the photograph of Evelyn with Marcus.
Nathan enlarged the background.
A sign was visible behind them.
HARBOR BRIDGE.
Rachel's pulse quickened.
"Mom was connected to Eleanor."
"Looks that way."
For the first time since the dinner, Rachel felt something resembling hope.
If Evelyn was alive, every lie might finally have an explanation.
That hope lasted until evening.
Detective Morris called.
Marcus Lane had been found.
Alive.
He had checked himself into a hospital fifty miles away under a false name.
Rachel and Morris drove there.
Marcus looked exhausted.
His right eye was bruised.
One hand was bandaged.
He refused to speak until Rachel entered the room.
Then he whispered, "You found the locker."
"Yes."
"The photograph?"
"Yes."
"Is Evelyn alive?"
Marcus stared at her.
"She was six months ago."
Rachel's knees weakened.
"Where?"
"I don't know now."
"Who is she hiding from?"
Marcus gave a humorless laugh.
"Everybody."
"Weller?"
"Yes."
"Nathan?"
"Maybe."
Rachel looked at him.
"Maybe?"
"Your family has spent thirty years telling lies to protect other lies."
"Then stop."
Marcus closed his eyes.
"I worked for Weller."
"I know."
"I watched your house."
"I know."
"I took Emma's bracelet."
Rachel's entire body went rigid.
"Why?"
"Weller told me to."
"You entered my home."
"Yes."
"You took something from my child."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"To prove access."
Rachel felt sick.
"To show Dean you could reach her?"
Marcus nodded.
"The bracelet in the chamber was a warning."
"To whom?"
"Nathan."
Rachel understood.
Weller knew Nathan was watching.
He wanted Nathan to understand that Emma could be reached.
"Did Dean know?"
"No."
Rachel believed Marcus.
"Why did you help my mother?"
Marcus looked away.
"Because she caught me."
"Doing what?"
"Photographing Emma."
"What did she do?"
"She walked up behind me in a parking lot and said, 'If you take one more picture of my granddaughter, I will destroy your life.'"
Rachel almost smiled.
That sounded like Evelyn.
"Where did she take you?"
"Harbor Bridge."
"Who was there?"
"Eleanor."
"Anyone else?"
Marcus hesitated.
"Dean."
Rachel froze.
"Dean met my mother?"
"Once."
"When?"
"About five months ago."
Rachel stood abruptly.
"He knew."
Marcus raised a hand.
"Listen."
"He knew she was alive."
"He didn't know at first."
"But he met her."
"Yes."
"And he never told me."
Marcus nodded.
Rachel walked out of the hospital room.
She called Dean.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then she received a text.
Not from Dean.
Unknown number.
It contained an address and three words.
Ask him yourself.
Below the message was a photograph.
Dean was sitting at a kitchen table.
May you like
Across from him sat Evelyn Hayes.
Alive.
