Chapter 10 - diane at the lake house
Diane appeared in the upstairs doorway.
She was alone.
At least, she appeared to be.
She wore a dark coat over black clothing, her blonde hair pulled tightly back.
Her expression was calm.
That frightened Emily more than her rage at the birthday party.
Mark stepped between her and the safe.
"How did you find us?"
Diane smiled.
"It's my family's house."
Robert shook his head.
"It was Eleanor's."
"Everything Eleanor had should have been mine."
There it was.
Not grief.
Not love.
Ownership.
Emily held the red folder against her chest.
"Is that why you hate Lily?"
Diane's eyes moved toward her.
"I don't hate Lily."
"You smashed her birthday cake into her face."
"Because you encouraged her to pretend."
"Pretend what?"
Diane's smile faded.
"That she's one of us."
Mark stepped forward.
"She is one of us."
"No."
"She's my daughter."
Diane looked almost sad.
"That's precisely the tragedy."
Mark's hands clenched.
Robert moved closer.
"Diane, stop."
She ignored him.
Her eyes remained on Emily.
"You want to know what happened the night Lily was born?"
Emily's voice was steady.
"Yes."
"Then ask your husband why he left you."
Mark stared.
"We already know you tricked me."
Diane laughed.
"Did I?"
Robert said, "I never called him."
"No. You didn't."
"Then who?"
Diane looked toward Daniel.
"Ask the dead man."
Everyone turned.
Daniel's face tightened.
"I never called Mark."
Diane nodded.
"Not knowingly."
"What does that mean?"
She reached into her coat.
Mark tensed.
Diane slowly removed an old mobile phone.
She tossed it onto the bed.
Daniel stared.
"Where did you get that?"
Diane smiled.
"You recognize it."
Daniel picked it up.
"That's impossible."
Emily asked, "What?"
Daniel opened the back.
Inside was a faded identification sticker.
His old company.
"This was one of our office phones."
Diane nodded.
"The call that took Mark away from St. Catherine's came from that phone."
Daniel looked genuinely stunned.
"I didn't make it."
"I know."
"Who did?"
Diane stepped into the room.
"That's the question Eleanor wanted you to answer."
Emily said, "Eleanor is dead?"
Diane's expression flickered.
Only for an instant.
Daniel noticed.
"You don't know."
Diane turned.
"She's gone."
"That's not what she asked."
Mark looked at his mother.
"Is Eleanor alive?"
Diane's composure returned.
"It doesn't matter."
"It matters if she owns this house."
"She doesn't."
"Then who does?"
Diane looked at Emily.
"Technically?"
She smiled.
"Lily."
Silence.
Emily almost laughed from disbelief.
"What?"
"The house was placed in trust."
Mark stared.
"For Lily?"
"For a child born on April eighteenth."
"Why?"
Diane's anger surfaced.
"Because Eleanor enjoyed games."
Robert stepped toward her.
"You knew this entire time."
"I suspected."
"Is that why you started investigating Lily?"
Diane snapped, "I was protecting what belonged to my son."
Mark stared.
"No. You were protecting what belonged to you."
Diane looked at him.
"I built everything for you."
"You built everything so I would depend on you."
"Without me, you would have nothing."
Mark shook his head.
"I have Emily. I have Lily."
Diane's face twisted.
"Exactly."
Emily opened the red folder.
"You knew the trust passes through daughters."
"Yes."
"And you believed Lily could inherit?"
Diane said nothing.
"Why?"
Still nothing.
"Because of Eleanor?"
Diane's eyes hardened.
"Stop saying her name."
Emily understood.
This wasn't about money alone.
Whatever existed between the sisters had become something poisonous decades earlier.
Daniel held up his surveillance file.
"Why were you watching me before I investigated you?"
Diane glanced at it.
"I wasn't."
"These came from your safe."
"It wasn't my safe."
"Then whose?"
Diane suddenly looked toward the hallway.
A sound came from downstairs.
Not footsteps.
A door closing.
Diane's confidence vanished.
Daniel saw it.
"Who came with you?"
"No one."
Mark moved toward the hallway.
Diane grabbed his arm.
"Don't."
Everyone stared.
For the first time, Diane looked afraid.
Mark slowly pulled away.
"Who is downstairs?"
Diane whispered, "We need to leave."
Emily almost couldn't believe it.
"You broke into our home, threatened us, followed Lily, and now we're supposed to trust you?"
Diane looked directly at her.
"If you want your daughter safe, yes."
A man's voice called from downstairs.
"Diane?"
Daniel's face went white.
Not because he recognized the voice.
Because Robert did.
Robert grabbed the bedpost.
"No."
Mark turned.
"Dad?"
Robert whispered a name none of them had expected.
"Samuel."
Emily stared.
"Dr. Keller?"
Robert looked toward the stairs.
The doctor Veronica Reed said had died seven years earlier was standing somewhere below them.
May you like
And then he called again.
"Diane, bring me the red folder."
