Chapter 13 - Diane’s Sister
Elizabeth Mercer vanished thirty-six years ago.
There was no missing person report.
No obituary.
No marriage record after the year Mark was born.
Almost nothing existed.
A high school yearbook photograph showed a seventeen-year-old girl with gray-blue eyes.
Mark’s eyes.
Emily studied the picture.
The resemblance was undeniable.
Claire whispered, “Mark is Diane’s nephew.”
“Maybe.”
“And Diane raised him as her son.”
“Maybe.”
Nothing felt certain anymore.
Mark sent another message.
Mom is gone.
Emily called.
“Where did Diane go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you hurt her?”
“What? No.”
“Then start telling the truth.”
Mark sounded exhausted.
“I found the folder after you left. She tried to burn it.”
“Why didn’t she?”
“I stopped her.”
“What’s inside?”
“My birth records. Payments. Letters.”
“Photograph everything.”
“I already did.”
“Send them.”
He hesitated.
“Will you meet me?”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“No.”
“I’m scared.”
She almost laughed.
“So was I when you hit me.”
Silence.
“I know.”
“You don’t get comfort from me because your mother lied to you.”
“I know.”
“Send the documents.”
Files began arriving.
Emily opened them.
A birth certificate for Mark.
A second birth certificate under another name.
Baby Boy Mercer.
Mother: Elizabeth Anne Mercer.
Father: blank.
Hospital dates matched.
Then a handwritten letter.
Diane,
I know what you did.
Elizabeth did not abandon him.
You took him.
If you ever contact me again, I will tell Daniel everything.
R.
Emily forwarded the image to Richard.
He called within seconds.
“That is not from me.”
“It’s signed R.”
“Lots of names start with R.”
“Who else knew?”
Richard’s face remained tense.
“I don’t know.”
Claire asked, “What happened to Elizabeth?”
Richard shook his head.
“She was troubled. Diane said she ran away.”
“After giving birth?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever meet her?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“A month before the baby was born.”
“Was she planning to abandon him?”
Richard hesitated.
“No.”
Emily’s hands tightened.
“What was she planning?”
“She wanted to keep him.”
The room went silent.
“Then Diane stole her sister’s baby.”
“I don’t know that.”
“You know enough.”
Richard looked older by the second.
“I believed Diane when she said Elizabeth changed her mind.”
“Everyone keeps believing Diane.”
“Yes.”
Emily ended the call.
Mark sent another message.
There’s more.
A scanned letter appeared.
Elizabeth’s handwriting.
Diane,
Give me my baby back.
You told Daniel the child was yours because yours died.
You told everyone I ran away.
I will come back for him.
I swear to God I will come back.
Emily felt goosebumps rise along her arms.
Date: five weeks after Mark’s birth.
Another letter.
Diane,
You cannot hide forever.
I know Richard helped you.
Emily stopped.
Richard helped.
Again.
Another lie.
She called him.
No answer.
Claire said, “He knows we found it.”
Emily tried again.
Disconnected.
Sarah messaged.
Now you understand.
Emily typed:
Did Richard help Diane take Mark?
Sarah responded.
Ask him what happened at Lake Marston.
Emily searched the name.
A reservoir eighty miles north.
Thirty-six years earlier, a young unidentified woman had reportedly disappeared near the lake.
No body recovered.
The article described her as approximately seventeen to twenty years old.
Claire whispered, “Elizabeth.”
Emily felt sick.
Another message arrived from Sarah.
Diane was there.
Richard was there.
One of them came home with blood on their clothes.
Emily stared at the words.
Claire read them.
“We cannot verify that.”
“No.”
“We don’t know Sarah’s source.”
“No.”
“So don’t assume.”
Emily nodded.
But her mind had already moved somewhere darker.
Then Mark called again.
This time his voice shook.
“Emily.”
“What?”
“She came back.”
“Who?”
“My mother.”
Emily stood.
“Mark, leave the house.”
“She wants the documents.”
“Leave.”
“She says Noah belongs with her.”
Emily’s blood went cold.
“Do not tell her where we are.”
“I didn’t.”
A crash sounded through the call.
Mark cursed.
Emily heard Diane shouting.
“You ruined everything.”
Then Mark yelled, “Stay away from me.”
The line went dead.
Claire grabbed her keys.
Emily stopped her.
“No.”
“He might be hurt.”
“He is not our priority.”
Emily looked toward Noah.
Her son was asleep.
Safe.
She had spent years making Mark’s emergencies more important than her own safety.
That ended tonight.
Then the security application chimed.
Living Room Camera Online.
Emily opened the feed.
Mark and Diane stood in the same room where everything had begun.
Diane held the blue folder.
Mark blocked the front door.
Their argument poured through the speaker.
“You stole me,” Mark said.
Diane laughed.
“I raised you.”
“You stole me from Elizabeth.”
“She didn’t deserve you.”
“Where is she?”
Diane went still.
Mark repeated the question.
“Where is Elizabeth?”
Diane looked directly at him.
May you like
Then she said something that made Emily’s skin turn cold.
“You’ve already met her.”
