Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN IN THE DARK
Sarah heard footsteps.
Not running.
Walking.
Confidently.
She held the red book against her chest.
Torres whispered through the earpiece.
Officers moving in.
Sarah backed toward the wall.
A shape appeared in the doorway.
The emergency lights from the street filtered through the curtains.
Sarah recognized the silhouette.
“Mom.”
Patricia stepped into the room.
She carried a small handgun.
Sarah stared.
“You brought a gun?”
Patricia smiled without warmth.
“You always did need everything explained.”
“Police are outside.”
“Then you should lower your voice.”
Sarah did not move.
Patricia’s eyes dropped to the red book.
“So Emily really did leave it.”
“Where is Dad?”
“Fixing what you broke.”
“You assaulted Lily.”
Patricia’s face hardened.
“I disciplined her.”
“You fractured her face.”
“I slapped her.”
Sarah stopped.
“One slap.”
Patricia continued.
“That was all.”
“What happened during the ninety-one seconds?”
Patricia’s eyes flickered.
Sarah saw it.
Fear.
“Voss.”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Patricia looked toward the ceiling.
“Give me the book.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand what’s in it.”
“I understand enough.”
“No. You understand a child’s version.”
Sarah laughed bitterly.
“You tortured your own children.”
“We protected this family.”
“You told me Emily drowned.”
“Emily betrayed us.”
“She was eleven.”
“She was dangerous.”
“She was eleven!”
Patricia’s voice sharpened.
“She stole records that could have destroyed dozens of people.”
“Good.”
Patricia raised the gun slightly.
“You think justice is simple because you’ve spent your life protected from the cost of it.”
“Protected?”
Sarah stared at her mother.
“You put me in a chair and conditioned me like an animal.”
Patricia’s expression barely changed.
“And you became successful.”
Sarah could not believe what she heard.
“You think you deserve credit?”
“You were weak before Willow Ridge.”
“I was seven.”
“You cried constantly.”
“I was seven!”
“Exactly.”
Patricia’s voice became quiet.
“Children are raw material, Sarah. Good parents shape them before the world does.”
Sarah looked at the gun.
“Did you say that to yourself before you hit Lily?”
“She opened the chamber.”
“She was six.”
“She saw things.”
“So you punished her.”
“I slapped her.”
“Who hurt her after that?”
Patricia’s face changed again.
Sarah stepped closer.
“Who?”
“Robert came back.”
Sarah froze.
“Dad?”
“He thought Lily had seen the ledger.”
“The red book?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I told him she hadn’t.”
“What did he do?”
Patricia looked away.
Sarah felt rage rising so violently she could hear her pulse.
“What did he do to my daughter?”
“He questioned her.”
“She was sleeping.”
“She woke up.”
“He restrained her.”
Sarah’s voice dropped.
“And her face?”
Patricia said nothing.
Sarah stepped forward.
“Her face?”
Patricia finally whispered, “Robert lost control.”
Sarah lunged.
Patricia raised the gun.
Before either could move farther, the window shattered.
Police poured into the room.
“Drop the weapon!”
Patricia spun.
Torres entered with her weapon raised.
“Drop it!”
Patricia looked at Sarah.
For one second Sarah saw calculation.
Then Patricia released the handgun.
It hit the floor.
Officers forced her to her knees.
Patricia did not cry.
She looked at Sarah and said, “Your father will kill you before he lets that book go public.”
Sarah stared at her.
“Then he’ll have to find me first.”
Torres took the red ledger.
As Patricia was led away, the speaker crackled again.
Voss.
“Sarah.”
Torres looked upward.
“Where are you?”
No answer.
Sarah stepped toward the speaker.
“What?”
Voss said, “Your mother lied about one thing.”
Sarah stopped.
“What?”
“Robert didn’t attack Lily because she saw the ledger.”
“Then why?”
“Because Lily recognized someone in a photograph.”
Sarah’s skin prickled.
“Who?”
The projector flickered back to life.
A photograph appeared.
Three women stood outside a courthouse.
One was Patricia.
One Sarah did not recognize.
The third woman had Emily’s eyes.
Sarah stepped toward the wall.
“She’s alive.”
Voss whispered, “Yes.”
Sarah stared at the adult face of the sister she had buried twenty-two years ago.
“What is her name?”
Before Voss could answer, an explosion sounded somewhere below.
The floor jumped.
The projector died.
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And every police radio in the house began shouting at once.
The red ledger had disappeared from Torres’s hands.
