Chapter 4 - the woman at the gate
Rebecca searched every room she had entered after leaving the library.
The real documents were nowhere.
Judith claimed ignorance.
Vanessa suggested postpartum exhaustion might be affecting Rebecca’s memory.
Walter said nothing.
That evening, Rebecca called Martin Lowe. His office line went directly to voicemail. His mobile phone was disconnected.
At dawn, the front gate alarm sounded.
Rebecca was feeding Lily near the kitchen window when she saw a woman gripping the iron bars outside.
She wore a dark coat despite the warm weather. Her hair was streaked with gray, and one side of her face bore a pale scar from her temple to her jaw.
The guard approached her.
She pushed a photograph through the gate.
Rebecca could not hear the conversation, but the guard’s posture changed.
He took the photograph, spoke into his radio, then opened the pedestrian entrance.
Judith appeared on the front steps before the woman reached the house.
“Leave this property.”
The stranger stopped.
“I need to speak with Rebecca.”
“You have been warned before.”
“That warning expired when Noah died.”
Rebecca placed Lily safely in her bassinet and went outside.
“Who are you?”
Judith stepped between them.
“Go back inside.”
The woman’s gaze moved to Rebecca’s face.
Her eyes filled with something between grief and recognition.
“You look like her.”
“Like whom?”
Judith grabbed the woman’s arm.
The stranger pulled free.
“Ask your mother what happened in the west nursery.”
Rebecca’s skin turned cold.
Judith called to the guard.
“Remove her.”
The woman held up both hands.
“I’m leaving.”
As she turned, she dropped the photograph near the steps.
Judith bent to retrieve it, but Rebecca reached it first.
The picture showed Ashford House twenty-six years earlier.
Judith stood beside the porch wearing a white summer dress. Walter was near the garden wall, much younger but already solemn.
Between them stood two little girls.
One was Vanessa at approximately six years old.
The other appeared younger.
She had Rebecca’s eyes.
Rebecca turned the photograph over.
Three words had been written on the back.
Before they renamed her.
Judith snatched it away.
“This is fabricated.”
“Who is the girl?”
“A distant cousin.”
“Why does she look like me?”
“You are seeing what you want to see.”
“The woman said you renamed her.”
Judith tore the photograph in half.
Rebecca stared at her.
“You knew she was coming.”
“I knew a disturbed former employee might appear.”
“What was her name?”
Judith walked toward the house.
Rebecca caught her arm.
“What was her name?”
Judith turned with a look so severe that Rebecca released her.
“You have a newborn daughter and no husband. You are living under my roof because you cannot support yourself. This obsession with old family gossip is exactly why Vanessa and I are concerned about your judgment.”
“It always comes back to that.”
“Because you keep proving us right.”
Judith entered the house.
The scarred woman had reached the road.
Rebecca ran after her.
“Wait.”
The woman stopped beneath an oak tree.
“My name is Margaret Vale,” she said before Rebecca could speak. “I worked here when you were born.”
“Was the girl in the photograph me?”
Margaret looked toward the house.
“Yes.”
Rebecca’s knees nearly weakened.
“Why did you say I was renamed?”
“Because Rebecca was not the name you were given.”
“What was it?”
Margaret’s lips parted.
A vehicle engine roared behind them.
A black SUV came down the drive too fast.
Margaret shoved Rebecca toward the grass.
The vehicle missed them by inches and sped through the open gate.
May you like
Rebecca looked at the rear window.
Vanessa was behind the wheel.
