Chapter 4 - the night Evelyn disappeared
The babysitter was waiting on the front steps with Mia when Evelyn reached the house.
Mia ran toward the car.
“Mommy.”
Evelyn pulled her daughter into the back seat and fastened the child’s belt.
“Where’s Daddy?” Mia asked.
“He’s working.”
The babysitter looked uneasy.
“Mr. Hale called twice.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That Mia was asleep.”
“Did he believe you?”
“I don’t think so.”
Evelyn handed her extra cash.
“Go home. Do not answer his calls.”
She drove away just as headlights appeared at the end of the street.
Trevor’s car.
Evelyn turned toward Walter’s property.
The distance between the cars began to close.
Mia looked through the rear window.
“Daddy’s following us.”
“I know.”
“Is he mad?”
Evelyn tightened her grip on the wheel.
“No, sweetheart.”
It was another lie.
Trevor called repeatedly.
Evelyn ignored him until a message appeared.
Pull over. Mia is not safe with you driving like this.
She slowed.
Another message arrived.
You are proving everything I told the doctor.
Evelyn realized what he was doing.
He wanted evidence that she was acting irrationally.
She turned onto a busy road, drove at the speed limit, and called Walter through the car’s speaker.
“Trevor is following us.”
“I’m five minutes away.”
“He says I’m endangering Mia.”
“Drive to the Bellmere police station.”
“What if he follows?”
“That is the idea.”
Evelyn changed direction.
Trevor remained behind her.
At the next intersection, a second car moved between them.
Evelyn reached the police station first.
She parked beneath the security cameras and carried Mia inside.
Trevor stopped across the street but did not enter.
A desk officer approached.
“Can I help you?”
“My husband is following us.”
“Has he threatened you?”
Evelyn looked through the glass doors.
Trevor’s car was gone.
“He forged my signature and changed my medical records.”
“That sounds like a civil matter.”
“He’s trying to make me look unstable.”
The officer glanced at Mia.
“Do you have proof?”
Evelyn thought of the documents hidden beneath the art supplies.
They were still inside the house.
“No.”
“Has he physically harmed you?”
“Not tonight.”
The officer’s expression softened, but only slightly.
“Do you have somewhere else to stay?”
“My father-in-law is coming.”
Walter arrived moments later.
He walked into the station with a lawyer named Naomi Reed, whom Evelyn had never met.
Naomi was in her forties, sharply dressed, with watchful dark eyes.
Walter introduced them quickly.
“We need to make a written report,” Naomi said.
The desk officer straightened.
“On what grounds?”
“Forgery, unauthorized access to medical records, financial coercion, and possible conspiracy.”
Trevor entered before the officer could respond.
He looked calm and concerned.
“There you are.”
Evelyn stepped behind Walter.
Trevor stopped.
“What is he doing here?” he asked.
Walter faced his son.
“Protecting my family.”
“I am your family.”
“So are they.”
Trevor looked at Naomi.
“You brought a lawyer?”
“Evelyn asked for help,” Walter said.
“No, she didn’t. She’s exhausted and confused.”
Naomi raised her phone.
“Please repeat that.”
Trevor’s eyes moved toward the recording screen.
“You’re trying to provoke me.”
“No. I’m documenting your claim that your wife cannot speak for herself.”
Trevor turned to Evelyn.
“Come home.”
“No.”
“Mia needs her bed.”
“She needs to feel safe.”
Trevor’s mouth tightened.
“You’re making a mistake.”
Walter stepped forward.
“The mistake was trusting you to tell the truth.”
For one moment, father and son stood inches apart.
Then Trevor smiled.
“Ask him what happened to my mother.”
Walter’s face changed.
Evelyn noticed.
Trevor continued.
“Ask him why Margaret’s death was never properly investigated.”
“Stop,” Walter said.
“Ask him who signed the insurance papers.”
Walter grabbed Trevor’s arm.
The officer moved between them.
“That’s enough.”
Trevor adjusted his sleeve.
Then he looked at Evelyn.
“My father is not the man you think he is.”
He walked out of the station without another word.
That night, Evelyn and Mia stayed at Walter’s guesthouse.
Naomi sat with them until after midnight, documenting everything Evelyn remembered.
When they reached the conversation at the storage unit, Naomi stopped writing.
“They mentioned an accident,” she said.
“Yes.”
“What accident?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you experienced missing memories?”
Evelyn thought of the weekend when she lost her phone.
She remembered driving to Walter’s country property.
She remembered drinking tea in the kitchen.
Then nothing until the following morning, when Trevor told her she had fainted from exhaustion.
“I lost several hours six months ago.”
Walter stood near the window.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought I had fallen asleep.”
Naomi turned toward him.
“What happened at the property?”
“Trevor said Evelyn became ill.”
“Were you there?”
“No. I arrived the next day.”
Evelyn looked at Walter.
“Trevor told me you found me.”
Walter shook his head.
“I never saw you until we returned to Bellmere.”
The room became silent.
Naomi closed her notebook.
“Someone has been constructing false memories around you.”
Upstairs, Mia began crying.
Evelyn hurried to her.
The child was sitting upright in bed, clutching her rabbit.
“There was a lady outside,” Mia whispered.
“What lady?”
“The wet lady.”
Evelyn looked toward the window.
Rain streamed down the glass.
The garden below was empty.
Mia pointed toward the bedside table.
“She gave me that.”
A silver key rested beside the lamp.
Attached to it was a faded paper tag.
May you like
On the tag, someone had written two words.
Margaret’s room.
