Chapter 10 - the house by the water
Sophie remembered Diane.
Not as Grandma.
Not as Aunt Diane.
As Mrs. Holloway.
Rebecca Carson had introduced her that way.
Mrs. Holloway is an old friend helping us with some paperwork.
Sophie had been seven.
The same age as Noah.
Ryan felt sick hearing the number.
"I lived near Annapolis," Sophie explained. "Rebecca raised me. I called her Mom."
"Was she good to you?" Emily asked.
Sophie nodded.
"Mostly. She loved me. But she was afraid of something."
"Diane?"
"I didn't know that then."
The detective allowed them to continue speaking in Lauren's living room while Noah stayed in the bedroom with Lauren.
Sophie held a cup of coffee she never drank.
"When I was seven, Mrs. Holloway started visiting."
Ryan struggled to hear his mother described like a stranger.
"What did she want?"
"She asked Rebecca questions about me. School. Friends. Whether I asked about my biological parents."
"Did you?"
"All the time."
Sophie gave a sad smile.
"Rebecca told me my birth mother loved me but couldn't raise me."
"That was true," Ryan said.
"I know now."
"What happened when Diane visited?"
"She would bring gifts. Dresses. Books. Once a porcelain doll."
Emily and Ryan exchanged a glance.
That sounded like Diane.
Control wrapped as generosity.
"She didn't like how I ate either."
Ryan's stomach dropped.
Sophie noticed.
"Same thing with Noah?"
"Yes."
"She said I embarrassed Rebecca. That people would think I was poorly raised."
Emily looked furious.
Sophie continued.
"One day I told her I didn't care what she thought."
Ryan almost smiled.
"You sound like your mother."
"So I'm told."
"What happened?"
"She grabbed my wrist."
The room became silent.
"She squeezed hard enough to leave bruises."
Emily whispered, "Jesus."
"I told Rebecca. Rebecca argued with her."
"And Diane stopped coming?"
"For a while."
"Then?"
"Two months later, Rebecca moved us."
"Because of Diane?"
"I think so."
Ryan leaned forward.
"What did you mean about papers?"
Sophie opened her bag.
She removed a plastic folder.
Inside were photocopies of legal documents.
"Rebecca died last month."
"I'm sorry."
Sophie nodded.
"Thank you. She had cancer. Near the end, she gave me a key to a storage unit."
Inside the unit, Sophie found everything Rebecca had hidden.
Letters from Claire.
Court notices.
Adoption papers.
Canceled checks.
Photographs.
A handwritten journal.
And copies of correspondence with Diane.
"Rebecca knew Claire was trying to find you?" Ryan asked.
Sophie nodded through tears.
"Yes."
"Why didn't she tell you?"
"Because Diane convinced her Claire was dangerous."
"How?"
"She sent Rebecca police reports."
Daniel, who had arrived shortly before, leaned forward.
"What reports?"
"Assault. Drug possession. Fraud."
Ryan already knew the answer.
"They were fake."
"Some were real documents with false information. Others were completely fabricated."
Daniel cursed under his breath.
Sophie continued.
"Rebecca eventually discovered inconsistencies. By then she had legally adopted me and was terrified Claire would take me away."
Claire's tragedy suddenly became more complicated.
Rebecca had not stolen a child.
She had been manipulated into believing she was protecting one.
Then fear had kept the lie alive.
"Did she ever contact Claire?"
"Once."
"When?"
"2009."
Margaret went pale.
Ryan saw it.
Sophie continued.
"Rebecca sent a letter to an address in Virginia."
Claire's address.
The one Diane somehow found.
"Where did Rebecca get it?" Ryan asked.
Sophie searched the folder.
She handed over a photocopied note.
The address had been written on hotel stationery.
At the bottom were initials.
M.H.
Everyone looked at Margaret Holloway.
Margaret stared at the paper.
"No."
Ryan's voice was quiet.
"Those are your initials."
"I didn't write that."
"You knew Claire's address."
"Yes."
"And Rebecca?"
"I knew her."
"So you could have."
"I didn't."
Sophie looked at Margaret.
"Rebecca's journal says a woman named Margaret called her."
Margaret stopped breathing.
"What date?"
Sophie found the entry.
"June 14, 2009."
Margaret shook her head.
"I was in Italy."
Robert looked at her.
"You were."
Ryan remembered seeing photographs.
"So someone pretended to be Margaret."
Sophie nodded.
"And gave Rebecca Claire's address."
Ryan understood.
Diane.
Again.
"But why help Rebecca contact Claire?" Emily asked. "Wouldn't Diane want them separated?"
Sophie opened the journal.
"Because the letter Rebecca sent wasn't friendly."
She read from her mother's words.
Rebecca had accused Claire of harassment.
Threatened legal action.
Demanded that she stay away from Sophie.
And included Claire's full address on the document.
Diane didn't need Rebecca to reconcile with Claire.
She needed Rebecca to reveal Claire's location in writing.
Daniel stood.
"So Diane used Rebecca to find her."
Sophie nodded.
"What happened after?"
"Someone broke into Claire's house three weeks later."
Ryan looked sharply at Margaret.
"Again?"
Margaret whispered, "Claire never told me."
Sophie continued.
"Nothing valuable was taken."
Ryan already knew the pattern.
"Only papers."
"Yes."
"What papers?"
"Records related to my adoption."
Daniel looked furious.
"So Diane was destroying the trail."
Sophie nodded.
"But she missed something."
She removed a sealed plastic bag.
Inside was an old microcassette.
Robert stood.
"What is that?"
"Rebecca found it in an envelope behind a drawer."
"Recording?"
"I don't have a player."
Robert crossed the room.
"I do."
Everyone looked at him.
Robert almost smiled.
"For once, keeping old junk might help."
Two hours later they sat inside Robert's study.
The microcassette player clicked.
Static filled the room.
Then a woman's younger voice.
Diane.
Ryan recognized it instantly.
"You don't understand what you're asking me to do, Rebecca."
Rebecca answered.
"I want the truth."
"You wanted a daughter. I gave you a daughter."
Ryan stopped breathing.
Rebecca sounded horrified.
"You told me Claire didn't want her."
"Claire doesn't know what she wants."
"That's not the same thing."
Silence on the tape.
Then Diane said:
"If you tell Claire anything, Sophie loses the only stable mother she's ever known."
Rebecca whispered:
"Did Claire sign those papers?"
Diane didn't answer.
"Did she?"
Another silence.
Then:
"Some signatures are more useful than permission."
Emily covered her mouth.
Ryan closed his eyes.
There it was.
Not complete proof.
But close.
Then another voice entered the recording.
A man's voice.
Low.
Angry.
"Diane, what did you do?"
The tape stopped.
Robert stared at the machine.
Ryan looked at him.
"That was you."
Robert didn't move.
"You were there."
"I don't remember this conversation."
"You were on the tape."
"I know."
"Then why don't you remember?"
Robert looked terrified.
"I don't know."
Sophie turned the cassette over.
A handwritten date was printed on the label.
November 27, 2006.
Robert whispered, "That's impossible."
"Why?"
May you like
He looked at Ryan.
"Because I was in Chicago that entire week."
