Valeria did not move.
My mother did.
She stepped forward as if the accusation had physically pulled her.
“What did you say?”
Elena looked at her.
“Chloe believes you tried to kill her.”
Mom stared.
“No.”
Valeria turned.
“Mom?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“I never touched Chloe.”
Elena said, “You may not remember.”
Mom’s face hardened.
“Do not do that.”
“Do what?”
“Use missing memory to make anything possible.”
Elena regarded her for a moment.
“That is fair.”
Arthur said, “Chloe is wrong.”
Elena looked at him.
“You haven’t spoken to her in two years.”
Valeria turned toward Arthur.
“You knew where she was.”
“Yes.”
“You said you didn’t know exactly.”
“I said she was alive.”
“You let us keep asking.”
Arthur’s expression changed.
“I promised her privacy.”
Valeria laughed bitterly.
“You have an interesting definition of promises.”
Elena opened the blue-roofed house.
“Inside.”
Nobody relaxed.
Valeria kept Noah beside her.
The living room contained toys, shelves of children’s books, and two framed drawings signed EVAN and NOAH.
This had not been a temporary hideout.
Someone had built a life around the boys here.
Valeria noticed.
Elena did too.
“Rachel brought them here often.”
“Why?”
“Because Marcus’s homes were monitored.”
Marcus said, “Not by me.”
Elena looked at him.
“Usually.”
Thomas wandered toward a shelf.
Elena said, “Don’t touch anything.”
He stopped.
Mom remained near the door.
“What does Chloe remember?”
Elena sat.
“Not remember. Suspect.”
“Based on what?”
“The hour after the fall.”
Dad stepped forward.
“She was unconscious.”
“Partly.”
“You were there?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Chloe told me.”
Valeria sat Noah on the sofa.
He reached for a wooden whale from the table.
Valeria remained standing.
“Tell us.”
Elena looked at Mom.
“Chloe remembers Robert arriving.”
Dad nodded.
“She remembers the doctor.”
“Yes.”
“She remembers Arthur.”
Mom looked toward her father.
Arthur said nothing.
Elena continued.
“And she remembers a woman.”
Mom’s face tightened.
“Who?”
“She couldn’t see clearly.”
“Then why me?”
“The perfume.”
Mom laughed in disbelief.
“Perfume?”
“Orange blossom.”
Valeria looked at her.
Mom wore orange blossom perfume for years.
She stopped after Valeria disappeared because the smell reminded her of family holidays.
Mom shook her head.
“Half the women in town wore something floral.”
Elena continued.
“Chloe heard the woman say, ‘You should have stayed out of my family.’”
Dad looked at Mom.
She stared back.
“I wasn’t there.”
Arthur said, “She wasn’t.”
Elena turned.
“You cannot prove that.”
“I was monitoring Evelyn.”
Mom slowly looked at him.
“You were what?”
Arthur realized his mistake.
Thomas laughed.
“Oh, Father.”
Mom stepped toward Arthur.
“You were monitoring me?”
“For your protection.”
“When?”
“After Chloe disappeared.”
“Before.”
Arthur’s silence answered.
Mom’s eyes changed.
“You had people following me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena had already used your identity once.”
Elena smiled faintly.
“Several times.”
Arthur ignored her.
“I needed to know whether instructions supposedly from you were genuine.”
Mom stared.
“So where was I the night Chloe fell?”
Arthur said nothing.
“Dad.”
He looked toward Elena.
That was enough.
Mom’s voice dropped.
“Where was I?”
Arthur said, “Bellweather.”
Silence.
Dad stared.
“No.”
Mom looked at Arthur.
“I was here?”
“In the region.”
“At the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You were having memory episodes.”
Thomas laughed softly.
“Father was still maintaining his little experiment.”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
Mom touched her temple.
“I came to Bellweather eleven years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Did Robert know?”
“No.”
Dad stepped toward Arthur.
“You took my wife without telling me?”
“She came voluntarily.”
Mom said, “I don’t remember.”
Arthur replied quietly, “I know.”
Valeria looked sick.
“Did you drug her?”
Arthur hesitated.
Dad surged forward.
Marcus caught him.
“Not here.”
Dad shoved him away.
Arthur did not retreat.
“The treatment involved sedation.”
Mom stared at her father.
“So Chloe could have heard me.”
Arthur said, “No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you never left Bellweather.”
Elena said, “Except for fifty-seven minutes.”
Arthur looked at her.
The room changed.
Mom whispered, “What?”
Elena leaned back.
“You signed out of the ward at 10:41 p.m.”
Arthur said, “That record was altered.”
“I have the original.”
“By whom?”
Elena smiled.
“That is the question.”
Mom stared.
“When did Chloe fall?”
Dad answered.
“Around eleven fifteen.”
Bellweather was roughly thirty minutes from the storage building.
Nobody said it aloud.
We did not need to.
Valeria looked toward Mom.
Mom’s face broke.
“I don’t remember leaving.”
Dad said immediately, “Then someone used your identity.”
Elena nodded.
“That has always been my theory.”
Mom turned toward her.
“You just said Chloe thinks I tried to kill her.”
“She does.”
“And you don’t?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I was the person who created the sign-out record.”
Arthur stared.
“You.”
Elena nodded.
“I sent someone out under Evelyn’s name.”
Mom went still.
“Who?”
Elena looked toward Thomas.
Thomas laughed.
“Don’t.”
Valeria turned.
“Who?”
Elena said, “Miriam.”
Thomas’s dead wife.
Or supposedly dead wife.
Thomas shook his head.
“Miriam was dead before then.”
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
“She survived Prague.”
Thomas stared.
Marcus stepped toward Elena.
“My mother.”
“Yes.”
“You said she died.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
Elena continued.
“Arthur removed her.”
Thomas lunged toward his father.
Dad and Marcus stopped him.
“You took her too?”
Arthur said, “She asked me to.”
“You stole my wife.”
“She was terrified of you.”
Thomas fought against Marcus.
“You liar!”
Arthur remained still.
“She believed you would use Marcus and the embryos to secure succession.”
“She was my wife.”
“She was a person.”
The words hit Thomas hard.
Elena said, “Miriam lived under another identity for nine years.”
Marcus looked stunned.
“Where?”
“Various places.”
“Did she know I was alive?”
“Yes.”
His face tightened.
“Did she ever try to find me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Twice.”
“Why didn’t I know?”
Arthur answered.
“Because I stopped her.”
Marcus turned.
“Why?”
“Because Thomas was searching.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“So you protected me from my father by taking my mother too.”
Arthur looked tired.
“Yes.”
Valeria said, “Was Miriam at the storage building?”
Elena nodded.
“She believed Chloe had information about Thomas.”
“Did she attack her?”
“No.”
“Then why does Chloe remember a woman threatening her?”
Elena’s expression changed.
“Miriam confronted her.”
“What did she say?”
“Exactly what Chloe remembers.”
You should have stayed out of my family.
Valeria closed her eyes.
“So Chloe heard Mom’s perfume because Miriam wore it.”
“Yes.”
Mom whispered, “Why?”
Elena looked toward Arthur.
Arthur said, “Miriam and Evelyn used the same perfume as teenagers.”
Thomas stopped struggling.
“What?”
Mom stared at him.
“Miriam was at our house?”
Thomas looked away.
Arthur answered.
“She and Evelyn were friends before Thomas married her.”
Mom’s memory stirred.
“Mimi.”
Thomas looked at her.
She covered her mouth.
“I knew her.”
“Yes.”
“I thought Mimi moved away.”
“She became Miriam Vale.”
Mom sank into a chair.
Fragments of an adolescence none of us had known were surfacing around her.
Valeria asked, “What happened during the missing hour?”
Elena said, “Miriam left Bellweather using Evelyn’s documentation.”
“She went to Chloe.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To recover one page from the black ledger.”
“Which page?”
“The bloodline trust.”
Arthur looked sharply at Elena.
“You never told me.”
“No.”
“What was on it?”
Elena smiled without humor.
“Something you forgot.”
Arthur’s face tightened.
Thomas said, “Father forgets only what threatens his mythology.”
Elena continued.
“The trust was not created by Arthur.”
Mom looked up.
“Then who?”
“Miriam.”
Marcus stared.
“My mother.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To prevent Arthur, Thomas, or Marcus from controlling succession alone.”
Marcus looked offended.
“I was a child.”
“She planned for the adult you might become.”
Thomas laughed.
“Smart woman.”
Elena nodded.
“She created a requirement.”
“What requirement?” Valeria asked.
Elena looked at her.
“Any transfer of the active network had to be approved by two independent bloodlines.”
Valeria understood.
“That’s why Noah and Evan matter.”
“Yes.”
“Two lines.”
“Exactly.”
Arthur looked disturbed.
“You altered my trusts.”
Elena said, “Miriam did.”
“Using my system.”
“Better than you did.”
Thomas almost smiled.
Arthur ignored him.
“What happened to Miriam?”
Elena’s face changed.
Nobody missed it.
Marcus stepped closer.
“What happened?”
“She died.”
“When?”
“Eleven years ago.”
His voice lowered.
“The night Chloe fell.”
Elena nodded.
The room became quiet.
Valeria asked, “How?”
Elena looked toward Arthur.
“Someone killed her.”
Arthur stared.
“No.”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“Then your surveillance failed.”
Marcus’s breathing changed.
“Who?”
Elena said, “We never proved it.”
“Who did you suspect?”
She looked at Robert.
Dad froze.
Marcus turned.
“No.”
Elena continued.
“Miriam’s body was found near the storage property the following morning.”
Dad shook his head.
“I never saw her.”
“I believe you.”
“Then why suspect me?”
“Because a bullet recovered from her body matched a weapon registered to your company.”
Dad stared.
“That gun was stolen.”
“When?”
“The week before.”
“Reported?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I used unregistered weapons constantly.”
Elena nodded.
“Which made framing you easy.”
Thomas looked toward Arthur.
“Who knew Robert’s weapon was missing?”
Arthur said nothing.
Thomas smiled.
“Father.”
Dad turned.
“You?”
Arthur’s eyes hardened.
“I did not kill Miriam.”
Marcus stepped toward him.
“But you knew the gun was gone.”
“Yes.”
“Who took it?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena stood.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
She walked to a cabinet and removed an envelope.
Inside was an old security still.
Grainy.
Black and white.
A figure leaving Robert’s office three days before Chloe’s fall.
The face was unclear.
But the body shape was familiar.
Thomas said, “That proves nothing.”
Elena placed a second photograph beside it.
The same person near the storage building the night Chloe fell.
Dad leaned closer.
Mom did too.
I recognized him before either spoke.
Detective Mercer.
Valeria whispered, “Harold.”
Mercer was still outside with Rachel.
Marcus grabbed the photographs.
“Mercer killed my mother.”
Elena said, “Possibly.”
“Possibly?”
“He was there.”
Dad stared.
“He had my weapon.”
“Yes.”
Valeria shook her head.
“He claimed Marcus threatened his grandson.”
“Marcus hadn’t done that yet.”
Marcus looked toward the window.
“No.”
Arthur said, “Then someone else was controlling Mercer.”
Elena nodded.
“Exactly.”
Thomas crossed his arms.
“Who?”
Elena looked toward the driveway.
A vehicle door slammed outside.
Rachel’s voice shouted.
Then a gunshot.
Everyone ran.
We burst through the front door.
Daniel was on the ground.
Blood covered the side of his head.
Rachel stood beside the car, screaming.
Mercer was gone.
So was Evan.
On the driver’s seat lay a single photograph.
Arthur picked it up.
A much younger Mercer stood beside Miriam.
They were kissing.
Thomas stared.
Marcus looked sick.
Elena closed her eyes.
Rachel whispered, “My father and Miriam.”
Arthur turned the photograph over.
One sentence had been written on the back.
MERCER DIDN’T WORK FOR THOMAS.
HE WORKED FOR HER.
Click here to continue reading: PART 15: Mercer’s Secret Relationship With Miriam Exposed a Hidden Alliance, but Rachel Knew Why Her Father Had Taken Evan Instead of Running Alone
The Woman on the Evening News Had My Dead Sister’s Face, and My Mother Recognized Her Before I Did
Part 14 of 27
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