Chapter 11 - The Fugitive Mother
Naomi had a choice.
Arrest Nora.
Or violate an order she already believed had been obtained through fraud.
She made the decision in less than ten seconds.
“Back exit.”
Nora stared at her.
“What?”
“Go.”
“You’ll lose your badge.”
“I’m already suspended.”
Daniel grabbed Nora’s arm.
“Come on.”
Nora pulled away.
“I’m not running.”
“You’re not running from justice,” Naomi said.
“You’re avoiding people Margaret already controls.”
That was enough.
Daniel drove.
They left through a service road as sheriff’s vehicles approached the chapel.
For the first time in Nora’s life, she understood what it meant to have the truth and still be powerless.
Her face appeared on local news before sunset.
WOMAN SOUGHT AFTER CONTACT WITH SIX-YEAR-OLD CHILD.
Margaret gave a statement through an attorney.
She described Nora as “a grieving woman suffering from a long-standing fixation.”
Nora watched from Daniel’s car.
“She stole my daughter and made me look insane.”
Daniel gripped the steering wheel.
“This is what she does.”
“You helped her.”
He flinched.
“Yes.”
Nora looked at him.
“I’m never going to forgive you.”
“I know.”
“I need you to understand that.”
“I do.”
She turned back toward the road.
“But right now I need you useful.”
Daniel nodded.
“That I can do.”
They went to someone Margaret would never expect.
Caroline Bennett’s former fiancé.
Marcus Vale.
Marcus lived outside Tallahassee and had not spoken to the Bennett family in eleven years.
When Daniel told him Lily was alive, he stared at them for a long time.
Then he opened the door.
Inside, Marcus kept one photograph of Caroline.
Young.
Laughing.
Standing beside the blue house.
Nora showed him the photograph of Caroline holding baby Lily.
Marcus sat down hard.
“That’s impossible.”
“You recognize the baby?”
“No.”
He touched Caroline’s face in the photograph.
“Caroline died five years before Lily was born.”
Daniel nodded.
“That’s what I thought.”
Marcus looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“The date on this photo is six years ago.”
Marcus turned it over.
His face changed.
“Then this photograph is fake.”
Nora frowned.
“How?”
“Because that isn’t Caroline.”
He looked closer.
“That’s Margaret.”
Nora’s stomach tightened.
The woman’s face had been partly obscured by shadow.
The hair was styled like Caroline’s.
The clothes looked old-fashioned.
But Marcus was right.
It was Margaret.
“Why pretend to be her dead daughter?”
Marcus stared at the image.
“Because after Caroline died, Margaret became obsessed with replacing her.”
Daniel looked disturbed.
“What?”
Marcus stood.
“You really don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Your mother blamed Nora before Nora ever met you.”
Nora frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
Marcus disappeared into another room and returned with a box.
Inside were letters.
Caroline’s letters.
One contained a photograph of Nora.
She was twenty-three.
Standing outside a conference center.
Nora stared.
“I didn’t know Caroline.”
Marcus nodded.
“She knew you.”
“How?”
“You worked for Hale Technologies.”
“Yes.”
“Caroline believed your father destroyed Margaret’s company.”
Nora felt cold.
“What company?”
“Bennett Biomedical.”
Daniel stared at Marcus.
“My mother told us Dad lost that company.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Your mother lost it after a patent lawsuit.”
Nora understood.
“My father’s company won the lawsuit.”
“Yes.”
Margaret’s hatred had begun before the marriage.
Before Lily.
Before Nora ever knew her name.
Marcus pulled out one final letter.
Caroline had written it weeks before her death.
MOTHER SAYS THE HALE GIRL TOOK EVERYTHING FROM US.
SHE SAYS ONE DAY SHE’LL TAKE IT BACK THROUGH HER.
Nora read the sentence twice.
Then her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Lily sleeping in the back seat of a car.
Beneath it:
MIDNIGHT TOMORROW.
BRING DANIEL.
THE STORY ENDS WHERE IT STARTED.
May you like
Nora knew immediately where Margaret meant.
St. Catherine’s Hospital.
