Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Disappeared
Detective Ruiz ordered an immediate search of the grounds.
Police dogs followed the intruder’s scent from the west corridor to a rear service entrance.
Beyond the door, the trail disappeared near a gravel road where tire marks cut through the wet earth.
The vehicle had been waiting.
The person inside the mansion had not acted alone.
Grant moved Lily into a guest suite on the opposite side of the estate.
Two officers guarded the hallway.
Harris placed additional cameras outside every entrance, although Grant no longer trusted the security system or the man operating it.
I remained beside Lily while a doctor examined the burn near her scalp.
“It should heal without permanent damage,” the doctor said.
Lily watched the woman carefully.
“Will my hair grow?”
The doctor smiled.
“Yes.”
“Mommy liked my hair.”
Grant turned toward the window.
His shoulders shook once before he regained control.
After the doctor left, Lily sat on the bed with her knees drawn beneath her chin.
Grant remained near the doorway.
He seemed unsure whether he had the right to approach his own daughter.
“Lily.”
She looked at him.
“Why did you not tell me?”
The question was gentle.
Still, Lily’s body tightened.
I gave Grant a warning look.
He immediately corrected himself.
“I am not angry.”
He sat on the floor, keeping several feet between them.
“I need you to know that.”
Lily looked down at her hands.
“She said you would die.”
“Renata?”
Lily nodded.
“If I talked, she would make you fall too.”
Grant closed his eyes.
I could see him remembering every moment he had left Lily alone with Renata.
Every business trip.
Every dinner.
Every night he had accepted his wife’s assurances that Lily was sleeping peacefully upstairs.
“I believed she loved you.”
“She pretended.”
Lily’s voice remained soft, but each word seemed to cut deeper.
“Like she pretended to be Mommy’s friend.”
Grant looked toward me.
“Claire knew Renata before I did.”
I nodded.
Renata had entered Claire’s life as a fundraising consultant.
She was charming, efficient, and always available.
Within six months, she became Claire’s closest friend.
Within another year, she had become indispensable to the Hale family.
After Claire died, Renata helped Grant through the funeral.
She managed condolence letters, arranged meals, and remained near Lily.
Fourteen months later, Grant married her.
Lily had not spoken at the wedding.
Renata told everyone the child had finally accepted her.
Now we understood that Lily had simply been too frightened to protest.
Detective Ruiz entered the suite carrying a laptop.
“We found Naomi.”
Grant stood.
“Alive?”
Ruiz nodded.
“She was admitted to a psychiatric treatment facility in northern Vermont under the name Nora Pierce.”
“Why was she reported missing?”
“Her car was staged beside the lake. Someone wanted people to believe she had died or disappeared.”
“Who placed her in the facility?”
Ruiz opened the laptop.
“Simon Crowe.”
Renata’s attorney.
The facility records claimed Naomi suffered from paranoid delusions and posed a danger to herself.
Crowe had presented himself as a family representative.
He paid two years of treatment fees in advance.
Ruiz continued.
“Naomi has been heavily medicated. Doctors believed she was delusional because she kept insisting a dead woman was sending her messages.”
“Claire?” I asked.
Ruiz nodded.
“She claims Claire prepared evidence before her death and arranged for it to be released if anything happened to her.”
Grant leaned closer.
“What evidence?”
“Naomi will only discuss it with Maya.”
Everyone looked at me.
“Why me?”
“She says Claire trusted you.”
That afternoon, Ruiz arranged a secure video call.
Naomi appeared on the screen wearing a gray sweater.
She was thinner than I remembered.
Her once-dark hair had become streaked with silver.
When she saw me, her eyes filled with tears.
“Maya.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“That was what they wanted.”
“Who?”
Naomi glanced toward someone outside the camera’s view.
Ruiz reassured her that the room was secure.
Naomi lowered her voice.
“Renata and Adrian.”
Grant stepped into view.
Naomi flinched.
“It is all right,” I told her.
“He knows.”
“No.”
She shook her head violently.
“He does not know everything.”
Grant’s face tightened.
“What do I not know?”
Naomi stared at him.
“Claire was preparing to leave you.”
The words struck the room like breaking glass.
Grant stepped backward.
“That is not true.”
“She discovered money missing from the family foundation. Millions of dollars. The transfers led to Adrian, but the authorization codes were yours.”
“I never authorized them.”
“She did not know that.”
Grant looked devastated.
“Why did she not confront me?”
“She planned to.”
Naomi wiped her eyes.
“The night she died, she asked Renata to come to the mansion. Claire thought Renata was helping her expose Adrian.”
“But Renata was working with him,” Ruiz said.
Naomi nodded.
“They were lovers.”
Grant’s face turned white.
“Renata and Adrian?”
“For years.”
Lily stared at the screen.
Naomi saw her and began crying.
“Oh, Lily.”
Lily moved closer to me.
Naomi pressed a hand over her mouth.
“I am sorry I left you.”
“Did you see Mommy die?” Lily asked.
“No.”
Naomi’s voice broke.
“But I saw Renata leave Boston.”
The charity gala had used a private dressing suite for major donors.
Naomi had been there because Claire asked her to observe Renata’s movements.
“At eight twelve, Renata entered the suite.”
Naomi continued.
“At eight twenty, another woman walked out wearing the black dress and red scarf.”
“Who was she?” Ruiz asked.
“Renata’s younger cousin, Elise Vale.”
“And Renata?”
“She changed into a staff uniform and left through the kitchen.”
Grant gripped the back of a chair.
“She had more than enough time to reach the mansion.”
Naomi nodded.
“I followed her to the parking garage.”
“What happened?”
“She saw me.”
Naomi’s eyes filled with fear.
“She told me Claire would be dead before midnight.”
Ruiz leaned toward the screen.
“Why did you not call the police?”
“I did.”
Naomi began shaking.
“Detective Mercer answered.”
The corrupt detective who handled Claire’s death.
“He told me to meet him the next morning.”
Naomi swallowed.
“When I arrived, Adrian was sitting inside his office.”
Grant turned away.
Naomi continued.
“They took my phone. They threatened my sister. They told me Claire had left evidence behind and demanded that I find it.”
“What evidence?” I asked.
Naomi looked directly at me.
“A blue music box.”
I remembered it.
Claire had kept a small blue music box in Lily’s nursery.
It disappeared after her death.
Naomi leaned closer to the camera.
“Claire said that if she died, the music box would explain everything.”
May you like
Lily slowly lifted her head.
“I know where it is.”
