Chapter 5 - THE DAUGHTER NO ONE KNEW
Daniel immediately called the police.
Thomas locked the doors.
I pulled Lily close.
“Stay beside me.”
We waited.
Nothing happened.
Then footsteps moved across the second floor.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Daniel looked at Thomas.
“Someone is upstairs.”
Thomas nodded.
The police arrived within minutes.
They searched every room.
No one was there.
But in the master bedroom, an old drawer had been opened.
Inside was a photograph.
Three babies.
Not two.
Three.
I stared at it.
The photograph had been taken on the night of my delivery.
My face was visible in the background.
Thomas stood beside me.
Three tiny babies lay in a hospital crib.
I covered my mouth.
“I don't remember this.”
Thomas shook his head.
“You were unconscious.”
Daniel stared at the picture.
“Why were we never told?”
The police officer examined it.
“There is writing on the back.”
I turned it over.
Three names.
Emily.
Daniel.
Claire.
I froze.
“Claire.”
The name felt familiar.
I had heard it before.
But where?
Daniel looked at me.
“Do you know someone named Claire?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Then Lily whispered:
“Grandma.”
I turned.
“What?”
“I know that name.”
“How?”
She looked frightened.
“From school.”
“What does that mean?”
“One of my teachers.”
My heart stopped.
“What is her name?”
“Claire Morgan.”
Thomas looked at me.
Daniel looked at the photograph.
The police officer immediately wrote down the information.
“Where does she teach?”
Lily answered.
“Westbrook Elementary.”
Daniel grabbed his coat.
“We're going.”
Claire Morgan was thirty-eight years old.
She taught third grade.
She lived alone.
She had dark hair.
Green eyes.
And when Daniel showed her the photograph, she nearly dropped it.
“Where did you get this?”
I stepped forward.
“It was found in my house.”
She looked at me.
Then at Thomas.
Then at Daniel.
Her face changed.
“I've seen you before.”
“Where?”
“At the Carter estate.”
Daniel frowned.
“I've never seen you.”
“You wouldn't remember.”
She looked at Thomas.
“But he does.”
Thomas stared at her.
“Claire?”
She nodded.
“I remember you.”
“How?”
“My adoptive mother had a photograph.”
“Who was your adoptive mother?”
Claire's voice trembled.
“Margaret.”
My heart stopped.
“My sister?”
“Yes.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Margaret raised you?”
Claire nodded.
“I'm sorry.”
I sat down.
“My sister had my daughter.”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't know.”
“How much did she tell you?”
“Nothing.”
“Did she know who your biological parents were?”
Claire shook her head.
“She said my parents died.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“They didn't.”
Claire looked at him.
“You're my father.”
“Yes.”
She began crying.
I reached for her.
She stepped back.
“I'm sorry.”
I stopped.
“I don't know how to feel.”
“I understand.”
“You're my mother.”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel is my brother.”
“Yes.”
“And Lily…”
“Your sister.”
Claire looked at Lily.
Lily smiled through tears.
“Hi.”
Claire laughed.
A broken little laugh.
“Hi.”
The three sisters stood there.
Three lives separated by one terrible lie.
That evening, Claire came to my house.
She walked through the hallway slowly.
She touched the old furniture.
She stared at the family portraits.
Then she stopped.
There was a photograph of Margaret.
Claire looked at it.
“That was my mother.”
I nodded.
“She was my sister.”
“She loved me.”
“I believe she did.”
“She never told me.”
“She was afraid.”
Claire looked at me.
“Did you hate her?”
I thought about it.
“For a long time, I thought I would.”
“And now?”
“I don't know.”
Claire looked down.
“I loved her.”
“I know.”
“She wasn't always cruel.”
“I know.”
“But she lied.”
“Yes.”
Claire wiped her eyes.
“Then I guess she was both.”
I hugged her.
For the first time in fifty years, I held all three of my children.
And I cried.
But the happiness didn't last.
The next morning, police discovered Margaret's old journal.
It had been hidden inside the wall of her bedroom.
The final entry was dated thirty years earlier.
Victor told me to take Claire.
He said Eleanor could never know.
He said the third child was the insurance policy.
If anything happens to the trust, Claire must disappear.
I stared at the page.
“Insurance policy?”
Thomas read the next line.
His face went pale.
Victor said one child would remain outside the bloodline so he could control the others.
Daniel looked confused.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas turned the page.
There was another sentence.
But Claire knows where the original trust is hidden.
Everyone looked at Claire.
She shook her head.
“I don't know anything.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Thomas studied her.
“Think.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“My mother used to take me somewhere when I was little.”
“Where?”
“I don't remember.”
“Try.”
She took a breath.
“There was a lake.”
Daniel looked at the map.
“Which lake?”
“Blackwood.”
My heart stopped.
Blackwood Lake.
The old Carter estate had a cabin there.
My father had owned it.
It had been abandoned for decades.
Thomas stood.
“That is where Robert hid the original trust.”
I looked at him.
“Robert?”
“The man who created it.”
Daniel grabbed the keys.
“Then we go there.”
But before we could leave, the front door opened.
A police officer rushed inside.
“Mrs. Hale?”
“Yes?”
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Victor has escaped custody.”
My heart stopped.
“How?”
“He was transferred to another facility.”
“And?”
“The transport vehicle was found abandoned.”
Daniel clenched his fists.
“Where?”
May you like
The officer looked at me.
“Blackwood Lake.”
