Chapter 4: The Name on the License
The officer walked onto the stage without saying a word.
Aaliyah couldn't look away from the evidence bag in his hand.
Inside was a driver's license.
Renee's face stared back from twenty-two years ago.
The same eyes.
The same sharp cheekbones.
The same controlled expression.
But the name printed beneath the photograph wasn't Renee Carter.
It was another name.
Aaliyah stepped closer.
“What does that say?””
The officer looked at Monique.
Monique nodded.
The officer held up the bag.
“Renee Walker.””
Derrick stared at his wife.
“Walker?””
Renee's lips parted.
“Derrick, I can explain.””
He laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You've been Renee Carter since I met you.””
“I changed my name.””
“When?””
Renee said nothing.
Aaliyah's voice shook.
“Why?””
Renee looked at her.
“Because I wanted a new life.””
Monique stepped forward.
“You stole one.””
Renee snapped toward her.
“Don't.””
“You stole my husband.””
“I didn't steal anything.””
“You stole my daughter.””
“I raised her!””
Aaliyah flinched.
Renee turned toward her.
“I was there.””
Her voice cracked.
“When you had nightmares, I was there. When you got sick, I was there. When you graduated high school, I was there.””
Aaliyah's eyes filled.
“You told me my mother abandoned me.””
Renee swallowed.
“Because I thought it was better than telling you the truth.””
Derrick looked at her.
“What truth?””
Renee closed her eyes.
The officer placed the evidence bag on the podium.
“The records speak for themselves.””
Derrick looked at him.
“Who are you?””
“Detective Harris.””
Monique's fingers tightened around the evidence folder.
Aaliyah looked between them.
“You knew this was coming.””
Monique nodded.
“I've been trying to prove it for years.””
“Then why show up today?””
“Because the records were finally unsealed.””
Renee whispered, “You promised.””
Monique looked at her.
“I promised Aaliyah.””
Derrick turned sharply.
“Promised her what?””
Monique reached into the folder and pulled out a thin stack of photocopied documents.
“The truth.””
She handed the first page to Derrick.
He read it.
His eyebrows drew together.
Then his face changed.
“This is from the night of the accident.””
“Yes.””
“I reported Monique missing.””
“You reported her dead.””
“I thought she was dead.””
“You told police you saw her car leave.””
Derrick stared at the page.
“I didn't write this.””
“No,” Monique said.
“You signed it.””
Derrick looked at Renee.
She shook her head.
“Don't look at me.””
He held the document beside the old license.
Then he noticed the handwriting.
His expression hardened.
“That's your handwriting.””
Renee went silent.
Aaliyah whispered, “What?””
Derrick held the paper toward her.
“This isn't mine.””
Aaliyah looked.
She recognized the handwriting immediately.
It was the same neat, slanted script Renee had used on every school form of her childhood.
Aaliyah slowly looked at Renee.
“You forged his signature.””
Renee's eyes filled with tears.
“I had no choice.””
Monique laughed bitterly.
“You always had a choice.””
Renee's voice rose.
“You don't know what it was like!””
“I know exactly what it was like.””
“No, you don't!””
Renee stepped toward Monique.
“I watched him destroy himself over you!””
Derrick froze.
Monique's expression changed.
“What did you say?””
Renee covered her mouth.
Too late.
Derrick stared at her.
“Destroy himself?””
Renee shook her head.
“I didn't mean—”
“What did you do to me?””
“I saved you.””
“From what?””
“From her!””
Monique's eyes narrowed.
“You drugged him.””
Aaliyah's stomach dropped.
Derrick looked at Renee.
“Did you?””
Renee didn't answer.
“Did you drug me?””
“I gave you something to calm you down.””
“What?””
“You were out of control.””
“What?””
Renee's voice became a whisper.
“You wouldn't stop asking where she was.””
Derrick stepped backward.
Aaliyah watched his face collapse.
Monique slowly opened the folder again.
“There is one more record.””
Renee shook her head.
“No.””
Monique removed a small photograph.
She held it out.
Derrick took it.
It showed him unconscious in a hospital bed.
Beside him stood Renee.
And behind her was a police officer.
Derrick stared.
“That's Officer Mason.””
Monique nodded.
“He was the last person to see me before I disappeared.””
Aaliyah looked at the photograph.
“Where were you?””
Monique's eyes moved toward the officer standing beside the stage.
“In the trunk of a car.””
The auditorium erupted in whispers.
Aaliyah's hand flew to her mouth.
Renee closed her eyes.
Derrick whispered, “You put her in a trunk?””
Renee began crying.
“I didn't know what else to do.””
Monique stepped closer.
“You knew exactly what you were doing.””
The detective suddenly reached into his coat.
“There's something else.””
He placed another evidence bag on the podium.
Inside was a small silver key.
Aaliyah stared at it.
“What's that?””
Detective Harris looked at Monique.
Monique's face went pale.
“That key…”
She stopped.
Derrick frowned.
“What?””
Monique looked at Aaliyah.
“That key opens the box where I kept the one thing Renee never knew I had.””
Renee's crying stopped.
Her face went completely still.
“What box?””
May you like
Monique smiled faintly.
“The one you spent twenty-two years trying to find.””
