Chapter 11 - The Other Woman Who Came Back
We drove home with police.
This time I didn't feel shocked.
I felt tired.
Apparently nobody in my extended family stayed dead when paperwork said they should.
Dad met us outside.
Children safe.
Mom safe.
No intruder inside.
But a package sat on the kitchen table.
No postage.
No address.
Inside was a photograph of Susan Price.
Lauren's mother.
Alive.
Recent.
Standing outside Vale Tower.
Behind the photograph:
MIDNIGHT. FLOOR 47. BRING EVELYN.
Lauren sank into a chair.
"I buried her."
Mom stood beside her.
"I understand."
Lauren looked at her and began laughing hysterically.
It wasn't funny.
But eventually even horror becomes absurd.
I turned to Samuel.
"We're going."
"No."
"I didn't ask."
"Evelyn—"
"If Susan knows what happened to Arthur, I want answers."
Mom said, "It could be a trap."
"It is a trap."
Miriam crossed her arms.
"At least we're finally identifying them correctly."
I almost smiled.
Midnight came.
Vale Tower was locked down.
Police staged on lower floors.
Samuel and I rode to forty-seven.
Lauren came against my preference because the message explicitly demanded her presence.
Mom insisted too.
Floor forty-seven opened.
Susan Price stood beside the long conference table.
Alive.
Older.
Lauren whispered, "Mom?"
Susan cried.
"My baby."
Lauren didn't move.
I understood that too.
Susan approached.
Lauren backed away.
"You died."
"I had to."
"Everybody has to," I muttered.
Susan looked at me.
"You must be Evelyn."
"You're observant."
Samuel cleared his throat.
"Hands where I can see them."
She lifted both hands.
"I'm not armed."
"Why fake your death?"
Lauren asked.
Susan stared at Caleb's daughter—her daughter—with grief.
"Because your father found me."
"Caleb?"
"Yes."
Lauren shook her head.
"You told me Mark Price was my father."
"He was the man who raised you."
"Did he know?"
"Yes."
"How many people knew my life wasn't my life?"
Susan cried.
Lauren didn't comfort her.
I respected that.
"Did you kill Arthur?" I asked.
Susan looked at me sharply.
"No."
"Caleb says you met Arthur three days before he died."
"I did."
"Why?"
"He called me."
"For what?"
"To warn me that Victor had discovered Lauren's identity."
Lauren stared.
"What identity?"
"Arthur's granddaughter."
Silence.
Susan continued.
"Victor knew Caleb had a daughter. He believed she could inherit if something happened to Evelyn."
I felt sick.
"So you disappeared to protect Lauren."
"Yes."
Lauren's voice turned bitter.
"Everyone protects us by abandoning us."
Susan flinched.
Mom did too.
Good.
Maybe they both needed to hear it.
I said, "Arthur."
Susan nodded.
"When I met him, he said someone inside Vale Holdings had altered his medication."
Thomas wasn't with us.
He had been detained for questioning after financial discrepancies were found.
"Who?"
"He didn't know."
"What medication?"
"Blood pressure."
Arthur's stroke.
Someone could have caused it.
"Did you see anyone?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
Susan looked toward the hidden archive.
"A woman leaving his private office."
"Who?"
"Eleanor."
I looked at Mom.
She stared at Susan.
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Arthur and I argued."
"About what?" I asked.
Mom's face changed.
There it was.
Another secret.
"About the trust."
"What about it?"
"He wanted to leave control to you."
"And you didn't?"
"I wanted it dissolved."
I blinked.
"Why?"
"Because Vale destroyed our family."
That was the first thing anyone had said that made complete sense.
"You thought no one should inherit it."
"Correct."
Susan said, "Arthur refused."
Mom glared at her.
"You told Caleb I killed him."
"I never spoke to Caleb."
Lauren interrupted.
"Then who did?"
Nobody answered.
Samuel received a message.
"Forensics."
He read.
"Arthur's medication was tampered with."
Mom closed her eyes.
My heart sank.
Samuel continued.
"But not by Eleanor."
She looked up.
"Fingerprints recovered from the bottle."
"Whose?"
He stared at the screen.
"Daniel Carter."
I felt as though I'd been struck.
No.
Not another thing.
Lauren covered her mouth.
Susan whispered, "Daniel killed Arthur?"
I couldn't answer.
Samuel called the detention facility.
Daniel was in custody.
He agreed to interview.
We went immediately.
He looked terrible.
Unshaven.
Eyes hollow.
He saw me and lowered his head.
"Did you tamper with Arthur's medication?"
Silence.
"Daniel."
"I switched the pills."
The room tilted.
"Why?"
"Victor ordered me."
I laughed in disbelief.
"You keep saying that like it makes your hands clean."
"It doesn't."
"Did you know it would kill Arthur?"
"No."
"Did you care?"
His eyes filled.
"I thought they were sedatives. Victor said he needed Arthur unconscious for two hours so he could access the archive."
"And Arthur had a stroke."
"Yes."
"You killed him."
"I caused his death."
The distinction meant nothing.
Daniel cried.
I had wanted him to cry on the porch.
Now it brought me no satisfaction.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I'm done lying."
I almost laughed.
"Convenient."
"Caleb contacted me after Victor was arrested. He said he knew what I'd done."
"And?"
"He offered to hide it if I helped him get the trust."
"Did you?"
"No."
"Why not?"
He looked at me.
"Because Noah asked me why I hated his mother."
My throat tightened.
"What?"
"When I took the kids, he asked why I hated you."
Daniel wiped his face.
"I realized I didn't."
"That doesn't redeem you."
"I know."
"You cheated."
"I know."
"You forged my signature."
"I know."
"You terrorized our children."
His voice broke.
"I know."
I stood.
"Then live with knowing."
He nodded.
As I turned away, he said:
"Evelyn."
I stopped.
"Arthur had one more recording."
I didn't look back.
"Where?"
"Inside the divorce packet."
I turned.
"What?"
"The papers I gave you."
"Why?"
"Arthur mailed them to me two days before he died."
That made no sense.
"He sent you divorce papers?"
"No."
Daniel looked at me.
"He sent me the template."
My blood chilled.
"Arthur knew you were planning to divorce me?"
Daniel shook his head.
"He wanted me to."
"Why?"
"He found out Victor was coming back."
I stared.
"He told me to leave you publicly. Make Victor believe I had chosen money. Stay close to him. Protect you from the outside."
My hands went cold.
"But then Lauren?"
Daniel closed his eyes.
"That part was mine."
"Forgery?"
"Mine."
"The money?"
"Mine."
"So Arthur gave you a mission, and you turned it into an opportunity."
"Yes."
At least he admitted it.
I remembered the divorce papers.
Miriam had kept the originals.
We hurried back to her office.
She removed them from evidence packaging.
Page by page.
Nothing.
Then she held the final sheet to the light.
A second layer.
Microfilm.
Arthur's handwriting appeared:
DANIEL — IF YOU FAIL HER, GIVE HER THIS.
Below it was an address.
Not in New York.
Not at home.
A storage facility in Virginia.
And under the address:
EVELYN, YOUR MOTHER NEVER TOLD YOU WHY VICTOR WANTED YOU ALIVE.
Mom stared at the sentence.
Her face went white.
I looked at her.
"What didn't you tell me?"
She backed away.
"Evelyn..."
"What does Victor want from me?"
May you like
Mom whispered:
"Your blood."
