Chapter 12 - THE SISTER WHO SHOULD HAVE DIED
By sunrise, the Bennett estate had become a fortress.
Three security vehicles blocked the driveway.
Electronic surveillance covered every entrance.
Nicholas had moved his people into the surrounding woods.
Claire hadn't slept.
Neither had Jonathan.
Vincent stayed upstairs with Lily.
Sloane arrived just after seven.
She walked into the study and immediately saw the photograph.
Her face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
Claire turned.
“You recognize her?”
Sloane swallowed.
“No.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Don't lie to me.”
“I've seen the necklace.”
“Where?”
Sloane looked at Jonathan.
He looked away.
Sloane's expression hardened.
“Your mother gave it to someone.”
Claire froze.
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how do you know?”
Sloane hesitated.
“Because my father kept a file.”
Richard Mercer.
Claire's stomach tightened.
“What file?”
“Bennett.”
Sloane placed a folder on the table.
“I found it before he was arrested.”
Claire opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Her mother.
Her father.
The Bennett estate.
And a photograph of a hospital.
The date was twenty-six years old.
Claire stared at the document beneath it.
Subject: Female infant.
Her hands began shaking.
“What's this?”
Sloane pointed to a medical record.
“Your mother gave birth to twins.”
Claire looked at Jonathan.
“Why did you lie?”
Jonathan's eyes filled with tears.
“Because I believed the other child was dead.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“I was told she died during childbirth.”
“By whom?”
“Doctors.”
Sloane shook her head.
“The doctor disappeared.”
Claire looked at her.
“What?”
“He left the country three days later.”
Nicholas entered the room.
“We found something.”
He placed a tablet on the table.
“Airport records.”
Claire looked at the screen.
A woman had flown from Chicago to Lisbon twenty-six years ago.
The name was Eleanor Bennett.
Claire's mother.
But Eleanor had supposedly remained in Chicago.
“She left?”
Jonathan nodded slowly.
“For how long?”
“Four days.”
Claire looked at him.
“You knew?”
“No.”
Nicholas zoomed in.
“There's more.”
A second passenger appeared.
Daniel Vale.
Claire's heart dropped.
“They traveled together.”
Jonathan stood.
“No.”
Claire turned toward him.
“Dad.”
“No.”
“You said you didn't know where she went.”
“I didn't.”
“But she went with him.”
Jonathan stared at the screen.
Then his face changed.
“I thought Daniel took her.”
“Where?”
“Europe.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Everything was collapsing into place.
Her mother hadn't simply disappeared from the story.
She had been involved.
Perhaps deeply.
Nicholas continued.
“There is a second record.”
He displayed another document.
A private clinic.
Lisbon.
Twenty-six years ago.
A female infant was admitted under an unknown identity.
Three days later, the records disappeared.
Claire whispered:
“She was taken.”
Jonathan nodded.
“By Eden.”
Claire looked at the photograph again.
The little girl.
The silver necklace.
“What is her name?”
Sloane opened another document.
There was only one handwritten word.
EVA.
Claire frowned.
“Eva?”
Jonathan's face went pale.
“That was the name your mother wanted to give you.”
Claire stared at him.
“She wanted to call me Eva?”
“Yes.”
“Then why Claire?”
Jonathan looked down.
“Because after the other baby disappeared, your mother refused to use the name.”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“So I was given the name she intended for the surviving child.”
Nobody spoke.
Then the house alarm screamed.
Nicholas immediately moved.
“Everyone down.”
A gunshot shattered the study window.
Sloane pulled Claire to the floor.
Jonathan fell behind the desk.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Nicholas looked through the broken window.
“Shooter's gone.”
Claire stood.
“Where's Vincent?”
They ran upstairs.
The nursery door was open.
The crib was empty.
Claire screamed.
“Lily!”
Vincent appeared from the adjoining bathroom.
He was holding her.
“She was with me.”
Claire grabbed her daughter.
Her entire body shook.
Vincent looked at Nicholas.
“What happened?”
Nicholas stared at the open nursery window.
“There was no attempt to take Lily.”
Claire froze.
“What?”
“They wanted us to think they did.”
Sloane looked outside.
“There.”
A small silver pendant hung from the nursery curtain.
Claire recognized it instantly.
The same pendant from the photograph.
Her sister's necklace.
Someone had left it there.
A message followed.
You keep searching for Eva.
Claire turned the pendant over.
There was an engraving on the back.
A single letter.
C.
Her initial.
Claire stared at it.
Then Nicholas spoke quietly.
“Eva knows you.”
Claire looked at him.
“How?”
Nicholas didn't answer.
Because his phone had begun ringing.
He answered.
Listened.
Then his face hardened.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“We found Eva.”
“Where?”
“She's in Chicago.”
Claire's heart stopped.
“Where?”
May you like
Nicholas looked directly at her.
“She has been living less than three miles from this house.”
