Chapter 7 - RACHEL’S TRAIL
Vanessa survived.
I was not sure how I felt about that.
Part of me wanted answers more than punishment.
According to police, someone had struck her once in the back of the head.
Not hard enough to kill her.
Just hard enough to put her on the pavement.
Vanessa insisted Rachel attacked her.
Detective Hensley did not immediately believe her.
Neither did I.
“She’s dangerous,” Vanessa said from her hospital bed.
It was the first time I saw her after my own hospital stay.
Thomas had not wanted me there.
I insisted.
Two police officers stood near the door.
Vanessa looked smaller without perfect makeup and carefully arranged hair.
Her eyes found my stitches.
For one second, guilt flickered across her face.
Then it disappeared.
“Emma.”
I said nothing.
“Sweetheart, I need you to understand—”
“Don’t call me that.”
She stopped.
Dad stood behind me.
He had removed his wedding ring.
Vanessa noticed.
Her expression tightened.
“Daniel.”
He did not answer.
Detective Hensley placed the photograph of Rachel on the table.
“Where is she?”
Vanessa looked at it.
“I don’t know.”
“You visited her repeatedly.”
“I was helping her.”
Thomas actually laughed.
It was a cold sound.
“You falsified her identity.”
“I protected her.”
“From whom?”
Vanessa looked directly at him.
“You.”
Thomas stopped smiling.
Vanessa leaned back.
“Rachel hated you.”
“Lie.”
“She was terrified you would control Emma’s life the way you controlled hers.”
Thomas’s hand curled at his side.
I looked at him.
There was history here too.
Nobody was innocent.
“What did Grandpa do?” I asked.
Vanessa smiled.
There it was.
The opening she wanted.
“He tried to control your mother’s career. Her money. Her marriage.”
Thomas answered before she could continue.
“I did.”
I turned.
He looked at me.
“I thought Daniel was wrong for Rachel. I threatened to cut her out of the family trust if she married him.”
Dad stared at him.
“You never told me that.”
“It was not my finest moment.”
My anger shifted.
“Mom left you too?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Almost four years.”
Vanessa watched us carefully.
This was what she did.
She found cracks.
Then widened them.
“But Rachel and I reconciled before she disappeared,” Thomas continued. “And whatever mistakes I made do not explain forged medical records.”
Vanessa’s smile faded.
Hensley leaned closer.
“Where is Rachel?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who moved her between facilities?”
“A company.”
“Your company.”
“I handled paperwork.”
“You visited her.”
“She was unstable.”
My chest tightened.
“She was drugged.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Emma, your mother was sick.”
“No.”
“You were six. You don’t remember how she became.”
I stepped closer.
“I remember she loved me.”
Vanessa’s eyes hardened.
“That was not enough.”
Dad finally spoke.
“What did you do to her?”
Vanessa turned toward him.
“You really want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“You abandoned her before I ever touched her life.”
Dad flinched.
“She came to you terrified. You told her she was paranoid. She begged you to take Emma somewhere safe. You refused.”
Dad’s face drained.
Vanessa smiled.
“I didn’t create your weakness, Daniel. I just learned how to use it.”
Even Detective Hensley went still.
Dad looked shattered.
Vanessa continued.
“When Rachel disappeared, you wanted a simple answer. So I gave you one.”
“You told me she ran away.”
“And you believed me because that hurt less than admitting you ignored her.”
Dad left the room.
Vanessa watched him go.
Then she looked at me.
“You think Thomas is your hero?”
“No.”
That surprised her.
“I think everyone in this family has things to answer for.”
Thomas looked at me.
I continued.
“But only one of you hid my mother for eight years.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Just slightly.
Enough.
Detective Hensley saw it.
“So you admit she was hidden.”
Vanessa realized the mistake.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You just reacted to it.”
“I want a lawyer.”
The interview ended.
Outside, Thomas rested a hand on my shoulder.
“You handled that better than most attorneys.”
“I don’t want to be an attorney.”
“What do you want?”
“I want my mom.”
By evening, police had reviewed traffic cameras near Riverside.
At 2:41 a.m., a woman matching Rachel’s description walked alone from the facility toward a gas station.
She wore Vanessa’s coat.
At 2:56, she entered the store.
The clerk remembered her.
“She asked what city she was in,” Hensley told us.
My heart broke.
Eight years of being moved around had left Mom unsure where she even was.
“She bought a map, water, and a prepaid phone.”
“What happened next?”
“She made one call.”
“To Grandpa?”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“To whom?”
Hensley slid a piece of paper toward Thomas.
A phone number.
Thomas recognized it.
“Maya.”
Rachel had called Maya Reynolds.
We drove to Maya’s office.
She was waiting.
And she looked guilty.
Thomas closed the door.
“You spoke to Rachel.”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“I promised I wouldn’t tell you.”
My heart dropped.
“You know where my mother is?”
Maya looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Then tell me.”
“She’s afraid.”
“Of Vanessa?”
Maya hesitated.
“Of everyone.”
Including us.
I felt as if the floor had vanished.
“She asked me for forty-eight hours,” Maya explained. “She wants to make sure she is thinking clearly. She has spent years being told she is unstable.”
“She called me,” Thomas said.
“She panicked afterward.”
I swallowed.
“Does she know I’m here?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Maya’s face softened.
“She cried.”
That was almost worse.
Then Maya reached inside her desk and took out an envelope.
“She asked me to give you this.”
I opened it.
Only three sentences.
Emma,
I have dreamed about seeing you every night for eight years.
I am coming.
But before I do, there is one truth about your father you deserve to hear from me.
I looked toward Dad.
He had just entered the office behind us.
May you like
His face changed when he saw the letter.
“What truth?”
