Chapter 2 - THREE DAYS MISSINGThe police arrived twenty minutes after the ceremony was stopped.
By then, the wedding guests had disappeared.
Nobody wanted to be the last person inside the chapel.
Detective Daniel Cross entered carrying a black notebook.
He was in his fifties, broad-shouldered, with silver hair and the tired eyes of someone who had seen too many families destroy themselves.
He looked at Rachel.
Then at me.
“Start from the beginning.”
I did.
When I finished, Cross asked Rachel the same question.
“Why did you impersonate your sister?”
Rachel looked at the floor.
“I didn't want to.”
“That's not an answer.”
“I was forced.”
“By whom?”
Rachel shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Cross glanced at me.
“She says she doesn't know.”
“I've already heard that.”
He opened his notebook.
“Claire was last seen seventy-two hours ago.”
“Where?”
“Our family lake house.”
I stared at Rachel.
“Claire went there?”
“She called me before she disappeared.”
“What did she say?”
Rachel looked at Lily.
“Can she hear this?”
I moved closer.
“Lily stays with me.”
Rachel nodded.
“Claire told me someone was following her.”
My chest tightened.
“Who?”
“She didn't know.”
“What else?”
“She said she had found evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
Rachel looked directly at me.
“You.”
I frowned.
“Me?”
“She told me she was afraid you would be blamed.”
“That doesn't make any sense.”
“It didn't to me either.”
Cross raised his hand.
“Let's stay with the facts.”
He placed several photographs on the table.
“The lake house camera was disconnected Tuesday night.”
He turned one photo toward me.
Claire's car was parked outside.
“Her car remained there.”
“Then where did she go?”
“We don't know.”
He showed me another photograph.
The lake house back door.
A muddy footprint.
Size eleven men's shoe.
My stomach tightened.
“Is that mine?”
“No.”
“What about Rachel?”
“Size seven.”
I looked at Rachel.
“So someone else was there.”
Cross nodded.
Then he said something that made me sit down.
“We found traces of blood.”
“How much?”
“Not enough to assume she's dead.”
I exhaled.
“Then she's alive.”
“We don't know.”
Lily climbed onto the chair beside me.
“She's alive.”
Everyone turned.
“Why are you saying that?”
Lily looked at Rachel.
“Because Aunt Claire promised me.”
Rachel froze.
“What did she promise?”
Lily answered quietly.
“That she would come back before Daddy's wedding.”
I stared at my daughter.
“When did she tell you that?”
“Three nights ago.”
Rachel suddenly stood.
“When?”
“The night Claire disappeared.”
Rachel went pale.
Cross watched her carefully.
“Was that before or after you saw her?”
Rachel's lips parted.
“I…”
“You were there that night?”
Silence.
“Rachel?”
She sat down.
“Yes.”
My hands clenched.
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“She asked me not to.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew someone was listening.”
Cross leaned forward.
“Who?”
Rachel looked at the ceiling.
“Claire said there was a hidden microphone in the house.”
I laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
Because I didn't know what else to do.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
DON'T TRUST RACHEL.
A photograph followed.
Claire.
Alive.
Her wrists were tied behind her back.
Her mouth was covered with tape.
And beneath the photograph was a line of text:
YOUR WEDDING WAS NEVER ABOUT LOVE.
Rachel saw the picture.
Her knees nearly gave out.
“No…”
I looked at her.
“You recognize the room?”
She covered her mouth.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
May you like
She whispered:
“That's the room under your house.”
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