Chapter 3 - The Missing GirlI couldn't stop staring at the photograph.
“Who is she?”
Nobody answered.
Margaret looked like she might collapse.
Evan's face was completely white.
I looked at my husband.
“Who is the girl?”
“Claire, go home.”
“Who is she?”
“Please.”
I stepped closer.
“You knew her.”
Evan closed his eyes.
Rebecca spoke.
“Her name was Lily.”
Margaret suddenly shouted.
“That's enough!”
Detective Harris turned toward her.
“Mrs. Hale, perhaps you should come with us.”
“No.”
Her voice trembled.
“I didn't do anything.”
Rebecca laughed softly.
“You always say that.”
Margaret glared at her.
“You destroyed my life.”
“No,” Rebecca said.
“You destroyed your own.”
I looked at Evan.
“Tell me.”
He whispered:
“Lily was my sister.”
My chest tightened.
“You told me you were an only child.”
“I know.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He didn't answer.
Margaret did.
“Because Lily died.”
I looked at her.
“When?”
Margaret swallowed.
“Twenty years ago.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“She didn't die.”
Silence.
I looked at her.
“What?”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“Lily disappeared.”
Margaret's face twisted.
“She was declared dead.”
“Without a body.”
I looked at Evan.
He couldn't meet my eyes.
Rebecca continued.
“Lily was six years old when she vanished.”
“And Margaret?”
“She told everyone Lily had wandered away.”
I stared at Margaret.
“Did she?”
Margaret said nothing.
Then Detective Harris asked:
“Mrs. Hale, where was Lily last seen?”
Margaret whispered:
“At a family dinner.”
My blood ran cold.
“What kind of dinner?”
Margaret looked at Maisie.
And something in her expression changed.
Not guilt.
Recognition.
Fear.
She whispered:
“Exactly like tonight.”
I felt sick.
Rebecca looked at me.
“That's why I came.”
“Why?”
“Because when I saw your daughter's photograph online last year, I recognized her.”
I frowned.
“Recognized her as what?”
Rebecca looked at Maisie.
“As Lily.”
I almost laughed.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“She has Lily's birthmark.”
I looked at my daughter.
A tiny crescent-shaped mark rested behind Maisie's left ear.
I'd never thought anything of it.
Rebecca pointed.
“Lily had the same one.”
Evan suddenly grabbed Rebecca's arm.
“Stop.”
Detective Harris pulled him away.
“Don't touch her.”
Evan released her.
I stared at him.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew about the birthmark.”
“I knew Lily had one.”
“And you never told me.”
“I didn't think it mattered.”
“Then why are you shaking?”
He looked at Maisie.
For the first time since I'd known him, Evan looked genuinely terrified of his own daughter.
Rebecca leaned toward me.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“Lily wasn't Margaret's daughter.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She was adopted.”
Margaret screamed:
“Rebecca!”
Rebecca didn't stop.
“And Margaret never told Evan the truth.”
I turned toward my husband.
“Who was Lily's mother?”
Evan looked at his mother.
Margaret whispered:
“Enough.”
But Rebecca had already answered.
“She was mine.”
Everything stopped.
I looked at Rebecca.
Then at Margaret.
May you like
Then at Evan.
And suddenly the entire family history I thought I knew began collapsing around me.
