Chapter 6 - What My Mother Had Been HidingMom was not waiting at home.
She was waiting in the house I had grown up in.
The Hawthorne House.
And when I arrived, every light was on.
The front door stood open.
"She's inside," Victor said.
Daniel looked at him.
"How do you know?"
"Because she wants Stephanie to come."
I entered first.
The house smelled exactly as it always had.
Wood polish.
Old books.
The faint perfume Mom wore to important dinners.
Memories were everywhere.
But for the first time, the house felt hostile.
I walked into the dining room.
Mom sat alone.
The gold gift bag from my birthday was on the table.
Next to it was a photograph of Lily.
Mom looked exhausted.
"Sit down."
"No."
"Stephanie."
"I'm done sitting down while everyone tells me half the truth."
She looked at me for a long time.
Then she said,
"Your daughter didn't die because of an accident."
Every part of me went still.
Daniel stepped forward.
"What did you just say?"
Mom shook her head.
"I said she didn't die because of an accident."
"What happened?" I asked.
"I don't know."
"You do."
She covered her face.
"I know enough to be ashamed."
Victor stood by the doorway.
"Then tell her."
Mom lowered her hands.
"Your father found out someone was using the family company to move money into an offshore network."
"C. Mercer."
She nodded.
"Mercer was the front."
"For who?"
"Someone inside."
"Who?"
She looked at me.
"Your father suspected Mike."
My stomach tightened.
"But he said Mike wasn't the mastermind."
"He wasn't."
"Who was?"
Mom closed her eyes.
"I didn't know."
"Then what did you do?"
"I tried to protect Mike."
"By stealing from Dad?"
"I borrowed money."
"How much?"
"At first, eighty thousand."
I stared.
"At first?"
She nodded.
"Then things spiraled."
"You financed Mike's debt."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because someone threatened him."
"Who?"
"I never saw his face."
Victor stepped forward.
"What did he threaten?"
Mom whispered,
"Tyler."
I looked at her.
"Your grandson?"
"The boy was six."
She began crying.
"He said Tyler would disappear."
I felt sick.
"So you paid him."
"Yes."
"With Dad's money."
"I intended to replace it."
"But you couldn't."
"No."
"And Dad found out."
"Yes."
I looked at the photograph of Lily.
"Why did he think Lily was involved?"
"He didn't."
Mom hesitated.
"She saw me."
"Doing what?"
"Meeting the man."
My heart pounded.
"Where?"
"Outside the school."
"March 17."
She nodded.
"Lily recognized me. She called my name."
"What did the man do?"
"He told me she had seen too much."
My voice broke.
"And you?"
"I took Lily aside."
"What did you tell her?"
"I told her not to tell you."
I stepped backward.
"You lied to me."
"Yes."
"You lied about where you were."
"Yes."
"You watched my daughter."
"I thought I was protecting her."
"From whom?"
Mom looked at Victor.
He answered for her.
"From Mercer."
I wiped my face.
"Then what happened?"
Mom whispered,
"Three days later, Lily collapsed."
Silence.
"Did Mercer poison her?"
"I don't know."
"Did you?"
She looked horrified.
"Never."
Daniel interrupted.
"We need the medical records."
Mom shook her head.
"Richard already investigated them."
"What did he find?"
"He believed the medication Lily received was tampered with."
The room went cold.
"What medication?"
"A prescription she had been taking for a neurological condition."
I remembered the bottles.
The labels.
The hospital.
The doctor telling me the dosage had been standard.
My daughter had died after a sudden seizure and respiratory failure.
The hospital had blamed complications.
My hands began shaking.
"Where are the original records?"
Mom pointed upstairs.
"Your father's study."
Victor went still.
"The study was locked after Richard died."
Mom nodded.
"I never had the key."
I looked at Daniel.
"You did."
He reached into his pocket.
A brass key.
"I found it in the trust file."
We went upstairs.
The study door opened with a soft click.
Dust covered the desk.
Dad's chair sat exactly where I remembered it.
Daniel opened a drawer.
Inside was a metal case.
It contained Lily's medical records.
And a photograph of the prescription bottle.
The lot number had been circled.
Beside it, Dad had written:
VERIFY MANUFACTURER.
Daniel checked the number.
His expression changed.
"What's wrong?"
"This lot number was recalled."
My heart stopped.
"Why?"
"Contamination."
"What contamination?"
He looked at me.
"Something that could cause exactly what happened to Lily."
I couldn't speak.
Mom sobbed behind me.
Victor found another document.
A pharmacy invoice.
The prescription had been filled three days before Lily's collapse.
At the bottom was the delivery signature.
I recognized the handwriting.
My mother's.
I turned slowly.
"Mom."
She froze.
"I didn't fill it."
"But your signature is here."
She looked at the paper.
Then whispered,
"That's not my signature."
Daniel stared at it.
I looked closer.
The curves.
The pressure.
The final stroke.
It wasn't Mom's.
Someone had forged her signature.
Just like mine.
Then a noise came from the hallway.
A floorboard creaked.
We all turned.
A shadow moved past the study door.
Victor ran out.
"Stop!"
Footsteps thundered down the stairs.
By the time we reached the front hall, the front door was slamming shut.
Victor sprinted outside.
A black sedan peeled away from the curb.
He stopped.
Returned.
In his hand was a small object he had picked up from the porch.
A silver watch.
The same one seen in the photograph.
May you like
On the back was a single engraved letter.
M.
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