Chapter 6 - Rachel’s Last Night
The investigation changed after Lily’s statement.
Until then Camille had been a liar.
A manipulator.
Possibly a conspirator in years of deception.
Now she was potentially connected to Rachel Morgan’s death.
Detective Hayes separated every witness.
Lily was interviewed by a child specialist.
Alexander was not allowed in the room.
He hated that.
But the specialist explained why.
“We can’t risk influencing her memory.”
So he waited outside.
For fifty-three minutes.
When Lily came out, she ran straight into him.
“Can we go home?”
The question stopped him.
Home.
Alexander’s mansion had been decorated for a wedding reception that would never happen.
Flowers.
Champagne.
A five-tier cake.
Hundreds of place settings.
Camille’s clothes filled half the closets.
But Lily needed somewhere safe.
“Yes.”
Lily looked up.
“Where’s home?”
Alexander almost said my house.
Instead he corrected himself.
“Ours, for now.”
She nodded.
That night the Reed estate looked haunted.
Workers had removed most of the decorations.
But traces remained.
White roses along the staircase.
Gold ribbons around the banister.
Half-melted candles.
A sign near the ballroom entrance still read:
ALEXANDER & CAMILLE.
FOREVER BEGINS TODAY.
Daniel ripped it down.
“Want me to burn it?”
Alexander almost smiled.
“Later.”
Rebecca carried Hope upstairs.
Lily refused to sleep until Alexander showed her every room.
“Why?”
“So I know where the doors are.”
That answer hurt.
He showed her every door.
Every staircase.
Every bathroom.
Every exit.
He showed her the security cameras.
The panic buttons.
The guard station.
Finally he brought her to a bedroom overlooking the garden.
“This can be yours.”
Lily stared.
The room had belonged to Alexander’s niece when she visited.
Soft cream walls.
A bookshelf.
Window seat.
Lily looked around carefully.
“Can Hope stay here?”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
“Across the hall.”
She considered that.
“Door open?”
“Door open.”
Only then did she agree.
At 1:14 a.m. Alexander sat beside her bed.
Hope slept in a crib nearby.
Lily was fighting sleep.
“Daddy?”
The word still startled him.
“Yes?”
“Did Mommy know about this house?”
“Yes.”
“Did she come here?”
“Once.”
Lily looked interested.
“When?”
“A long time ago.”
“What happened?”
Alexander smiled faintly.
“She insulted it.”
Lily’s eyes widened.
“She did?”
“She said it looked like a museum where rich people went to become boring.”
Lily giggled.
The sound nearly broke him.
“What did you say?”
“I told her she was jealous.”
“And?”
“She threw a bread roll at me.”
Lily laughed harder.
Hope stirred.
They both froze.
Then Lily whispered.
“Mommy did that.”
“What?”
“Made bad things funny.”
Alexander looked at her.
“Yes.”
“She said when scary people know you’re scared, they get bigger.”
“That sounds like Rachel.”
Lily yawned.
“So she laughed at them.”
Alexander brushed hair away from her forehead.
“Go to sleep.”
“Will you still be here?”
“Yes.”
“Tomorrow too?”
“Yes.”
“Next week?”
His throat tightened.
“Yes.”
“Forever?”
Alexander looked at his daughter.
“I missed six years.”
He took her hand.
“I’m not missing the rest.”
Her eyes closed.
Twenty minutes later she was asleep.
Alexander went downstairs.
Detective Hayes was waiting in his office.
She had brought a reconstruction of Rachel’s final night.
A map lay across his desk.
“Rachel left Megan Brooks’s house at 8:17 p.m.”
Alexander looked at the route.
“She was coming here?”
“We think so.”
“Why?”
“Her phone navigation.”
The destination was Reed Estate.
Alexander stared.
Rachel had typed his address.
She had been coming to his house.
“Where did the crash happen?”
“Fourteen miles away.”
Hayes pointed.
“Here.”
“What time?”
“8:52.”
“Single vehicle?”
“Officially.”
Alexander noticed the word.
“Unofficially?”
“Tire marks suggest another vehicle forced her toward the barrier.”
His jaw tightened.
“The black SUV?”
“Possibly.”
“Cameras?”
“We’re collecting footage.”
Alexander stared at the road.
Rachel had been thirty minutes away.
Maybe less.
If she had reached him…
He shut down the thought.
“What happened after the crash?”
“First emergency call came at 8:55.”
“Who called?”
“Passing driver.”
“She died there?”
“No.”
Alexander looked up sharply.
“What?”
“She was alive when paramedics arrived.”
His heart pounded.
“How long?”
“Approximately forty minutes.”
“Was she conscious?”
“For part of it.”
“Did she say anything?”
Hayes removed a report.
“She asked for her daughters.”
Alexander swallowed.
“She gave a name.”
He knew.
“Mine.”
“Yes.”
Hayes slid him the page.
Patient repeatedly requested Alexander Reed be contacted.
A paramedic attempted to locate contact information.
Alexander stared.
Nobody called him.
“Why wasn’t I contacted?”
“Because someone arrived claiming to be family.”
His head lifted.
“Who?”
“A woman.”
Alexander stopped breathing.
“Camille?”
“We haven’t confirmed.”
“What did she look like?”
“Blonde.”
His jaw locked.
Hayes continued.
“The paramedic remembered because the woman was dressed unusually well for an accident scene.”
Alexander leaned forward.
“Did Rachel talk to her?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Hayes looked at her notes.
“The paramedic couldn’t hear everything.”
“What could he hear?”
“Rachel became agitated.”
Alexander waited.
“She said, ‘You already took seven years.’”
The room went silent.
Hayes continued.
“Then she said something about Lily.”
Alexander’s voice broke.
“What?”
“He believes she said, ‘He’ll know her when he sees her.’”
Alexander looked away.
Rachel had known.
She knew Lily looked like him.
Hayes lowered her voice.
“Then she said one more thing.”
Alexander slowly faced her.
“What?”
“‘You don’t get Hope.’”
Alexander closed his eyes.
Hope.
Again.
Always Hope.
Hayes removed another document.
“We located the paramedic.”
“Where?”
“Rhode Island.”
“He remembered all this?”
“Because the woman who arrived tried to take Rachel’s purse.”
Alexander’s eyes opened.
“Why?”
“He stopped her.”
“What happened to it?”
“Police logged it.”
“And?”
“It’s missing.”
Alexander stood.
“Missing?”
“Not in evidence.”
“Who signed it out?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“This is unbelievable.”
“It gets worse.”
Hayes placed a photograph on the desk.
Traffic camera.
8:43 p.m.
Rachel’s sedan.
Behind it, a black SUV.
License plate visible.
Registered owner:
Laurent Family Foundation.
Camille’s mother.
Alexander stared.
Camille had been behind Rachel nine minutes before the crash.
“She killed her.”
Hayes remained careful.
“We know the vehicle was behind Rachel.”
“You think this is a coincidence?”
“No.”
“Then arrest her.”
“We need Camille.”
“You lost her.”
“We will find her.”
Alexander turned toward the window.
His estate gates glowed below.
Security guards patrolled.
He suddenly felt exposed despite walls and cameras.
Hayes’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
“Where?”
She stood.
“We’re on our way.”
Alexander watched.
“What happened?”
“They found Megan Brooks.”
His pulse jumped.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Abandoned warehouse.”
He exhaled.
Then saw Hayes’s face.
“What aren’t you saying?”
“She’s injured.”
“How badly?”
“She’s conscious.”
Alexander grabbed his coat.
Hayes didn’t stop him.
At the hospital Megan Brooks looked nothing like the smiling woman in the photographs police had shown him.
Her face was bruised.
One wrist was wrapped.
But her eyes were furious.
The moment Alexander entered, she studied him.
“You look like Lily.”
He stopped.
Most people said Lily looked like him.
Megan reversed it.
“You knew?”
“From the day she was born.”
Alexander sat beside her bed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Megan’s eyes filled with tears.
“Rachel tried.”
“I’m not asking about Rachel.”
Megan looked down.
“I was scared.”
“Of Camille?”
“Of Marcus.”
“What did he do?”
“He said if anyone contacted you, he’d kill Rachel.”
Alexander felt sick.
“Why did Rachel stay?”
“Because Marcus convinced her he could reach Lily anywhere.”
Megan’s voice hardened.
“And because Camille kept feeding him money.”
Alexander looked toward Hayes.
Megan noticed.
“You found the payments?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know.”
“Know what?”
Megan stared at Alexander.
“Camille didn’t pay Marcus to keep Rachel away from you.”
Alexander frowned.
“Then why?”
Megan looked toward the hallway.
“Close the door.”
Hayes did.
Megan waited.
Then she spoke.
“Six years ago, when Lily was born, Rachel wanted nothing from you.”
Alexander listened.
“She was angry.”
“Why?”
“She believed the letter.”
He nodded.
“But two years later she started questioning it.”
“What changed?”
“Marcus got drunk.”
Megan swallowed.
“He told her Camille had promised him a fortune if he kept Rachel invisible.”
Alexander’s chest tightened.
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why would Marcus agree?”
“Money.”
“That’s it?”
“No.”
Megan looked at him.
“He wanted Rachel.”
Alexander’s face hardened.
“Camille gave him access to her life.”
“Yes.”
The cruelty of it was staggering.
Camille hadn’t merely removed Rachel from Alexander.
She had effectively delivered her to another man.
Megan continued.
“Rachel eventually realized Camille’s biggest fear wasn’t losing you romantically.”
“What was it?”
“You finding out what she did.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Megan looked directly at him.
“Because when your father recovered from his stroke, he discovered part of it.”
Alexander froze.
“My father?”
Megan nodded.
“He found out Lily existed.”
Alexander stopped breathing.
“My father knew about my daughter?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
Alexander stood so quickly the chair moved.
“My father died four years ago.”
“I know.”
“Are you telling me he knew for a year and never told me?”
Megan looked heartbroken.
“He tried.”
Alexander’s mind raced.
His father.
Edmund Reed.
A difficult man.
Proud.
Controlling.
But he loved Alexander.
At least Alexander had always believed he did.
“What stopped him?”
Megan whispered.
“Camille.”
Alexander stared at her.
“How?”
“I don’t know the whole story.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
Megan hesitated.
“Your father created something for Lily.”
“What?”
“A trust.”
Alexander went still.
“A very large one.”
“How large?”
Megan swallowed.
“Rachel said it contained shares.”
Daniel, standing near the door, stepped forward.
“What shares?”
“Reed Holdings.”
Alexander’s pulse changed.
“How many?”
Megan shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel looked at Alexander.
This was no longer only personal.
If Edmund transferred voting shares to an unknown granddaughter, Camille may have had another reason to hide Lily.
Alexander turned back.
“What does this have to do with Hope?”
Megan’s face changed.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
“Hope is the reason Rachel finally decided to expose everything.”
“Why?”
“Because when Hope was born…”
She stopped.
Alexander stepped closer.
“When Hope was born what?”
Megan stared at him.
“Marcus wasn’t there.”
“So?”
“Rachel wasn’t in a hospital.”
Alexander remembered the missing medical records.
“Where was she?”
Megan’s voice dropped.
“With me.”
Alexander stared.
“I helped deliver Hope.”
“And Marcus?”
“He didn’t know Rachel was pregnant until afterward.”
“That doesn’t answer why Rachel wrote that Hope wasn’t his.”
Megan’s eyes filled.
“No.”
She looked toward the door again.
“It doesn’t.”
Alexander’s patience snapped.
“Then who is Hope’s father?”
Megan stared straight at him.
“Nobody knows.”
Alexander frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Megan reached beneath her hospital blanket.
She pulled out a small silver necklace.
A key hung from it.
“Rachel made me promise not to tell anyone unless she died.”
Alexander took the key.
“What does it open?”
“A safe deposit box.”
“Where?”
“First National.”
“What’s inside?”
Megan shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“But Rachel told you something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Megan’s voice became almost inaudible.
“She said everything about Hope began in the Reed family.”
Alexander’s blood ran cold.
“What are you talking about?”
Megan closed her eyes.
May you like
“Ask your mother.”
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