Chapter 5 - The Sister Who StayedVictoria Bell had been seventeen when Claire disappeared.
Arthur wanted police protection.
Emma refused.
Then Detective Alvarez insisted.
So an unmarked sedan followed them north.
Lily stayed in Charleston under Caleb’s watch until her doctors cleared her to travel.
Emma hated leaving her.
But she needed answers.
Marjorie Carter’s farmhouse sat outside Summersville on twelve wooded acres.
Emma had grown up there.
The porch still leaned slightly to the left.
The old wind chime still hung beside the kitchen door.
Arthur stood in the yard and stared at the red swing.
Emma noticed.
“That’s not the one I remembered.”
Arthur nodded.
“I know.”
“Then why are you looking at it?”
“Because maybe Marjorie built one to replace what you lost.”
Emma had not considered that.
Inside, the farmhouse smelled like cedar and dust.
Marjorie’s clothes still hung upstairs because Emma had never found the courage to donate them.
Arthur waited in the living room while she opened drawers.
Old tax returns.
Church programs.
Photographs.
Nothing from before 1996.
Then Emma remembered the sewing room.
Marjorie had forbidden her from touching one cabinet as a child.
Emma always assumed it contained money.
She opened it.
Empty.
Arthur examined the back panel.
“Give me a screwdriver.”
Three minutes later, the false panel came loose.
Behind it was a metal cash box.
Emma’s hands shook as she opened it.
Inside were newspaper clippings.
Every article was about Claire Bell.
MISSING CHARLESTON GIRL, 6
FAMILY OFFERS $500,000 REWARD
FIVE YEARS LATER, PARENTS STILL SEARCHING
Emma sat on the floor.
“Oh my God.”
There were photographs too.
Arthur and Eleanor standing beside police officers.
Claire’s school picture.
Age progression images.
Emma began crying silently.
Arthur knelt beside her.
Then he saw the envelope.
FOR EMMA, IF THE TRUTH EVER FINDS YOU.
Emma stared at it for a long time.
Finally, she opened it.
The letter was handwritten.
My sweet girl,
If you are reading this, then I failed to protect you from the past.
Emma stopped.
Her throat closed.
Arthur waited.
She continued.
You were never mine by blood. But everything I did after October 18, 1995, I did because I loved you.
Raymond brought you to my apartment after midnight. He was bleeding. You were unconscious. He told me there had been an accident and that your parents were dangerous people who would hurt you.
Arthur clenched his jaw.
I believed him for less than one day.
Emma wiped her eyes.
The following afternoon, I saw your photograph on television.
Arthur turned away.
I told Ray I was taking you back. He threatened to kill you if I tried. He said powerful people had paid him, and if I went to police, those same people would make sure neither of us survived.
Emma looked at Arthur.
“Paid him?”
Arthur’s expression hardened.
She read on.
Ray disappeared. I packed one suitcase, took you, and drove until I could no longer see the coast.
I told myself I would contact your parents once we were safe.
Then I learned Ray was watching us.
Emma’s hand trembled.
For years, he sent photographs of you to prove he knew where we lived.
I was a coward.
Emma covered her mouth.
Arthur whispered, “No.”
I should have risked everything and returned you. Instead, I convinced myself that keeping you hidden was protecting you.
There is no excuse for taking thirty-one years of your life away from your real family.
But please believe this one thing: I never stopped loving you.
Emma could barely continue.
At the bottom was one final paragraph.
If Ray is alive, he will come for the locket.
It contains the one thing that can prove who paid him.
Arthur looked toward the empty place in Emma’s bag where the locket had been.
“The inscription?”
Emma shook her head.
“There was something else.”
The farmhouse floor creaked upstairs.
Arthur stood instantly.
Detective Alvarez’s officers had remained outside.
“Stay here.”
Arthur moved toward the staircase.
Emma grabbed a fireplace poker.
They reached the second floor.
A bedroom window stood open.
Curtains moved in the wind.
The hidden cabinet had already been searched.
Someone had been there before them.
Arthur heard an engine.
They ran outside.
A dark SUV tore down the dirt road.
Detective Alvarez’s officers followed.
Emma stood shaking on the porch.
Then she noticed something under the doormat.
A photograph.
It showed Marjorie standing beside Raymond Mercer.
Taken recently.
Very recently.
On the back, someone had written:
YOUR MOTHER LIED ABOUT ONE MORE THING.
Emma turned the photograph over again.
Behind Marjorie and Raymond stood a third person.
An elegant woman in sunglasses.
Arthur recognized her immediately.
May you like
His younger sister.
Victoria Bell.
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