Chapter 6 - The BackpackThey reached the Ashford lake house at 3:08 a.m.
Evelyn had seen them hundreds of times.
A laughing teenager on horseback.
A twenty-one-year-old woman graduating from Northwestern.
Rachel beside Daniel at a lake house, both sunburned and smiling.
She died at twenty-six.
At least, that was what Evelyn had always been told.
A boating accident off the coast of Maine.
Body recovered three days later.
Closed casket.
Richard rarely spoke about her.
Daniel had spoken about her constantly.
Now Clara was saying Rachel had been alive thirteen years after her supposed death.
Evelyn stared at Richard.
“Tell me my daughter is confused.”
Richard couldn’t.
“Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
Noah swore under his breath.
Clara trembled against Evelyn.
Evelyn kissed her forehead.
“You did nothing wrong.”
Clara looked terrified.
“Grandpa’s mad.”
Richard’s face crumpled.
“No, sweetheart.”
He stepped forward.
Clara pulled away.
That hurt him visibly.
Richard stopped.
“I’m not angry with you.”
Evelyn said, “Leave the room.”
“Evelyn—”
“Now.”
He obeyed.
Noah remained near the door.
Evelyn helped Clara breathe slowly until her shaking stopped.
Rebecca sat beside her.
“What do you remember?”
Evelyn asked carefully.
Clara closed her eyes.
“Aunt Rachel had yellow hair.”
Blonde.
Correct.
“She was in the back beside me.”
“What was she doing?”
“Crying.”
“Was Daddy angry with her?”
“No.”
“With Grandpa?”
Clara nodded.
“Daddy was driving fast.”
Evelyn winced.
“Then Aunt Rachel said somebody was following us.”
Noah leaned forward.
“What happened next?”
“A loud sound.”
“What kind?”
Clara jumped at the memory.
“Bang.”
“A collision?”
“I don’t know.”
She touched the side of her head.
“Daddy yelled. The car turned. Aunt Rachel pushed me down.”
Evelyn’s heart cracked.
“Then?”
“Everything hurt.”
Clara started crying.
Evelyn immediately stopped.
“That’s enough.”
She held her until exhaustion took over.
Within twenty minutes, Clara was asleep.
Evelyn walked into the living room.
Richard stood by the fireplace.
She closed the bedroom door.
“Rachel.”
He stared into the flames.
“Is alive.”
Richard nodded.
Noah said nothing.
Evelyn approached slowly.
“You buried an empty coffin?”
“No.”
“Whose body?”
“A woman named Katherine Bell.”
Evelyn recoiled.
Richard continued before she could speak.
“Katherine was killed in the same boating incident.”
“And Rachel survived.”
“Yes.”
“Why declare her dead?”
Richard’s shoulders sagged.
“Because the boat explosion wasn’t an accident.”
Evelyn almost laughed.
Another accident that wasn’t an accident.
“How many people in this family have enemies trying to murder them?”
“Too many.”
“What happened?”
Richard sat.
“Rachel discovered Meridian before Daniel did.”
Noah stared.
“At twenty-six?”
“She was brilliant.”
Richard smiled sadly.
“More brilliant than any of us.”
Rachel worked briefly inside Ashford Capital.
She found unexplained transfers.
She questioned her father.
Richard lied.
So Rachel investigated on her own.
Victor Sloane learned what she was doing.
The boat exploded two weeks later.
“Katherine died. Rachel survived because she had gone below deck moments before the blast.”
“What did you do?”
“I made a deal.”
“With Sloane?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn’s disgust grew.
“He believed Rachel was dead. I allowed him to continue believing it.”
“You hid your own daughter.”
“I saved my daughter.”
“You let Daniel mourn her.”
Richard looked away.
Evelyn understood.
“You didn’t tell Daniel.”
“No.”
“For thirteen years?”
“No.”
“You watched your son grieve his sister while knowing she was alive.”
“He couldn’t keep a secret.”
“She was his sister.”
“And Victor would have killed her.”
Noah asked, “Where did she go?”
“Canada first. Later Europe.”
“And three years ago?”
“She came back.”
Richard’s voice softened.
“Rachel contacted Daniel without telling me.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Everything was connecting.
“She gave Daniel evidence.”
“Yes.”
“About Meridian.”
“Yes.”
“Why was she in his car that night?”
“They were going to meet a federal prosecutor.”
Noah’s jaw tightened.
“So Sloane stopped them.”
“Probably.”
“What happened to Rachel after the crash?”
“I don’t know.”
Evelyn stared.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“It’s the truth.”
“You knew she survived.”
“I suspected.”
“Why?”
Richard’s voice dropped.
“Because I received a message two days later.”
He took out his phone.
After searching through archived photos, he showed them an image of a handwritten note.
YOU BURIED ME ONCE. DO IT AGAIN. KEEP CLARA SAFE. — R
Evelyn’s stomach twisted.
“Why protect Clara?”
“Because Rachel believed Victor knew Clara had been in the car.”
“She was five.”
“She was a witness.”
Noah cursed quietly.
Evelyn felt rage rise through her.
“Did Sloane ever threaten Clara?”
“Not directly.”
“What does that mean?”
“Three months after the crash, her rehabilitation center received an anonymous photograph.”
Richard swallowed.
“It showed Clara asleep in her hospital bed.”
Evelyn stopped breathing.
“What?”
“I intercepted it.”
“You never told me?”
“You were barely surviving.”
“Stop saying you were protecting me!”
Her voice shook the room.
“You decided what I was allowed to know. You decided what Daniel was allowed to know. You decided Rachel was allowed to disappear. And now I find out someone photographed my five-year-old child while she slept?”
Richard’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Evelyn turned away before anger consumed her.
Noah approached quietly.
“We need to assume Sloane knows Rachel may be alive.”
“And that Clara remembers her.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn looked toward the bedroom.
“The videos.”
Noah understood immediately.
Hundreds of guests had filmed Clara saying she remembered him.
If anyone had captured the later conversation—
“No.”
Evelyn grabbed her phone.
Her communications director answered instantly.
“Evelyn, we’re trying to contain—”
“Find every video from tonight. Especially anything recorded after Clara crossed the ballroom.”
“There are thousands of posts already.”
“Do it.”
She hung up.
Noah was staring at Richard.
“You said Rachel gave Daniel evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel must have hidden it.”
Richard nodded.
“He told me on the phone that he had copies.”
“Where?”
“I never learned.”
Evelyn remembered Daniel’s final week.
He had been distracted.
Sleeping badly.
Locking himself in his study.
One night she found him sitting on Clara’s bedroom floor after midnight.
He had been watching her sleep.
When Evelyn asked what was wrong, Daniel said:
I’m just remembering what matters.
She had kissed him and gone back to bed.
Now the memory hurt.
“What if he left something for me?” she asked.
Richard looked at her.
“You searched his study.”
“After he died. Yes.”
“Did you find anything?”
“No.”
Noah asked, “What about Clara?”
Evelyn frowned.
“What?”
“Daniel knew adults might be searched.”
Noah looked toward the bedroom.
“But nobody searches a five-year-old.”
Evelyn went still.
Clara’s belongings from the crash.
Hospital staff had given Evelyn a plastic bag.
A torn pink coat.
One shoe.
A stuffed rabbit.
A child’s backpack.
Evelyn had never opened the backpack.
She couldn’t.
Everything had gone into storage at the lake house.
“We need to leave.”
Richard stood.
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Victor may be watching.”
“Then we don’t use my cars.”
Noah pulled out his keys.
“My truck is downstairs.”
Richard stared at him.
“You want the CEO of Ashford Capital and her daughter riding through Chicago in a twelve-year-old Ford?”
Noah shrugged.
“It has terrible suspension but no corporate GPS.”
Evelyn almost smiled despite herself.
“We’re going.”
An hour later, Clara slept beneath a blanket in the back seat of Noah’s truck.
Evelyn sat beside Noah.
Richard followed in an unmarked security vehicle.
The rain grew heavier as they drove north.
For several miles, neither spoke.
Then Evelyn said, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Tonight.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“My daughter stood because of something you said.”
“No.”
He glanced at her.
“She stood because she decided she was ready.”
“You gave her courage.”
“I reminded her she already had some.”
Evelyn watched the wet road.
“You always talk like that?”
“Only when I’m trying to sound smarter than I am.”
She laughed.
A real laugh.
It surprised both of them.
Noah smiled.
Then his expression changed as he checked the mirror.
“What?”
“We’re being followed.”
Evelyn turned.
A dark SUV remained three cars behind them.
Noah took the next exit.
The SUV followed.
He turned again.
Still there.
“Call Marcus.”
Evelyn reached for her phone.
Noah suddenly accelerated.
Clara woke.
“Mom?”
“I’m here.”
The SUV moved closer.
Headlights filled the rear window.
Noah’s voice became calm.
“Everybody buckle tight.”
A second vehicle appeared ahead.
Blocking the road.
Noah hit the brakes.
The truck skidded sideways.
Evelyn grabbed Clara.
Two masked men stepped from the vehicle ahead.
Noah shifted into reverse.
The SUV behind them surged forward.
No escape.
Then gunfire cracked through the rain.
Glass exploded.
Clara screamed.
Noah threw himself across Evelyn and Clara.
Another shot.
Then another.
And suddenly the attacking vehicle lurched sideways.
Richard’s security car slammed into it.
Marcus’s men poured out.
The masked attackers fled into the darkness.
Noah lifted his head.
“Everyone okay?”
Evelyn checked Clara frantically.
No blood.
No injury.
“I’m okay,” Clara sobbed.
Noah had blood on his shoulder.
“You’re hit.”
“Glass.”
She tore fabric from his sleeve.
A shallow cut.
Richard’s car door opened.
He staggered toward them.
“Clara!”
Evelyn looked at her father-in-law.
For the first time, she believed one thing completely.
He was terrified for his granddaughter.
Noah stared at the abandoned attacker vehicle.
“One of them dropped something.”
Marcus picked up a phone.
The screen was cracked.
But still illuminated.
A message was visible.
DO NOT HURT THE CHILD. GET THE BACKPACK.
Evelyn’s blood went cold.
Noah looked at her.
“They know.”
“How?”
Richard whispered the answer.
“Rachel.”
Evelyn turned.
Richard stared into the rain.
“If Victor knows about the backpack, Rachel is either captured…”
May you like
He swallowed.
“…or she’s working with him.”
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