Chapter 20 - THE SECRET MY MOTHER TOOK TO HER GRAVE
The Bennett archive was housed inside a private building outside Chicago.
Daniel's grandfather had built it decades earlier.
Family contracts.
Letters.
Financial documents.
Photographs.
Everything was stored there.
Security was extensive.
Whoever entered knew exactly what they wanted.
The thief bypassed two alarms.
Ignored paintings worth millions.
Ignored historical documents.
Ignored financial records.
They opened one locked cabinet.
They removed one file.
My mother's.
Daniel and I flew to Chicago that night.
For the first time since the cliff, I willingly stepped onto his black helicopter.
I looked at him as we lifted away.
"Different feeling?"
He asked.
"Very."
He smiled.
At the archive, investigators showed us the broken cabinet.
Nothing looked random.
Inside the empty drawer was a handwritten inventory card.
LAURA BENNETT.
1974 - 1996.
I stared at the final date.
"My mother died in 2018."
Daniel stepped closer.
"What?"
I pointed.
"Why does this say 1996?"
An elderly archivist named Thomas Gray was brought into the room.
He had worked for the Bennett family for forty-two years.
When he saw me, he almost dropped his keys.
"You look like her."
"My mother?"
Thomas nodded.
Daniel showed him the card.
"Why does Laura's file end in 1996?"
Thomas became uncomfortable.
"I was told never to discuss it."
"By whom?"
"Your father."
Arthur Bennett.
Daniel's father had died twelve years earlier.
I folded my arms.
"My mother was alive long after 1996."
Thomas looked at me.
"Yes."
"You knew?"
"Yes."
Daniel's voice sharpened.
"Thomas."
The old man looked defeated.
"In 1996, Laura came back."
Daniel went completely still.
"What?"
"She came here."
"Why?"
Thomas looked toward me.
"She wanted money."
I immediately shook my head.
"That doesn't sound like my mother."
"It wasn't for herself."
Thomas walked to an old desk.
He opened a hidden compartment.
Inside was a small envelope.
"I kept this because your father ordered me to burn it."
Daniel took the envelope.
His name was written across the front.
He opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
My mother stood outside the Bennett estate.
I recognized her immediately.
Beside her was another woman.
Pregnant.
The date printed on the back was September 1996.
There were four words beneath it.
Daniel read them aloud.
"Protect Emma from Evelyn."
I stared at him.
"Who's Evelyn?"
Thomas sat down.
His hands were trembling.
"Evelyn Bennett."
Daniel looked stunned.
"My sister."
I turned toward him.
"You have a sister?"
"Had."
"What do you mean?"
"She disappeared in 1997."
Thomas shook his head.
"No."
Daniel looked at him.
Thomas's face had gone gray.
"She didn't disappear."
The room became silent.
He pointed toward the photograph.
"Laura helped her escape."
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
"Escape from whom?"
Thomas looked directly at Daniel.
"Your father."
Daniel stepped backward.
I looked again at the pregnant woman standing beside my mother.
Evelyn's hand rested protectively over her stomach.
My mother's arm was around her.
Then I noticed something tucked behind the photograph.
A photocopy of an old birth certificate.
Daniel unfolded it.
A baby girl.
Born February 1997.
Mother.
Evelyn Bennett.
Father.
Blank.
The child's name was printed clearly.
Rachel Bennett.
I stared at Daniel.
"Do you know her?"
"No."
Thomas whispered.
"You should."
Daniel slowly looked toward him.
"Why?"
Thomas pointed toward the date.
"Because Laura spent twenty years making sure nobody in your family found that child."
My pulse accelerated.
"Where is Rachel now?"
Thomas looked terrified.
"I don't know."
Daniel grabbed the edge of the desk.
"Then why would someone steal Laura's file now?"
Thomas's answer came quietly.
"Because whoever took it knows Emma survived."
I felt cold again.
Not mountain cold.
Something deeper.
Thomas looked toward the security camera above the door.
"And if they know Emma survived, they know Daniel found her."
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
A photograph loaded onto the screen.
James.
Sleeping in his crib.
Taken from inside my Denver home.
My blood stopped.
Below the photograph were seven words.
MICHAEL WAS NEVER THE REAL THREAT, EMMA.
Then another message appeared.
ASK DANIEL WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS SISTER.
I turned toward my father.
His face had gone white.
Outside the archive, alarms suddenly began screaming.
Daniel reached for his phone.
The lights went out.
May you like
And somewhere in the darkness behind us, a woman laughed.
TOBE CONTINUED
