Chapter 4
Drea did not confess at first.
People like Drea never gave truth away.
They dressed lies better.
She told police that Mom had come back wild and confused.
She said Mom broke into the pool house.
She said Mom wanted to kidnap me.
She said Drea locked the door to protect the party guests.
Then Detective Marlowe showed her the housewarming video.
Drea’s own voice filled the room.
“A new home. A new life. No more ghosts.”
She had said it while my mother knocked from the pool house behind her.
Drea still did not confess.
So police searched the lake house.
That was where the story changed.
I was not allowed to go.
Dad went with Detective Marlowe and came back looking like he had aged twenty years.
I was in Mom’s hospital room, eating crackers from a package Grace bought me.
Mom was asleep.
Her hand was wrapped around mine.
Dad stood in the doorway.
“Calla.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“They found a room.”
My stomach tightened.
“What room?”
“Behind the pantry shelves.”
I stopped chewing.
Mom’s eyes opened.
Dad stepped closer, then stopped when she stiffened.
“A hidden storage room,” he said. “There was a cot. Bottled water. A chain lock on the outside. Your scarf was there.”
Mom’s fingers tightened around mine.
My blue scarf.
The one she wore the day she disappeared.
Dad covered his mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
Mom looked at the ceiling.
“Did they find the camera?”
Dad froze.
“What camera?”
She turned her head slowly.
“There was a small camera near the ceiling. Drea said it was so she could make sure I behaved.”
Detective Marlowe was called immediately.
By evening, police found the camera.
By midnight, they found the cloud account.
And by morning, they knew Drea had not acted alone.
There were payments from Dad’s old business partner, Malcolm Pierce.
That name made Dad sit down.
Mom looked at him.
“You know him.”
Dad nodded.
“He handled the estate sale. The lake house. Some investments.”
Mom’s voice turned cold.
“He came to the lake house.”
Dad looked sick.
“What?”
“He told Drea not to panic when I got sick. He said once enough time passed, nobody would believe me if I returned.”
Grace whispered, “Why would Malcolm do this?”
Mom looked at Dad.
“Because I found the trust documents.”
Dad’s face went blank.
“What trust documents?”
Mom closed her eyes.
“Your mother changed her will before she died. She left the lake house and half the Whitmore family shares to Calla. Not to you. Not to Drea. To Calla.”
I did not understand all the words.
But I understood Dad’s face.
Shock.
Then shame.
Then fear.
“I never saw that will.”
“I know,” Mom said. “I found a copy in the lake house desk. Malcolm walked in while I was reading it.”
Dad whispered, “The day you vanished.”
“Yes.”
The room went cold.
Mom continued.
“He said it would ruin everything. Drea was with him. She said you would never believe I found it by accident.”
Dad’s hands shook.
“Where is the will?”
Mom looked at me.
“I hid it.”
Drea had kept Mom alive because she needed the will.
That realization came slowly, then all at once.
“She kept asking where it was,” Mom said. “At first she tried to scare me. Then she tried to starve me. Then she cried and said she needed the money because you were going to leave her.”
Dad looked like he might be sick.
“I married her because I thought you left.”
Mom’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
That was the cruelest part.
Drea had stolen my mother.
Then taken her place.
Detective Marlowe arrived with another officer.
Mom told him everything she could.
Her voice shook, but she did not stop.
The day she disappeared.
The hidden will.
Drea and Malcolm.
The lake house room.
The move to the pool house because the lake house was being inspected for sale.
Then she looked at me.
“Calla knows where the will is.”
Every adult turned toward me.
I froze.
“I do?”
Mom smiled weakly.
“The fairy mailbox.”
My breath caught.
At the old house, Mom and I had a secret place under the loose brick by the garden fountain.
We called it the fairy mailbox.
We left notes there.
Tiny drawings.
Pressed flowers.
Birthday wishes.
“Did you put it there?” I whispered.
“I put the key there.”
Dad stood.
“What key?”
May you like
Mom looked at him.
“The key to your mother’s safe deposit box.”
