Chapter 8
Mara was four years old.
That was what the records showed.
Claire had given birth five months before her fall.
Diane claimed Claire suffered postpartum psychosis.
Then Claire fell from the balcony at the lake house.
After that, Diane took guardianship.
Mara disappeared into “family care.”
No school records under Carter.
No pediatric records after infancy.
No social media.
Nothing.
Detective Morales looked grim.
“Ryan says Mara died.”
I almost laughed.
Of course he did.
Everyone inconvenient in that family died on paper.
“Did she?”
“We have no death certificate.”
My body went cold.
Ryan was questioned again.
This time, he broke.
Not fully.
Men like him rarely give truth unless it saves them.
He admitted Mara was alive.
He claimed Diane sent her to live with distant relatives because Claire was unsafe.
He claimed he did not know where.
Diane refused to speak.
Police searched Diane’s house.
In a locked bedroom, they found children’s clothes.
Not Lily’s size.
Older.
They also found schoolbooks.
A stuffed rabbit.
A diary with three words written over and over.
I want Mommy.
The room spun when I saw the photos.
Rachel took my hand.
“They’ll find her.”
I whispered, “What if they don’t?”
“They will.”
Three days later, police found Mara in a religious boarding home two states away.
Registered under a false name.
Diane had paid cash.
Mara did not know her mother was alive.
She had been told Claire abandoned her.
When I heard that, I held Lily so tightly she complained.
“Mommy squish.”
“Sorry, baby.”
May you like
But I was not sorry.
Not really.
