Chapter 8 - ISABEL
Gabriel gripped the back of a chair.
“You met Isabel.”
Martin nodded.
“Twelve years ago.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know now.”
Gabriel crossed the distance between them.
“You had twelve years to tell me.”
“My father made me promise.”
“Your father helped hide my mother.”
“My father helped her survive.”
Martin stood.
“He spent the rest of his life trying to make up for what happened to Rose Mercer.”
Evelyn stepped forward.
“Walter was driving the Cadillac.”
Martin nodded.
The truth struck her visibly.
“He was ordered to stop Catherine’s car,” Martin said. “Not kill anyone. He tried to force it off the road. Rose lost control.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“He killed her.”
“Yes.”
Martin didn’t soften it.
“And he never forgave himself.”
Gabriel looked at the necklace chain.
“How did you find Isabel?”
“My father kept track of Catherine after she disappeared. Quietly. When he died, I inherited his notebooks.”
“Where are they?”
“Burned.”
Gabriel’s expression darkened.
“By you?”
“By Isabel.”
That stopped him.
“Why?”
“Because she wanted this family to leave her alone.”
Gabriel looked stunned.
Martin continued.
“She knew about you. She knew Anthony had lied. She knew Michael was dead.”
“And she blamed me?”
“No.”
“Then why stay away?”
“Because Catherine raised her to believe proximity to the DeLucas got people killed.”
Nobody had an answer to that.
Anna thought of Rose.
Michael.
Thomas.
It wasn’t irrational fear.
It was history.
“Why threaten Lily?” Anna asked.
Martin stared at her.
“I didn’t.”
“The messages knew about the envelope.”
“I sent no messages.”
“You copied my access code.”
“Yes.”
Anna’s anger rose.
“Why?”
“To retrieve Catherine’s envelope before Lauren found it.”
Lauren stiffened.
Martin looked at her.
“I saw you searching the west wing.”
“So you framed Anna?”
“I used her code because I thought nobody would suspect her.”
Anna laughed in disbelief.
“They tried to fire me!”
“I know.”
“You put my job at risk. My daughter depends on that job.”
Martin looked ashamed.
“I made a terrible calculation.”
“Yes.”
Anna’s voice shook.
“You did.”
Gabriel stepped between them.
“Who sent the threats?”
Martin reached into his jacket.
Anna tensed.
He removed a phone.
“I found this in Anthony’s sitting room.”
Anthony’s face changed.
“It isn’t mine.”
“No,” Martin said. “It belongs to one of your nurses.”
Gabriel looked toward the hallway.
“Which one?”
“Daniel Price.”
Anthony frowned.
“He started three months ago.”
Lauren looked at Gabriel.
“After I found Eleanor.”
Gabriel understood.
Someone had placed Daniel near Anthony because Lauren was getting too close.
Martin handed him the phone.
The deleted messages to Anna had been recovered.
But there were others.
Instructions.
Photos.
One showed Lauren entering Eleanor’s Baltimore apartment.
Another showed Anna in the west wing.
Another showed Lily leaving school.
Anna felt physically sick.
Gabriel’s face became frighteningly calm.
“Where is Price?”
“Gone,” Martin said. “Security checked his room.”
“Who hired him?”
“The agency records were falsified.”
Gabriel scrolled.
Then stopped.
A message from an unsaved number.
If the maid finds the medal, move Isabel.
Gabriel looked up.
“She’s alive.”
Martin nodded.
“At least whoever sent that believed she was.”
Lauren leaned over the phone.
“Can we trace the number?”
“Prepaid,” Martin said.
Anna looked again at Lily’s drawing.
The woman at the upstairs window.
“Wait.”
She called Rachel.
“Put Lily on.”
A moment later Lily’s sleepy voice answered.
“Mom?”
“Sweetheart, remember the picture you drew for Mr. Marty?”
“Yeah.”
“Who is the woman in the window?”
Lily was quiet.
“The lady who gave me cookies.”
Anna froze.
“What lady?”
“At your work.”
“When?”
“The day you brought me because Aunt Rachel had the dentist.”
Anna remembered.
Three weeks earlier.
Lily had spent forty minutes in the staff kitchen.
“What did she look like?”
“Brown hair. Like yours.”
“Did she tell you her name?”
“Bella.”
Gabriel heard.
His eyes closed.
Isabel.
Maybe.
“Anything else?”
“She had your boss’s eyes.”
Anna looked at Gabriel.
“Did she wear a necklace?”
Lily thought.
“A little silver one.”
Anna’s heart pounded.
“With a round thing?”
“Yeah.”
Gabriel opened his hand.
The St. Christopher medal rested in his palm.
Martin whispered, “She came here.”
“Why?” Lauren asked.
Gabriel looked toward the mansion.
“To see me.”
Evelyn suddenly covered her mouth.
“I know Bella.”
Everyone turned.
“She worked two charity events here.”
“As what?”
“Caterer.”
Gabriel immediately went to the household records.
Twenty minutes later they found her.
Isabel Bennett.
Temporary catering staff.
Emergency contact blank.
Address listed as a small apartment in West Chester.
Gabriel stared at the page.
His sister had walked through his home twice.
He had probably passed her without knowing.
Anna touched his arm.
He looked at her.
“You couldn’t recognize someone you’d never met.”
“I should have.”
“No.”
Her voice was firm.
“You should have been told she existed.”
That mattered.
She saw it in his face.
They drove to West Chester.
The apartment was empty.
Not abandoned.
Just recently vacated.
A coffee cup remained beside the sink.
Books were stacked in boxes.
On the refrigerator hung a photograph.
Catherine.
Older.
Alive.
Gabriel crossed the room.
His hand trembled as he touched it.
Beside Catherine stood Isabel, perhaps twenty-five in the photograph.
On Catherine’s other side stood a little boy.
Gabriel stared.
“Who is he?”
Martin looked equally confused.
Anna turned the photograph over.
Mom, Isabel & Noah — Christmas 2015.
“Noah,” Lauren whispered.
Gabriel looked at Martin.
“Isabel has a son?”
“I didn’t know.”
Anna searched the counter.
A child’s drawing had been left beneath a magnet.
A house.
Three people.
Grandma.
Mom.
Noah.
In the corner was a fourth person drawn far away.
A man in a suit.
Above him:
UNCLE GABE
Gabriel sat down.
His nephew knew about him.
A sound came from the bedroom.
Everyone froze.
Gabriel moved toward it.
Anna followed.
The bedroom door was open.
No person.
Only a phone vibrating on the floor.
Martin picked it up.
One new message appeared on the lock screen.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE PAST BURIED.
Then another.
ASK LAUREN WHAT MARGARET DID WITH THE BABY.
Lauren went white.
“I don’t know.”
Gabriel turned toward her.
“Then we find out.”
Lauren stared at the message.
“My grandmother died seven years ago.”
Anna remembered the yellow-rose blanket.
“Did she leave anything?”
Lauren slowly nodded.
“A storage unit.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“What’s inside?”
“I haven’t opened it since the funeral.”
They reached the unit before noon.
Lauren unlocked it herself.
Boxes filled the space.
Furniture.
Clothes.
Christmas decorations.
Then Anna saw the cedar chest.
Lauren opened it.
The yellow-rose baby blanket lay on top.
Underneath were photographs.
Catherine holding newborn Isabel.
Margaret Whitmore beside her.
Walter Hale.
Thomas Hart.
All of them connected.
Then Gabriel found a hospital bracelet.
BABY GIRL DELUCA.
Lauren whispered, “Isabel.”
Anna looked deeper.
Another bracelet lay beneath it.
Same date.
Different name.
BABY GIRL MERCER.
Evelyn gasped.
“Mercer?”
Rose Mercer.
Gabriel stared at the bracelet.
“There were two babies.”
Lauren pulled out a sealed envelope.
Her grandmother’s handwriting covered the front.
FOR LAUREN — IF THE DELUCAS EVER LEARN THE TRUTH.
Lauren opened it.
She read silently.
Her face collapsed.
Gabriel took the letter.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then he looked at Lauren.
Anna had never seen such confusion on his face.
“What?”
Lauren whispered.
Gabriel handed her the letter.
“My sister wasn’t the only baby Catherine took from that hospital.”
Lauren stared at him.
May you like
Gabriel’s next words were barely audible.
“Your mother was Rose Mercer’s daughter.”
