Chapter 4 - The Man Catherine Trusted
The doorbell rang once.
Nobody moved.
Vanessa stared through the front window as if the man outside were a ghost.
The bell rang again.
Madison slipped the memory card into her pocket.
Lily looked at Vanessa.
“You know him.”
“No.”
“You said no when you saw him.”
“I said nothing.”
“You did,” Madison said.
Vanessa shot her a warning look.
The man knocked this time.
“David?”
His voice carried through the door.
“This is Thomas Bell. I’m sorry it’s late.”
Lily recognized the name.
Not the man.
The name.
She had seen it somewhere.
A Christmas card?
One of her mother’s folders?
Then she remembered.
Her mother’s funeral.
A man standing alone near the back of the church.
He had spoken briefly to David, handed him an envelope, and left before the reception.
Thomas Bell.
Vanessa reached for the deadbolt.
“Both of you upstairs.”
“No,” Madison said.
Vanessa spun.
“Now.”
Thomas knocked again.
“I can see the kitchen lights.”
Lily moved toward the door.
Vanessa caught her arm.
Madison immediately stepped forward.
“Let go.”
Vanessa tightened her grip.
Lily winced.
Thomas’s voice changed.
“Is someone in there?”
Madison yelled, “Yes!”
Vanessa released Lily and hissed, “You idiot.”
Thomas tried the handle.
Locked.
“I’m calling David.”
Vanessa quickly opened the door.
Cold rain blew across the threshold.
Thomas Bell was in his late fifties, wearing a dark raincoat and holding a thick accordion folder beneath one arm.
His eyes moved from Vanessa to Madison.
Then to Lily.
He stopped.
“Lily?”
She nodded.
His face softened.
“You look like your mother.”
Vanessa stepped into his path.
“David isn’t home.”
“I figured that out.”
“What are you doing here?”
Thomas looked at her.
There was no surprise in his expression.
He knew her.
“Vanessa Hale.”
Madison closed her eyes.
There it was.
Not Pierce.
Hale.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“My name is Carter.”
“Tonight, maybe.”
Lily stared at him.
Thomas looked toward her again.
“I’m sorry. That was unnecessary.”
Vanessa lowered her voice.
“You need to leave.”
“I received an alert.”
“What alert?”
“From Catherine’s archive account.”
Vanessa went completely still.
Lily stepped closer.
“What archive?”
Thomas looked at the old phone charger cable hanging from Lily’s hand.
“I think you already found part of it.”
Vanessa blocked the doorway wider.
“You are not speaking to a child without her father present.”
Thomas removed his phone.
“Agreed. I called David four minutes ago.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
“He’s dealing with an emergency.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“He answered.”
Lily’s heart jumped.
Thomas continued.
“He told me to come inside and stay with Lily until he gets back.”
Vanessa seemed genuinely shocked.
Thomas raised one eyebrow.
“Unless you would prefer I wait in the rain.”
She stepped aside.
Thomas entered.
The atmosphere changed the moment he did.
Vanessa no longer controlled the room.
Not completely.
Thomas placed the accordion folder on the kitchen table.
“What did you find?”
Lily glanced at Madison.
Madison removed the memory card.
Vanessa said, “Do not give him that.”
Thomas looked at her.
“Why?”
“Those are private medical recordings.”
“Catherine created them.”
“She was heavily medicated.”
Thomas’s eyes sharpened.
“I know exactly what condition Catherine was in when she created them.”
Vanessa went silent.
Lily asked, “Who are you?”
Thomas looked at her.
“I was your mother’s accountant for eleven years.”
That sounded impossibly ordinary.
“You drove here at midnight because of accounting?”
A faint smile touched his face.
“No.”
He tapped the folder.
“I also helped her document what she believed was happening inside this house.”
Lily’s pulse quickened.
Thomas sat.
“Your mother contacted me about four months before she died. She believed someone who had access to her medical care had copied financial records.”
“Vanessa.”
Thomas glanced at her.
“Catherine believed so.”
“I didn’t steal anything,” Vanessa snapped.
Thomas ignored her.
“She also believed someone had tried to change the designated contact on one of Lily’s custodial accounts.”
Madison frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas turned to Lily.
“Your mother created an education and support account for you. Nothing enormous, but enough to matter. She was concerned someone had tried to add themselves as an authorized representative.”
Lily looked at Vanessa.
Vanessa laughed.
“This is ridiculous.”
Thomas opened the folder.
“The bank didn’t think so.”
He removed a copy of a form.
Vanessa stared at it.
Thomas continued.
“The request was rejected because the signature didn’t match Catherine’s.”
Madison whispered, “Forgery?”
“I did not say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Thomas turned to Lily.
“Your mother didn’t want to frighten you while she was sick. She also didn’t want David fighting another battle while trying to keep the company running and pay her medical expenses.”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
“So she kept it secret.”
“She gathered evidence.”
“Why didn’t she tell Dad?”
“She intended to.”
Thomas hesitated.
“But then she became much weaker very quickly.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Cancer does that.”
Thomas looked at her for a long moment.
“Yes.”
Something about the way he said it made Lily uncomfortable.
Not accusation.
Something closer to suspicion.
Lily sat beside him.
“What did Mom want you to do?”
Thomas reached into the folder and removed a sealed envelope.
Across the front, in Catherine’s handwriting, were four words.
FOR LILY, IF NECESSARY.
Lily stopped breathing.
Thomas placed it on the table.
“She told me not to open this unless one of two things happened.”
“What things?”
“If Vanessa Hale ever came back into your family’s life.”
The room became silent.
“Or?”
Thomas looked directly at Lily.
“If you were ever in danger inside your own home.”
Vanessa lunged for the envelope.
Thomas grabbed it first.
Madison moved between them.
“Back off.”
“This man is manipulating you.”
“No,” Madison said. “You’ve been manipulating everybody.”
Vanessa pointed at her.
“You have no idea what I sacrificed for you.”
Madison’s face changed.
“I know exactly what you sacrificed.”
“What does that mean?”
Madison took one slow step backward.
For a moment Lily thought Madison was afraid to answer.
Then she lifted her chin.
“Every place we ever lived, you told me we were leaving because someone treated you badly.”
Vanessa stared at her.
“The apartment in Dayton. The house in Newark. Mrs. Keller’s place. That family in Dublin.”
“Madison.”
“You always said someone lied about you.”
“Stop.”
“What if they weren’t lying?”
Vanessa slapped her hand against the table.
“I said stop!”
Thomas stood.
“Enough.”
Vanessa turned on him.
“You don’t belong here.”
“The child with a bruise on her face suggests otherwise.”
Lily instinctively touched her cheek.
Vanessa’s expression shifted.
Thomas noticed.
“So that wasn’t an accident.”
Lily stared at the floor.
Thomas lowered his voice.
“Lily.”
She couldn’t answer.
“What happened?”
Vanessa interrupted.
“She slipped.”
Thomas looked at Lily.
“Did you?”
The question was simple.
But Lily had been asked simple questions before.
Teachers.
Neighbors.
Her father.
What happened?
Are you okay?
Did you fall?
Every time she had lied.
Because Vanessa was always nearby.
Because Madison always backed her mother.
Because David looked exhausted.
Because Lily did not want to destroy the first happiness he had shown since Catherine died.
Now Madison stood beside her.
Thomas stood across from her.
Vanessa stood near the stove.
Lily saw fear in Vanessa’s eyes.
Not power.
Fear.
Lily whispered, “No.”
Vanessa inhaled.
Thomas remained very still.
“No, what?”
“I didn’t slip.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Lily—”
Thomas raised one hand.
“Let her speak.”
Lily’s voice shook.
“She hit me.”
The words were barely audible.
But once they existed, Lily could not take them back.
“She hits me when Dad is gone.”
Vanessa’s face emptied.
Lily kept going.
“She makes me clean Madison’s room. She makes me wash her clothes. Sometimes she doesn’t let me eat dinner if I talk back.”
Madison looked horrified.
“I didn’t know about dinner.”
Lily turned.
“You laughed.”
Madison’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
“You told Dad I fell.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Madison started crying.
“Because she does it to me too.”
Vanessa’s head snapped toward her.
Madison wiped her face angrily.
“She’s done it my whole life.”
Thomas took out his phone.
Vanessa said, “What are you doing?”
“Calling the police.”
Vanessa moved toward him.
Thomas backed away.
“No.”
“Put that down.”
“No.”
Lily looked at the envelope.
Her mother had expected this.
Somehow.
Two years ago, while dying, Catherine had looked far enough into the future to fear that Vanessa might return.
Thomas dialed.
Vanessa suddenly grabbed her purse from the counter.
Madison saw it first.
“Mom?”
Vanessa rushed toward the garage.
Thomas moved to block her.
She shoved a kitchen chair into his path.
It crashed sideways.
“Vanessa!”
Madison ran after her.
Lily followed.
The garage door flew open.
Vanessa reached her SUV.
Madison caught the passenger door before she could close it.
“What are you doing?”
“Move.”
“Where are you going?”
“Move!”
Madison grabbed her mother’s arm.
Vanessa pushed her so hard she fell against the concrete.
Lily screamed.
Thomas rushed into the garage.
Vanessa started the engine.
The garage door began rising.
Rain blew beneath it.
Then a truck swung into the driveway.
David.
He slammed on the brakes when Vanessa’s SUV shot backward.
For half a second, both vehicles nearly collided.
David jumped from the truck.
“What the hell is going on?”
Vanessa froze behind the wheel.
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
Thomas appeared beside Lily holding Catherine’s sealed envelope.
David looked at the bruise on Lily’s face.
Then at Madison on the garage floor.
Then at his wife trying to flee.
“What happened?”
Lily stepped toward her father.
This time she did not lie.
“She hit me, Dad.”
David went completely still.
Lily pointed at Vanessa.
“And Mom knew who she was.”
Thomas held out Catherine’s envelope.
“David.”
His voice was grave.
“There is something your wife tried very hard to make sure you never learned.”
May you like
Behind them, Vanessa threw the SUV into reverse.
And the vehicle suddenly accelerated directly toward Thomas.
