Chapter 5 - THE DEAD WOMAN
Richard called the number back.
Disconnected.
Again.
Nothing.
Detective Brooks took his phone.
“We’ll trace it.”
Richard barely heard her.
Caroline.
Alive.
Every memory from the past three years crashed into him at once.
The police knocking at his door.
The wrecked car.
The funeral.
Sophie asking when Mommy was coming home.
His own months of grief.
Brooks touched his shoulder.
“Go upstairs. Stay with your daughter.”
Richard found Sophie in the guest bedroom with the doctor.
She smiled weakly.
“Daddy.”
He sat beside her.
“Can I ask you something?”
Sophie nodded.
“The lady who comes at night… did you see her face?”
“Sometimes.”
“Did she look like Mommy?”
Sophie’s eyes widened.
Richard’s heart pounded.
“Was it Mommy?”
Sophie slowly shook her head.
“No.”
Richard frowned.
“Then who?”
“She said she was Mommy’s sister.”
Caroline had no sister.
At least none Richard knew about.
“Did she tell you her name?”
“Claire.”
Richard stopped.
Caroline’s birth name had been Caroline Claire Avery.
Brooks entered behind him.
“We traced the call.”
“Where?”
“A prepaid phone. Cell tower near Briarwood.”
Richard knew the name.
Briarwood Psychiatric Center had closed seven years earlier.
It was thirty miles north.
Vanessa was brought into the room in handcuffs.
She glared at Richard.
“Congratulations. You finally started asking questions.”
Richard stood.
“Tell me where Caroline is.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You still think this is about Caroline.”
“Where is my wife?”
“She stopped being your wife a long time ago.”
Brooks interrupted.
“Vanessa, this is your opportunity to cooperate.”
Vanessa’s eyes moved to Sophie.
Then she said something Richard would never forget.
“Ask him why Caroline’s brakes failed.”
Richard stepped toward her.
“What are you saying?”
“She found out what Sterling Industries was doing.”
“What?”
“She was going to expose somebody.”
“Who?”
Vanessa leaned closer.
“Your father.”
Richard stared at her.
“My father died nine years ago.”
Vanessa smiled.
“Did he?”
Before Richard could answer, every light in the mansion went out.
Sophie screamed.
May you like
Richard grabbed her.
Then a gunshot cracked from downstairs.
