Chapter 2 - My Mother’s Name
For several seconds, nobody moved.
My mother had been dead for eighteen years.
Her name was Laura Carter.
She had worked two jobs, raised me alone, and died from complications after a car accident when I was eleven.
There was nothing mysterious about her.
At least, that was what I had believed.
I stared at Vanessa.
“What did you say?”
Vanessa’s eyes darted toward the front doors.
Daniel noticed.
“Lock them.”
The estate manager hesitated.
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“Nobody leaves until we understand what just happened.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You can’t hold me here.”
“You’re free to call the police.”
That shut her up.
Margaret lowered herself into a chair.
She looked suddenly older.
I turned to her.
“Do you know what Vanessa is talking about?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Daniel heard it too.
“Mom.”
“I said no.”
“Then why are you shaking?”
Margaret looked down.
Her hands were trembling.
My anger replaced my fear.
“You know something.”
“Emily, tonight has already been difficult.”
“Difficult?”
I pointed at Vanessa.
“She planted a nine-hundred-thousand-dollar necklace in my bag and slapped me in front of thirty people.”
My voice cracked.
“And now she’s talking about my dead mother.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Please.”
“No.”
I had spent years being polite in rich people’s homes.
Years pretending not to hear comments about “the help.”
Years smiling when guests dropped wine glasses and walked away.
I was done being quiet.
“What did my mother have to do with this family?”
Margaret finally looked at me.
“She worked here.”
My entire body went still.
“When?”
“Before you were born.”
“How long?”
“Almost six years.”
I laughed once because the alternative was screaming.
“You hired me three years ago.”
“Yes.”
“You knew who I was?”
“Yes.”
Daniel turned sharply.
“You told me Emily came through the staffing agency.”
“She did.”
“But you knew her mother?”
Margaret’s face tightened.
“I recognized her surname.”
“That’s a lie,” I said.
She stared at me.
“My surname is Carter. Half the country has that surname.”
Silence.
I suddenly remembered something from my interview.
Margaret had asked me my mother’s maiden name.
At the time, I thought it was harmless conversation.
“Why did you ask me if Laura’s maiden name was Bennett?”
Margaret’s face collapsed.
Daniel whispered, “Mom?”
Vanessa gave a bitter laugh.
“Finally.”
Margaret glared at her.
“Be quiet.”
“No.”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“You’ve protected this secret for thirty years. Look where that got us.”
Daniel stepped between us.
“What secret?”
Vanessa looked directly at him.
“The reason your mother gave Emily a job wasn’t charity.”
Margaret stood.
“Vanessa.”
“She wanted her close.”
“Stop.”
“She wanted to watch her.”
“I said stop!”
Vanessa’s smile returned, but now it looked desperate.
“You should ask your mother why Laura Carter suddenly disappeared from this house.”
I felt cold.
“My mother told me she worked at a hotel.”
“She lied.”
“Why?”
Vanessa stared at Margaret.
“Because Margaret paid her to disappear.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Margaret whispered, “That isn’t what happened.”
“Then tell her what happened.”
Margaret’s lips trembled.
Daniel looked between us.
“Mom.”
For the first time, his voice sounded frightened.
“What happened to Laura?”
Margaret sat back down.
“She found something.”
“What?”
“Records.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Not just records.”
Margaret shot her a warning look.
Vanessa ignored it.
“She found out who was stealing from the Whitmore Foundation.”
Daniel frowned.
“The foundation?”
The Whitmore Foundation funded housing programs, shelters, food banks, scholarships.
Daniel’s grandfather had created it forty years earlier.
Margaret whispered, “Laura discovered money was being diverted.”
“How much?”
“Millions.”
My pulse hammered.
“Who was taking it?”
Margaret stared at the floor.
She didn’t answer.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Mom.”
Finally, Margaret looked at him.
“Your father.”
Silence.
Daniel’s father, Charles Whitmore, had died ten years ago.
He was still celebrated throughout the city.
Hospitals carried his name.
Libraries displayed his portrait.
Daniel stumbled backward.
“That’s impossible.”
“It isn’t.”
My voice came out barely above a whisper.
“And my mother knew?”
“Yes.”
“What did she do?”
“She copied everything.”
Vanessa suddenly stopped smiling.
That was when I understood.
“Where are the copies?”
Margaret looked at me.
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa interrupted.
“She does.”
“No, I don’t.”
“She has to.”
Vanessa stepped toward me.
“That’s why I needed you out of this house.”
Daniel blocked her.
“You’re not getting near her.”
Vanessa’s eyes remained fixed on mine.
“Laura left something behind before she disappeared.”
My skin prickled.
“What?”
“A key.”
I almost laughed.
“My mother never gave me any key.”
Vanessa tilted her head.
“Are you sure?”
Then I remembered the old brass key that had hung from my mother’s charm bracelet.
I had kept it for eighteen years.
And that morning, I had brought it to the mansion.
It was sitting upstairs.
Inside my locker.
Vanessa saw the realization on my face.
May you like
Her eyes widened.
And before I could say a word, every light in the mansion went out.
