Chapter 17 - Lindsay
Lindsay Hart opened the door holding a shotgun.
"Who sent you?"
Madeline raised both hands. "No one. Detective Ruiz is outside. We found your photograph in Evelyn Voss's cabin."
Lindsay's face changed.
She was fifty-eight now, with silver in her hair and a scar along her jaw.
She let them inside.
Her story filled the room like smoke.
Twenty years earlier, Lindsay had been married to a venture capitalist who partnered with Preston's father. When she refused to sign away property inherited from her mother, her husband began telling people she was unstable.
Then came the pills she didn't remember taking.
The appointments she didn't remember making.
The diagnosis.
The guardianship.
"I ran before they could finish it," Lindsay said. "I changed my name. I left my son behind because they told me he'd be safer without a crazy mother."
Madeline's eyes burned.
"You weren't crazy."
Lindsay laughed once. "I know that now. Took me ten years to believe it."
She had saved letters, bank statements, and one cassette recording of Evelyn discussing payments to Dr. Mercer.
Enough to connect the old cases to the new one.
"Why send the photo now?" Ruiz asked.
"I didn't."
Silence.
Madeline's phone vibrated.
A message from Serena.
I SENT IT. I FOUND HER YEARS AGO. I WAS BUILDING A FILE IN CASE PRESTON CAME AFTER ME TOO.
Madeline read it twice.
Serena had known more than she'd admitted.
When they returned to the city, Madeline went straight to Serena's hospital room.
"How long?" she asked.
Serena didn't pretend not to understand.
"Almost a year."
"You knew what his family did for a year and still put drugs in my drinks?"
Serena began to cry.
"I thought I could get enough proof to stop them."
"You could have told me."
"He had photos of Celia buying pills. He said he'd send her back to prison. He said he'd take Poppy from you if you accused him without proof."
Madeline stared at the woman she'd called her best friend.
Then Serena whispered, "There's one thing I still haven't told police."
Madeline's stomach dropped.
"What?"
May you like
Serena looked at the closed door.
"Preston wasn't the one who chose you."
