Chapter 1 - THE SPLASH
Clara Bennett heard the splash, then her daughter's scream stopped.
She dropped her coffee and ran barefoot through the Dallas mansion. The patio doors stood open. A yellow rubber duck floated in the deep end of the pool. Under it, something pink disappeared beneath the surface.
“Rosie!”
Elena Ruiz was already in the water, her housekeeping dress dragging around her legs. She broke the surface with two-year-old Rosie against her shoulder and hauled herself toward the steps. Clara fell to her knees and took her daughter's small, cold hand.
“Please breathe, baby. Please.”
Rosie coughed hard. Water spilled from her mouth. Then came a thin, furious cry. Elena wrapped her in a towel and kept her upright, watching her breathing.
“Call 911,” Elena said. “She needs the hospital. Now.”
Clara fumbled for her phone. Only then did she notice Beatrice Mercer standing beside the pool gate. Her stepmother wore white linen and expensive sunglasses. She didn't look surprised. She looked annoyed that Rosie had survived.
“What happened?” Clara demanded.
“Children wander.” Beatrice examined her manicure. “Maybe you should watch yours.”
“The gate locks. Rosie can't open it.”
Beatrice gave a small, ugly smile. “Then perhaps somebody left it open.”
Clara spotted something caught on the latch: a short strip of red ribbon. Rosie's hair bows were yellow. Clara had never seen the ribbon before.
Elena's voice sharpened. “Clara, she's getting sleepy.”
As Clara relayed instructions from the emergency dispatcher, Beatrice leaned close enough that only Clara could hear her.
“Your father left fifty million dollars in trust. One finding that you're an unfit mother, and I can ask the court to put someone responsible in charge.”
“You wouldn't dare.”
Beatrice looked toward the wet child in Elena's arms. “You really don't know what I'd dare.”
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The ambulance siren rose in the distance. Behind Beatrice, on the pool-house wall, the security camera's little green light abruptly turned red.
