Chapter 15 - THE VIDEO LILY NEVER REMEMBERED
The video had been recorded in our kitchen six months earlier.
Lily sat at the table in pajamas.
Diane stood behind the camera.
"Tell Mommy what happens when little girls lie," Diane's voice said.
Lily looked frightened.
"They make families go away."
"And what happens if you tell Mommy our secrets?"
Lily swallowed.
"Daddy will leave."
I had to stop the video.
My hands were shaking too badly.
Mark walked outside and punched the wooden fence hard enough to split his knuckle.
When he came back, he was crying.
I had seen my husband cry only twice before.
"She made our daughter believe I would leave her."
Lily had not mentioned the video because she may not have understood it as something unusual.
The file metadata mattered more.
It had been created on Diane's phone, then copied to Victor's computer.
Police obtained an emergency warrant.
By dawn, detectives were searching the Hawthorne Lane house.
They found financial ledgers, forged documents, blank notary forms, and surveillance equipment.
Victor was gone.
Diane was gone too.
But on the kitchen table was a printed itinerary for a flight departing that afternoon.
Destination: Grand Cayman.
Two tickets.
Diane Mercer.
Victor Hale.
"They're running," Mark said.
The detective shook his head.
"Maybe."
There was a third reservation.
Same flight.
Different passenger.
Karen Mercer.
Mark frowned. "I don't know anyone named Karen Mercer."
The detective turned the page.
Date of birth: twenty-eight years earlier.
Emergency contact: Diane Mercer.
Relationship: Mother.
Mark stared at the word.
"My mother has another child?"
No one answered.
Then Thomas Vale called from the hospital.
When Mark said the name Karen, Thomas went silent.
"Thomas?"
The older man finally spoke.
"Mark, Karen isn't Diane's secret daughter."
"Then who is she?"
May you like
Thomas exhaled slowly.
"She's mine."
