Chapter 6 - Lily's Mother
Lily couldn't move.
"My mother died when I was fourteen."
Claire nodded.
"I know."
"You knew her?"
"She saved me."
Outside, sirens wailed through the storm.
Claire spoke fast.
Twenty-two years earlier, Lily's mother, Rachel Monroe, had been an emergency-room nurse volunteering at a flood shelter. Thomas brought Claire there after dragging her from the house.
He told staff his daughter was hysterical and dangerous.
Rachel didn't believe him.
"She hid me in a supply truck," Claire said. "She gave me food, clothes, and one of those rabbits from a donation box. There were two."
Lily looked at the rabbit in her hand.
"She gave the other to me."
"Years later, yes."
Ethan frowned. "If Mom helped Claire escape, why did Claire stay gone?"
Claire looked toward the ceiling.
"Because Dad found me again."
She had spent years moving between relatives, shelters, and false names while Rachel collected evidence.
Then Rachel died in what police called a single-car accident.
Lily's throat closed.
"No."
Claire reached for her hand.
"Your mother wasn't drunk. She didn't fall asleep at the wheel."
That was what everyone had told Lily.
A tired nurse.
A wet road.
A tragic mistake.
Claire pulled a photocopied crash report from the waterproof packet.
The brake line had been cut.
Lily stared at the page until the letters blurred.
"Thomas killed her?"
"I don't know who physically did it," Claire said. "But she had mailed evidence to someone three days earlier."
"Who?"
Claire pointed to a name written in Rachel's handwriting.
Ethan leaned closer.
Then went still.
The name belonged to his mother.
RUTH COLE.
Ethan whispered, "Mom told me she never heard from Rachel."
Claire shook her head.
"Then your mother lied too."
Above them, the front door slammed.
A woman's voice called through the dark house.
"Ethan?"
May you like
He turned white.
"Mom?"
