Chapter 4
Deputy Mark Harlan drew his weapon.
“Everyone, show me your hands!”
Rachel lifted both hands immediately.
“I’m unarmed.”
Claire pointed toward the porch.
“She put the gun there.”
“It belongs to Daniel,” Rachel said.
Daniel raised his hands.
“It’s mine.”
Deputy Harlan’s attention shifted.
“Step away from the weapon.”
Daniel obeyed.
The deputy approached cautiously, retrieved the pistol, and secured it.
Mia began screaming from the car.
“Mommy!”
Rachel turned her head.
“Stay in the car, sweetheart.”
“Face forward,” the deputy ordered.
“My daughter is terrified.”
“I said face forward.”
Rachel forced herself to comply.
Claire began sobbing with startling conviction.
“She attacked me. Then Daniel pulled the gun. They’re trying to force me to sign over the property.”
Rachel stared at her.
Only minutes earlier, Claire had admitted the truth.
Now her expression was soft and wounded.
A faint bruise darkened her arm where Daniel had grabbed her.
She looked like the victim.
Dr. Vale stood silently beside the shed.
Rachel appealed to him.
“Tell the deputy what happened.”
The doctor adjusted his glasses.
“I arrived after the conflict began.”
“You heard Claire admit she put Mia in the pit.”
“I heard several accusations.”
Rachel could not believe it.
“You know she was in danger.”
“I know the child was distressed.”
Deputy Harlan looked toward the open pit.
“Was the child injured?”
“I don’t know yet,” Rachel said. “I found her crying at the bottom.”
“Claire placed her there?”
“Yes.”
“No!” Claire cried. “Mia wandered away while I was inside. Rachel arrived and became hysterical. She decided this had something to do with Daniel’s medical treatment.”
She held out both hands.
“I called for help because I was afraid.”
Rachel looked at Daniel.
“Tell him.”
Daniel’s face was gray.
He seemed to be fighting through confusion.
“I found Rachel and Mia outside. Claire said—”
He stopped.
“What?” the deputy asked.
Daniel rubbed his temple.
“I’m not sure.”
Rachel felt a new kind of fear.
“Daniel?”
His eyes lost focus.
“I was inside.”
“Why?”
“I was looking for something.”
“What?”
Daniel looked toward the burned records.
Then at Dr. Vale.
The doctor stepped forward.
“Mr. Mercer recently suffered a neurological injury. He may be experiencing memory disruption.”
Rachel stared at him.
“You said it was a neurological event.”
“It was.”
“You didn’t say he had memory loss.”
“Confidentiality prevented me from discussing the details.”
Deputy Harlan lowered his weapon but remained cautious.
“Mrs. Mercer, come speak to me away from the others.”
“I’m not leaving my daughter.”
“You can bring her.”
Rachel opened the rear door.
Mia climbed into her arms and wrapped both legs around her.
The deputy led them several yards away.
Rachel told him everything.
The bracelet.
The hospital records.
The baby switch.
The inheritance.
The burned files.
The pit.
Deputy Harlan listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he glanced toward the others.
“That is a serious collection of allegations.”
“I know how it sounds.”
“Do you have evidence?”
Rachel held up the bracelet.
“This.”
“It proves your husband was admitted to a hospital.”
“Mia said Claire dropped it.”
“It doesn’t prove Claire placed her in the pit.”
“The files in the shed—”
“Are partially burned.”
“Which proves someone destroyed them.”
“Perhaps.”
Rachel fought to control her voice.
“Ask Mia.”
The deputy crouched to the child’s level.
“Mia, can you tell me how you got into the hole?”
Mia clung more tightly to Rachel.
“Aunt Claire put me there.”
“Did she push you?”
“She picked me up.”
“Why?”
“She said we were hiding.”
“Did she say you could come out?”
Mia shook her head.
“She said Mommy would never find me.”
Deputy Harlan’s expression hardened.
“Did anyone tell you to say that?”
“No.”
Claire shouted from the yard.
“She’s four! Rachel has been coaching her!”
The deputy rose.
“I’ll need everyone to come to the station.”
“I need to take Mia to a doctor first,” Rachel said.
“That’s reasonable.”
Claire approached carefully.
“Deputy, can I speak with you?”
He moved toward her.
Claire kept her voice low, but Rachel caught fragments.
Mental health.
Unstable.
Postpartum depression.
Past incident.
Rachel’s stomach twisted.
After Mia’s birth, she had suffered severe anxiety.
There had been one terrible night when she drove herself to the emergency room because she feared she might hurt herself.
She had never harmed Mia.
She had sought help voluntarily.
But Claire knew.
The whole Mercer family knew.
Claire was turning Rachel’s courage into a weapon against her.
Deputy Harlan returned.
“Mrs. Mercer, do you have any history of psychiatric treatment?”
“Yes. Four years ago.”
“Any current medication?”
“No.”
“Any recent episodes?”
“No.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“She has been paranoid for weeks.”
“That’s a lie.”
“She accused Daniel of cheating because he traveled for work.”
Rachel looked at Daniel.
He would not meet her eyes.
“Did I accuse you of cheating?”
He pressed his fingers against his temple.
“I don’t remember.”
The answer hurt more than betrayal.
Dr. Vale moved to Daniel’s side.
“He needs medical attention.”
Rachel focused on the doctor.
“What exactly happened to him?”
“I cannot discuss it.”
“I’m his wife.”
“He requested that his records remain private.”
“Because you convinced him to lie to me?”
Dr. Vale’s jaw tightened.
“He was protecting you.”
“From what?”
Claire interrupted.
“From yourself.”
Rachel held Mia closer.
“You don’t get to speak to me.”
The deputy called for a second unit and an ambulance.
Within minutes, the quiet farm became crowded.
Paramedics examined Mia.
She had scratches on her arms and bruises on one knee, but no serious injuries.
Daniel refused treatment until Dr. Vale spoke privately to him.
Then he agreed to enter the ambulance.
Before the doors closed, he reached toward Rachel.
She stepped closer but did not take his hand.
“Did you know Claire was going to hurt Mia?”
“No.”
“Did you know she was destroying the records?”
“No.”
“Are you certain?”
Pain crossed his face.
“I’m not certain of anything.”
The ambulance left.
Claire was taken to the station for questioning but was not handcuffed.
Rachel followed in her car with Mia.
At the sheriff’s office, a child advocate named Susan interviewed Mia.
Rachel watched through one-way glass.
Mia hugged a stuffed rabbit and answered carefully.
“Aunt Claire carried me.”
“Was anyone else there?”
“No.”
“Did you see anything near the shed?”
“Pictures.”
“What kind?”
“A grandpa picture.”
“Did Aunt Claire say anything about it?”
“She said I wasn’t supposed to see the lady.”
“What lady?”
“The one who looks like me.”
Rachel leaned closer to the glass.
The photograph Daniel found showed Elena from a distance.
Rachel had barely seen her face.
But Mia had.
And according to her, they looked alike.
“What did Aunt Claire do next?” Susan asked.
“She took me to the hole.”
“Did she hurt you?”
“She squeezed my arm.”
“What did she tell you?”
Mia’s lower lip trembled.
“She said if I climbed out, Daddy would go to sleep forever.”
Rachel shut her eyes.
Claire had not merely hidden the child.
She had terrorized her into remaining there.
Susan asked another question.
“Did Aunt Claire mention the hospital?”
Mia nodded.
“She said Daddy was sleeping somewhere Mommy couldn’t visit.”
“Did you ever go to that hospital?”
Another nod.
Rachel’s eyes opened.
Susan remained calm.
“Who took you?”
“Aunt Claire.”
“When?”
“When Mommy went to Grandma’s.”
Rachel remembered.
Three weeks ago, she had spent a Saturday helping her mother after minor surgery.
Daniel claimed he was taking Mia to the zoo.
Mia had returned with a stuffed elephant.
“What happened at the hospital?” Susan asked.
Mia looked toward the mirrored glass.
For a moment, Rachel felt as if her daughter could see her.
Then Mia whispered, “Daddy didn’t know my name.”
Rachel’s heart broke.
“He called me Lucy,” Mia continued. “Aunt Claire said I had to hug him so he would remember.”
“Who is Lucy?”
Mia shrugged.
“A girl in the picture.”
Rachel left the observation room.
She needed air.
She had barely reached the hallway when Claire emerged from another interview room with a lawyer.
The attorney was Walter Pike, an expensive estate specialist who had worked for Daniel’s father.
Claire’s frightened act was gone.
She adjusted her jacket and looked directly at Rachel.
“You should take Mia home.”
“You should be in a cell.”
“There is no evidence I committed a crime.”
“Mia’s statement is evidence.”
“The imaginative statement of a frightened child.”
Rachel moved closer.
“Who is Lucy?”
Claire stopped.
Walter Pike placed a hand on her arm.
“Don’t answer.”
Rachel saw fear return to Claire’s eyes.
Not because of the pit.
Because of the name.
“Daniel called Mia Lucy at the hospital.”
Claire’s lips parted.
Pike guided her toward the exit.
Rachel followed.
“Was Lucy my biological daughter?”
Claire stopped walking.
The attorney whispered something, but Claire shook him off.
“You want the truth?” she said. “Ask Daniel why his father kept a dead baby’s bracelet for four years.”
Rachel felt the hallway tilt.
“What dead baby?”
Claire smiled without warmth.
May you like
“The one buried under your daughter’s name.”
Then she walked out.
