Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WITH THE GUN
Daniel stepped in front of Emily.
Margaret laughed softly.
“Still playing protector.”
“Put the gun down.”
“I’m not pointing it at Emily.”
Daniel looked carefully.
She wasn’t.
The barrel aimed toward the front door.
Margaret whispered, “We have company.”
Headlights swept across the windows.
A black SUV stopped outside.
Daniel pulled Emily behind a wall.
“Who?”
Margaret switched off the lamp.
“People Victor sent.”
Emily stared at her.
“Victor?”
“Do you still think that pathetic old lawyer was just following orders?”
Two men approached the porch.
Margaret motioned toward the kitchen.
“Move.”
They slipped through the back of the house seconds before the front door crashed open.
Margaret led them toward a boathouse.
Daniel grabbed her arm.
“You have thirty seconds to explain.”
Margaret pulled free.
“Victor didn’t just forge paperwork.”
“Then what?”
“He arranged the kidnapping.”
Emily froze.
Margaret continued moving.
“Richard wanted Madeline gone. Victor hired a nurse.”
Emily whispered, “To kill me?”
Margaret looked at her.
“To make you disappear.”
Daniel said, “What did you do?”
“I followed them.”
Margaret unlocked the boathouse.
Inside sat an old sedan.
“I found the nurse at a motel with you.”
Emily stared.
“Then why didn’t you take me back?”
Margaret’s face changed.
“Because Richard would have tried again.”
“You could have called the police.”
“Victor owned two detectives on the case.”
Daniel clenched his jaw.
“So you gave Emily away.”
“I gave her to someone I trusted.”
“My foster mother?”
“Grace Carter.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
Grace had died five years earlier.
The only mother Emily had ever known.
Margaret nodded.
“Grace was my college roommate.”
Emily’s voice cracked.
“She never told me.”
“She promised she wouldn’t.”
“Why?”
“To keep you alive.”
Daniel stared at Margaret.
“What about my biological mother?”
Margaret looked away.
“Rachel tried to expose Richard.”
Daniel swallowed.
“And?”
“She disappeared.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“You know where she is.”
Margaret didn’t answer.
“You know.”
She finally looked at him.
“I know what Richard told Victor to do.”
Daniel’s voice turned deadly.
“What?”
Before Margaret could answer, glass shattered inside the house.
Someone shouted.
“They went out back!”
Margaret threw Daniel the car keys.
“Drive.”
They jumped inside.
Daniel started the engine.
Emily grabbed Margaret’s arm.
“My mother deserves the truth.”
Margaret laughed bitterly.
“Eleanor?”
“Yes.”
“You still think Eleanor was innocent?”
Emily froze.
Margaret leaned closer.
“She knew Richard was sleeping with Rachel.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“And on the night Rachel begged Eleanor for help…”
May you like
Margaret’s eyes hardened.
“…Eleanor sent her back to him.”
