Chapter 13 - THE DOOR BETWEEN THEM
Victoria watched the hallway footage with Bell the next morning.
Claire appeared at the top of the stairs, knocking on the nursery door.
“Victoria?” she called. “It’s me.”
From inside came a muffled sound. The door handle moved.
Charles entered the frame and put a hand on Claire’s shoulder.
“She’s asleep,” he said. “Please go home.”
Claire looked at the moving handle. “Then who’s in there?”
“Rosie. She’s playing.”
Victoria could see herself through the narrow gap when the door opened a few inches. She looked pale and struggled to speak. Charles pressed the door closed.
Claire pushed past him, but Crane appeared at the stairs. He said Victoria had asked to be left alone. Claire hesitated just long enough for Charles to lead her away.
“I was right there,” Victoria whispered.
Bell stopped the video.
Claire had already seen it. She came into the room and sat beside her sister.
“I should have pushed harder,” Claire said.
“You came.”
“I left.”
“Charles sent you away. He sent everyone away.”
Claire took her hand.
The test on the vial came back later that day. It contained a sedating prescription drug that had not been prescribed to Victoria. Bell cautioned that the vial alone could not establish exactly what Victoria had taken eight years ago. Paired with the footage and Charles’s actions, it gave investigators more to examine.
Maren was arrested at a motel that afternoon. She initially denied knowing where Crane was. Then Bell showed her the messages about Rosie’s box.
Maren asked for an attorney. After meeting with one, she gave Bell a statement.
Charles had told her Rosalind was staying temporarily with Lena. When the child disappeared, he asked Maren to prepare documents blaming Lena. Maren said she believed Charles would tell Victoria the truth after finding Rosie. By the time she understood he would not, she had already signed false paperwork. She kept helping him to protect herself.
“Did Charles order Crane to threaten Lena?” Bell asked.
Maren said she never heard him give that order. She had heard Charles tell Crane to “make sure Lena stays gone.”
Bell brought Charles in again. This time, he could not walk away from the documents so easily.
At the safe apartment, Rosie asked Victoria if she had to choose which mother to live with. Victoria knelt in front of her.
“The adults will work that out,” she said. “You don’t have to choose who you love.”
Rosie leaned against her. “Good. Because I love Mama.”
“I know.”
“And I think I love you too.”
Victoria held her gently. She had spent eight years imagining this child returning to her. In none of those dreams had Rosie come back with a whole life Victoria did not know. She wanted to learn it, one day at a time.
Bell called before dinner.
May you like
Crane had been found. He was willing to talk.
“He says Charles knew Rosie was alive for years,” Bell said. “He also says he can prove exactly when Charles last saw her.”
