Chapter 7 - WHAT VICTORIA FORGOT
Victoria drove to her sister’s apartment.
She had not spoken to Claire in almost a year. Charles said Claire blamed him for Rosalind’s death and wanted to break up their marriage. Victoria had been too worn down to argue with either of them.
Claire opened the door and took one look at her face.
“Is it true?” she asked. “Did they find Rosie?”
Victoria nodded.
Claire pulled her inside and held her so tightly that Victoria could hardly breathe.
After a while, Victoria asked, “What happened the week Rosie disappeared?”
Claire stepped back. “You know what happened.”
“Tell me what you remember.”
Claire brought out a folder from a kitchen drawer. It contained old emails and a letter she had written but never sent. In the letter, Claire asked Victoria to meet her alone. She said she was worried Charles was making decisions for her while she was unwell.
“I thought you’d throw it away if I mailed it,” Claire said.
“Why?”
“Because every time I called, Charles answered. He said you were sleeping. When I came over, he said I upset you.”
Victoria remembered pieces of that week: a headache that would not ease; Charles bringing her tea; an argument in the nursery. She remembered Rosie crying and Charles saying, “Go upstairs, sweetheart.”
“Was I sick?” she asked.
“You were exhausted. I saw you the Sunday before. You weren’t confused.”
Victoria pressed her fingers against her temples. “He said I had episodes.”
“He told people that after Rosie disappeared.”
Claire found an email she had sent to their family doctor eight years ago. She had asked whether Victoria’s medication could cause memory problems. The doctor replied that he had prescribed no new medication.
Victoria felt cold.
“Why didn’t you show me?”
“I tried. You told me Charles had explained everything. You said I needed to stop making you doubt him.”
Victoria looked down. She could hear herself saying it.
Bell called. A technician had recovered another file from Lena’s recorder. The device had kept recording in a separate folder after the first file ended.
Victoria asked Bell to play it.
The sound was rough. She heard footsteps, then Lena’s voice.
“You told me she agreed.”
“I told you what you needed to hear,” Charles said.
“She spent eight years thinking Rosie was dead.”
“She was going to take Rosie and leave.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Lena said, “So you let her bury an empty box?”
Charles’s answer came after a long silence.
“I didn’t think it would go that far.”
Claire gripped Victoria’s arm.
A second voice entered the recording. Elliot Crane.
“We’re done talking,” he said. “Lena, get in the car.”
The file ended.
Bell’s voice returned. “We’re getting a warrant for Charles’s devices. Victoria, stay with your sister tonight.”
Victoria agreed.
Twenty minutes later, Claire’s doorbell rang.
On the step stood Rosie, alone, holding the blue box from Lena’s storage unit.
A car sped away down the street.
May you like
Rosie looked up at Victoria.
“The lady at the police place said you sent for me,” she whispered. “But I don’t think she was a police lady.”
