Chapter 5 - The Woman Without a Grave
Her name was Rachel Mercer.
Twenty-nine.
Emergency nurse.
Missing for three years.
Her disappearance occurred two days after Sophie’s fire.
Dental records from the remains buried under Sophie’s name were reexamined.
They matched Rachel.
The news devastated Sophie.
“She saved me.”
Rachel had discovered Sophie at the private clinic.
She realized Sophie wasn’t a psychiatric patient.
She helped her contact the outside world.
Then Rachel vanished.
Daniel understood.
Richard needed a body.
Rachel had become that body.
The investigation exploded.
Federal agents raided Cross Development.
The clinic was shut down.
Two doctors were arrested.
Cole disappeared.
Richard remained in custody, but his lawyers claimed the recording was manipulated.
Then the prosecution discovered something worse.
The original financial files had been altered.
Someone inside law enforcement had helped Richard.
Sophie’s paranoia had been justified.
Alvarez visited Daniel late one evening.
“You need to leave town.”
“Richard is in jail.”
“Richard isn’t the only problem.”
She placed a photograph on the table.
Cole.
Security footage showed him entering the district attorney’s parking garage.
“We think he has help.”
Sophie looked toward Noah’s bedroom.
“Then we run again.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
She stared.
“I spent three years running,” Sophie said.
“And it nearly destroyed you.”
“What do you suggest?”
“We stop letting Richard decide where we live.”
Daniel took her hand.
This time she didn’t pull away.
They entered protective custody.
For the next month, their world became motel rooms, guarded apartments, and interviews.
But something else happened.
They became a family again.
Slowly.
Noah was the bridge.
He insisted Sophie read bedtime stories.
He insisted Daniel make pancakes.
He insisted they both sit beside him.
One night Noah fell asleep holding one of each of their hands.
Sophie looked at Daniel across the bed.
“I thought about this every night.”
“So did I.”
“I hated you.”
“I know.”
“I needed to.”
Daniel waited.
“If I believed you were innocent,” she continued, “then I had to believe I could have come home.”
“You were terrified.”
“I lost three years.”
“We both did.”
Sophie began crying silently.
Daniel reached across Noah.
Their fingers touched.
Neither pulled away.
Then Daniel’s phone vibrated.
A message from Alvarez.
COLE FOUND.
Daniel called immediately.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Dead motel outside Albany.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“Murder?”
“Looks like it.”
“Richard?”
“He’s in custody.”
“Then who?”
Alvarez was silent.
Finally:
“That’s what scares me.”
Because if Richard was locked away and Cole was dead, someone else had been controlling the game.
May you like
Someone they hadn’t identified.
Someone who had been there from the beginning.
