Chapter 9 - A Mother’s Grave
Sophie insisted on meeting Claire alone.
Daniel refused.
Sophie went anyway.
The meeting took place at the cemetery.
At Sophie’s former grave.
Rachel Mercer’s grave.
Claire stood beside the headstone.
Noah wasn’t there.
Sophie approached slowly.
“I’m sorry.”
Claire slapped her.
Sophie didn’t retaliate.
“My sister died because of you.”
“Yes.”
Claire looked surprised.
Sophie continued.
“She also saved my life.”
Tears filled Claire’s eyes.
“You got your family back.”
“I did.”
“I got a coffin.”
Sophie looked at the headstone carrying her own name.
“That should say Rachel.”
Claire began crying.
Sophie stepped closer.
“I will spend the rest of my life making sure people know what she did.”
Claire looked at her.
“Where’s Hale?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then Noah stays with me.”
“Please.”
“You know what it feels like to lose a child?”
Sophie’s face collapsed.
“Yes.”
Claire saw it.
For three years Sophie had awakened every morning without Noah.
That truth created the first crack.
Then sirens sounded.
Claire panicked.
“I told you no police!”
“I didn’t bring them.”
A vehicle raced toward the cemetery.
Hale.
He had come for Claire.
Because Claire possessed Rachel’s final evidence.
Gunfire erupted.
Daniel, who had followed at a distance, pulled Sophie behind a stone wall.
Claire ran.
Hale pursued.
Federal agents surrounded the cemetery.
Minutes later Hale was arrested.
Claire surrendered.
And Noah was found safe at a motel with a babysitter Claire had hired.
When Sophie reached him, Noah threw himself into her arms.
She held him.
May you like
Daniel wrapped both of them in his embrace.
For once, nobody could pull them apart.
