Chapter 7: Sarah Never Died
“Now ask Daniel why he let her die.””
I stared at the message until the words blurred.
Then I looked up.
Daniel was standing ten feet away from me, completely motionless.
“Who is Sarah?”” I asked.
His face had gone pale.
“I told you. She was my wife.””
“No.””
I held up my phone.
“It says she’s alive.””
Daniel shook his head.
“That's impossible.””
“Your father just told me she killed my mother.””
“I watched Sarah die.””
“When?””
His breathing became shallow.
“Six years ago.””
“Where?””
“St. Vincent Hospital.””
“Were you there?””
“Yes.””
“Did you identify her body?””
He hesitated.
That tiny pause was enough.
I stepped closer.
“Did you?””
Daniel looked at the floor.
“No.””
My stomach tightened.
“You didn't identify the body.””
“No.””
“Then how do you know it was her?””
“I saw her.””
“You saw someone who looked like her.””
“It was Sarah.””
“Then why didn't you identify her?””
He said nothing.
I felt the anger rising again.
“You've spent the entire night telling me everyone else lied to us. Your father. Your family.
The lawyers. The people investigating my father.””
I pointed at him.
“And now you're telling me you might not even know whether your first wife is dead?””
Daniel's voice broke.
“I believed she was.””
“That's not good enough.””
“I know.””
Megan suddenly stepped forward.
“I saw her.””
Everyone turned.
Daniel stared at her.
“What?””
“Sarah.””
Her voice shook.
“I saw her.””
Daniel looked stunned.
“When?””
“Three months ago.””
He took a step toward her.
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because I was scared.””
“Where?””
Megan looked at me.
“Outside the Bennett Family Holdings office.””
Robert's expression changed.
“You're lying.””
Megan shook her head.
“She was standing across the street.””
Daniel's face had lost all color.
“What did she look like?””
“Older.””
Megan swallowed.
“But it was her.””
Daniel whispered,
“No.””
I looked at him.
“Did she see you?””
Megan nodded.
“She looked directly at me.””
“What did she do?””
“She smiled.””
The silence that followed felt suffocating.
Eric finally spoke.
“That changes everything.””
Robert glared at him.
“It changes nothing.””
“It changes your version of events.””
Robert stepped toward him.
“You have no idea what you're talking about.””
Eric didn't move.
“I know Sarah Bennett was declared dead six years ago.””
Daniel looked at him.
“You knew?””
“I saw the file.””
“Then why didn't you tell me?””
“Because I couldn't verify the death certificate.””
Daniel stared.
“What?””
Eric opened his folder and pulled out a photocopy.
“The certificate exists.””
He flipped the page.
“But the attending physician's signature doesn't match the physician's records.””
I took the page.
The name of the doctor was listed near the bottom.
My eyes widened.
“Daniel.””
He looked at it.
His lips parted.
“That was my name.””
I looked at him.
“You signed it?””
“I didn't.””
“But it has your name.””
“I know.””
He took the paper from me.
His hands were shaking.
“That isn't my signature.””
Eric nodded.
“Exactly.””
Robert whispered,
“Enough.””
Nobody listened.
Daniel turned toward his father.
“Who forged this?””
Robert said nothing.
Daniel's voice grew louder.
“Who forged my signature?””
“Daniel, stop.””
“No!””
He stepped forward.
“You lied to Rachel for years. You lied to me about Sarah. You lied about her death. You lied about the house.””
Robert's jaw tightened.
“You're becoming emotional.””
“My wife was murdered.””
“So was mine.””
Robert went silent.
We all looked at him.
I had never heard him mention his wife that way.
Daniel stared.
“Mom wasn't sick?””
Robert slowly shook his head.
“Your mother knew too much.””
Daniel took a step backward.
“You told me she died of complications.””
“She did.””
“After you poisoned her.””
Robert didn't deny it.
Megan covered her mouth.
I felt like I was watching a family collapse in real time.
But one question kept burning through everything.
Sarah.
I turned to Daniel.
“Why would Sarah want my mother dead?””
“I don't know.””
“Why would she fake her own death?””
“I don't know.””
“Why would your father say she killed her?””
“I don't know.””
Eric stepped in.
“There may be another possibility.””
“What?””
“Sarah didn't kill your mother.””
I looked at him.
“Then who did?””
He looked at Robert.
“Someone wanted you to believe Sarah was responsible.””
Robert's silence was immediate.
That was answer enough.
“Why?””
Eric took another document from his folder.
“Because Sarah was the person who originally found the ledger.””
I looked at Daniel.
“So your first wife wasn't working for your family.””
“She was investigating them.””
“Yes.””
“Like my father.””
“Yes.””
Daniel's expression changed.
“Then why did she disappear?””
Eric looked at him.
“Because she found out what happened to Rachel's father.””
I felt my heart pound.
“What did she find?””
Eric hesitated.
“A financial trail connecting the family trust to a private offshore account.””
“That doesn't explain my father.””
“It does.””
He pointed to a line on the document.
“The account received money twelve days before your father disappeared.””
I looked at the date.
Then at Robert.
“From whom?””
Eric answered.
“Sarah.””
Daniel stared at the paper.
“Sarah sent money to my family?””
“No.””
Eric shook his head.
“Your family sent money to Sarah.””
Daniel's expression hardened.
“Why?””
“We don't know.””
I looked at him.
“Where did the money go?””
Eric looked toward me.
“Your father.””
My stomach dropped.
“What?””
“Your father received part of it.””
Daniel shook his head.
“No.””
Eric continued.
“Someone was paying your father.””
“For what?””
“We don't know.””
Robert suddenly turned toward the terminal doors.
“I'm leaving.””
Daniel grabbed his arm.
“No.””
Robert looked at his son.
“Get your hand off me.””
“Not until you tell us.””
“I've told you enough.””
“You've told me nothing.””
Robert pulled away.
“I am trying to keep you alive.””
Daniel stared at him.
“You should have tried harder twenty-two years ago.””
Robert's eyes hardened.
“You think you know what happened?””
“I know you lied.””
“You don't know what your father did.””
I stepped between them.
“Then tell me.””
Robert looked at me.
For the first time, he seemed genuinely afraid of the answer.
“Your father wasn't innocent.””
My chest tightened.
“What did he do?””
“He betrayed us.””
“How?””
“He took the ledger.””
“Why?””
“He thought he could expose everyone.””
“Everyone?””
Robert swallowed.
“Everyone involved.””
I frowned.
“Who was involved?””
He didn't answer.
“Tell me.””
He looked toward Eric.
Then at Daniel.
Then at me.
Finally, he said:
“The hospital.””
I froze.
“What hospital?””
“Mercy General.””
Daniel's face changed.
“No.””
Robert continued.
“Your father didn't just work with us. He had access to patient records.””
“For what?””
“To identify people.””
“What people?””
Robert looked directly at Daniel.
“People who couldn't be allowed to leave.””
Daniel's face drained of color.
“My patients?””
Robert didn't answer.
Daniel grabbed his father's coat.
“What did you do?””
Robert pushed him away.
“You don't want to know.””
“Yes, I do.””
“You'll never sleep again.””
“I already don't.””
Robert looked at me.
“That's why Sarah came back.””
A cold feeling moved through my body.
“She came back for what?””
“Revenge.””
“Against who?””
He smiled bitterly.
“Against everyone.””
Before I could ask another question, a security alarm sounded somewhere near the terminal.
Several people turned.
Eric's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
“Yes?””
His expression changed.
He looked at me.
“Rachel, we need to move.””
“Why?””
“The Milwaukee police just found a body.””
My heart stopped.
“Whose?””
Eric didn't answer immediately.
“Someone was found inside the basement.””
“Is it my father?””
“No.””
I felt a strange mixture of relief and terror.
“Then who?””
Eric looked at Daniel.
“Sarah's.””
Daniel's knees nearly gave out.
“No.””
Megan started crying.
“No, that's impossible.””
Eric nodded grimly.
“Police found a woman matching Sarah's description in the basement of your father's old office.””
Daniel stared at him.
“You said she was alive.””
“I said someone claimed to see her.””
I looked at my phone.
The messages.
The photograph.
The voice.
My father's warning.
It couldn't be Sarah.
But then who had sent them?
Eric's phone rang again.
He answered.
His expression went blank.
“What?””
A long silence.
Then he looked directly at me.
“Rachel.””
“What?””
“The body isn't Sarah.””
My pulse jumped.
“What do you mean?””
“They checked her fingerprints.””
I waited.
Eric swallowed.
“The woman in the basement is your mother's former nurse.””
I stared at him.
My mother's nurse.
A woman who had disappeared from our lives immediately after my mother died.
A woman I had not thought about in years.
“What does she have to do with this?””
Eric's voice dropped.
“Before she died, she left a statement.””
“To whom?””
“The police.””
“What did she say?””
He looked at Daniel.
Then at me.
“She said she was there the night your father disappeared.””
I could barely breathe.
“And?””
“She said Sarah wasn't there.””
“Then who was?””
Eric's face was grim.
“She said the person who took your father was a sixteen-year-old girl.””
I felt the world stop.
“What girl?””
He looked at me.
“You.””
I shook my head.
“No.””
“The nurse says she saw you that night.””
“I was home.””
“She says you weren't.””
“I was sixteen.””
“I know.””
“I was with my mother.””
Eric lowered his voice.
“She says your mother sent you away before midnight.””
I searched my memory.
Nothing.
A bedroom.
A storm.
My father shouting.
My mother crying.
A car door closing.
Then darkness.
That was all.
Daniel suddenly reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
“I remember something.””
Everyone looked at me.
“What?”” Daniel asked.
I stared at the photograph in my hand.
The one my father had given Evelyn.
On the back, beneath his handwriting, there was something I hadn't noticed before.
A date.
*October 14, 2004.*
The night he disappeared.
Underneath it was another line.
Written in a different hand.
*Rachel saw him leave.*
My skin prickled.
I looked at Daniel.
“I was there.””
He stepped closer.
“What do you remember?””
I closed my eyes.
And suddenly, after twenty-two years of silence, one image came back.
My father standing beside a car.
A man in a dark coat beside him.
And my mother screaming from the doorway.
But the man wasn't Robert.
I opened my eyes.
“I remember who took my father.””
Daniel leaned toward me.
“Who?””
I looked past him.
Straight at Robert.
May you like
And for the first time that night, Robert looked terrified.
Because he knew I had remembered.
