Chapter 2 - The Woman at the Patio Door
Her name was Rachel Bennett.
She did not attempt to take Sophie.
That mattered.
When Emma moved protectively between Rachel and the baby, Rachel immediately raised both hands and stopped several yards away.
“I’m not touching her.”
Police were already being called by guests.
Richard remained between Eleanor and everyone else.
“What happened here?”
Rachel stared at the scorched blanket.
“I came because Eleanor called me.”
Emma turned.
Eleanor denied it.
Rachel produced her phone.
A message from Eleanor’s number:
THEY FOUND THE SECOND BAND.
COME TO CARTER HOUSE NOW.
Sent twenty-two minutes earlier.
Eleanor’s phone contained no corresponding message.
Someone had spoofed her number.
Emma’s fear sharpened.
“What second band?”
Rachel looked at bracelet.
“That one.”
She recognized it.
But she refused to explain until police arrived.
The backyard became a crime scene because Eleanor’s action toward Sophie could not be dismissed as family drama. Regardless of motive, throwing an infant near fire had created potentially catastrophic danger.
Eleanor did not resist officers.
She repeated only:
“I wasn't trying to hurt Sophie.”
Emma stared at her.
“You threw her.”
“I was trying to make Richard catch her.”
The answer horrified everyone.
“You knew he would?”
“I knew where he was standing.”
“That doesn't make it safe!”
“No.”
For the first time Eleanor lowered her eyes.
“No, it doesn't.”
There would be no excuse that transformed recklessness into heroism.
But investigators still needed motive.
Why was bracelet hidden inside blanket?
Emma had used that blanket since Sophie came home from St. Catherine Women’s Hospital.
Or so she thought.
Looking closely, she realized something.
The blanket was not Sophie’s original.
Her blanket had a tiny embroidered white rabbit near lower corner.
This one didn't.
Emma looked at Richard.
“When did this change?”
Nobody knew.
Eleanor did.
“Yesterday.”
Emma’s eyes snapped toward her.
“I replaced it.”
“Why?”
“Because someone left this one at my door.”
Inside was bracelet.
Eleanor panicked.
She believed someone was trying to make Emma discover a secret connected to Sophie.
Instead of telling family, she swapped blankets and tried determine who sent it.
Then why throw Sophie?
Eleanor claimed she had just seen something inside folded blanket near fire pit.
A small black tracking tag.
She believed whoever planted blanket was monitoring Sophie.
She wanted blanket away from baby immediately.
“Then put Sophie down and remove it!”
Eleanor closed eyes.
“I panicked.”
Her action remained indefensible.
But Emma noticed Rachel shaking.
“You know what the bracelet means.”
Rachel whispered:
“I know what I was told it means.”
“Which is?”
“That a baby named Sophie Carter was registered at St. Catherine three days before your daughter was born.”
Emma’s stomach dropped.
May you like
Rachel continued:
“And that baby disappeared before sunrise.”
