Chapter 3 - The Mother Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Anna watched the footage three times.
Claire was alive.
At least she had been six months earlier.
The timestamp showed 2:13 a.m.
Noah wore pajamas.
Claire knelt beside him near the pool.
No audio.
Anna watched their hands instead.
Claire gave Noah something.
A red keycard.
Noah shook his head.
Claire took his face gently between her hands.
She appeared to say something.
Noah began crying.
Then another person entered frame.
Eleanor.
Anna’s certainty returned with force.
Eleanor had known Claire was alive.
Claire stood.
The women argued.
Eleanor pointed toward the mansion.
Claire shook her head.
Then—
Claire slapped Eleanor.
Anna stared.
Eleanor did not retaliate.
Instead, she grabbed Claire’s shoulders and appeared to plead with her.
That did not fit.
Nothing fit.
The footage ended when Claire walked out of frame.
Anna searched later dates.
Deleted.
All of them.
Except one.
April 25.
3:07 a.m.
Eleanor alone beside the pool.
Crying.
Not elegant tears.
Not manufactured panic like earlier.
She sat on the stone with both hands over her face.
Then Noah approached.
Eleanor pulled him against her.
He resisted at first.
Then hugged her.
Anna paused the video.
This was not evidence of innocence.
But it was evidence of something more complicated than hatred.
A voice behind her said:
“You weren’t supposed to find that.”
Anna spun.
Ethan.
He stood at the corridor entrance.
His expression was unreadable.
Anna stepped away from the monitor.
“Mr. Mercer—”
“What are you doing in the security archive?”
She considered lying.
Then decided she had seen enough lies.
“Looking for the truth.”
“After my son accused you?”
“Because your son accused me.”
Ethan approached.
Anna showed him April 24.
Claire appeared.
Ethan stopped moving.
The blood seemed to leave his face.
“Where did you get this?”
“It was here.”
“That’s impossible.”
“You recognize her.”
He did not answer.
He did not need to.
Ethan reached toward the monitor.
His hand trembled.
“Claire died two years ago.”
“Then who is that?”
“I don’t know.”
Anna watched him.
His reaction looked genuine.
But Noah had taught her a brutal lesson today.
Genuine-looking reactions were not proof.
Ethan replayed the footage.
Claire.
Noah.
Red card.
Eleanor.
Argument.
Again.
Again.
He whispered:
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
Anna heard grief beneath the anger.
Then something else.
Betrayal.
He looked toward the ceiling.
“Eleanor.”
They found her in the drawing room.
Ethan did not ask gently.
“You knew Claire was alive.”
Eleanor stared at the paused image on his phone.
Her composure cracked.
“Where did you find that?”
“Answer.”
Eleanor sat down.
“Yes.”
Ethan looked as though she had struck him.
“For how long?”
“Three weeks.”
“Three weeks before what?”
“Before she disappeared again.”
Anna frowned.
“Again?”
Eleanor looked at her.
“Claire didn’t die two years ago.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“I attended her funeral.”
“So did I.”
“You told Noah his mother was dead.”
“No. You did.”
That landed.
Ethan stared.
Eleanor continued.
“Claire disappeared after the accident. Her attorney told us she had died from complications. There was a sealed cremation. You accepted it.”
“You accepted it too.”
“Yes.”
“Then she appeared here?”
“Eighteen months later.”
“Why?”
Eleanor looked toward Anna.
“For her.”
Anna almost laughed.
“I never met Claire.”
“Claire knew you.”
“No.”
“She knew your mother.”
Anna stopped.
Her mother, Sofia Reyes, had died when Anna was sixteen.
Housekeeper.
Single parent.
Worked for wealthy families.
Anna had never heard the name Mercer until she applied for this job.
Eleanor stood.
“Claire came back because she discovered something Sofia hid before she died.”
“What?”
“The reason Noah was never supposed to be alone with me.”
Anna stared.
That sounded like confession.
Ethan heard it too.
“What did you do to him?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why?”
Eleanor’s eyes moved toward the door.
“Because Claire believed I killed Sofia.”
Anna’s breath caught.
Her mother’s death had been ruled an accidental fall.
Eleanor continued:
“She was wrong.”
Anna stepped closer.
“How do you know how my mother died?”
May you like
Eleanor looked at her with an expression Anna could not decipher.
“Because I was there.”
