Chapter 2 - Aunt Claire
The woman didn't ask permission to approach.
She walked into the campsite as though eighteen years had been a long hallway and she had finally reached the other end.
Angela moved in front of me.
That surprised me.
For one second, she looked protective.
Then Claire laughed.
“Still doing that?”
Angela's jaw tightened.
“Doing what?”
“Standing between people and the truth.”
Karen and Michelle exchanged glances.
Suddenly the campout didn't seem amusing anymore.
I stepped sideways.
“Are you Claire Mercer?”
The woman's expression softened.
“Yes.”
“My father's sister?”
“Yes.”
“You're supposed to be dead.”
“Missing.”
That distinction mattered.
Claire disappeared when she was thirty-two.
Her car had been found near Deception Pass.
Purse inside.
Phone inside.
A shoe on the rocks below.
No body.
After seven years, she had been declared legally dead.
Dad rarely spoke about it.
Whenever I asked, he said Claire had been troubled and probably suffered an accident.
Now she was standing ten feet from me.
“Does Dad know you're alive?”
Claire looked at Angela.
“He does now.”
I remembered the envelope.
Dad had put it in Angela's bag.
Not me.
Not Grandma.
Angela.
“Where did Dad get the picture?”
Claire reached into her coat and removed an identical photograph.
“I sent it.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Angela snapped:
“You weren't supposed to contact him.”
Claire looked almost amused.
“You don't get to decide that anymore.”
I turned toward Angela.
“How do you know her?”
Angela said nothing.
Claire answered.
“We were friends.”
Angela glared at her.
“Don't.”
“College roommates, actually.”
That didn't make sense.
Angela had always told us she met Dad twelve years ago through mutual friends.
If she knew Claire, she had known Dad long before that.
“How long have you known my father?”
Angela whispered:
“Lily…”
“How long?”
Claire answered again.
“Twenty-five years.”
My stomach tightened.
Angela had entered my father's life pretending to be a stranger.
Why?
Then my phone rang.
Dad.
I answered immediately.
“Dad?”
“Lily, where's Angela?”
I looked at Claire.
“She's here.”
“Put her on.”
“Aunt Claire is here too.”
Nothing.
Then I heard my father breathe.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
He knew.
“Dad?”
“Get away from Claire.”
Claire's expression changed.
Angela closed her eyes.
“Why?”
“Just listen to me.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Daniel, tell her.”
Dad heard her.
“Claire, don't.”
“Tell your daughter what Angela did.”
Angela suddenly grabbed the phone.
“Enough.”
Claire snatched it back.
The two women struggled over it until I shouted:
“STOP!”
Everyone froze.
I took the phone.
“Dad, what is happening?”
His voice sounded broken.
“I found something yesterday.”
“The photograph?”
“More than that.”
“What?”
“A storage unit.”
Angela turned pale.
Claire whispered:
“You found Evelyn's boxes?”
Dad heard her.
“Yes.”
Claire took one slow breath.
Then asked:
“Was the blue ledger there?”
Dad didn't answer.
Angela did.
“No.”
We all turned toward her.
She immediately realized what she had revealed.
I stared.
“How do you know?”
Angela backed away.
Claire stepped toward her.
“Because she took it.”
Angela shook her head.
“No.”
Claire's voice hardened.
“That's why you invited Lily out here.”
I frowned.
“What does this have to do with me?”
Claire looked at our tents.
Then Angela's SUV.
Then the bags I had unloaded.
“Did Angela make you carry everything?”
“Yes.”
“Did she ever let you open her pink bag?”
“No.”
Claire nodded slowly.
“She didn't invite you because she needed a maid.”
Angela whispered:
“Claire.”
“She brought you because Daniel would never search her things while you were with her.”
I stared at Angela.
The humiliation of the weekend suddenly looked different.
The chores.
The errands.
Keeping me busy.
Keeping me away from her tent.
“What is the blue ledger?”
May you like
Claire answered:
“The reason I disappeared.”
