Chapter 6 - Rebecca Hale
Rebecca Hale, 42, lived fifteen minutes away.
She was also the second brunette woman who had lunged toward Ethan in kitchen.
She had introduced herself as Rebecca Sloan.
Sloan was married surname.
Claire’s attorney and friend.
She was Rachel Hale’s sister.
Claire had omitted that.
Why?
Rebecca was not attorney originally. To preserve previous claim, she is attorney, yes.
Rebecca represented Claire after Emma’s death and assisted investigation.
She had known New Dawn connection.
She had been inside Bennett mansion repeatedly.
Could Lily call her Mommy?
Rebecca looked horrified.
“I have never told Lily that.”
But Lily recognized her.
“That's Mommy.”
Ethan demanded explanation.
Child specialist cautioned three-year-old labels can be associative.
Lily might have heard word around Rebecca.
Then Rebecca remembered.
Months earlier she brought old family photo to Claire.
Photo showed Rebecca holding niece Sophie as infant.
Someone joked:
“You look like her mommy.”
Lily was in room.
Possible memory.
Not proof.
Still, Lily said Rebecca put object in bowl.
Rebecca denied.
Kitchen camera footage should settle.
Except camera went offline seven minutes before incident.
Same pattern as nursery previous night.
Who controlled cameras?
Two security guards behind island worked for Bennett Protection Services.
Supervisor:
Peter Lang.
Family-office COO also oversaw vendor.
Peter denied tampering.
System logs showed scheduled firmware update he authorized.
Why during daytime?
Vendor recommended.
Timing suspicious but not conclusive.
One guard, Marcus Hill, admitted Claire asked cameras disabled for private confrontation.
Claire planned force Lily to reveal something? She said she needed show Ethan hidden object without digital record because Emma’s instructions warned not trust household cameras.
But why involve Lily?
Claire’s version:
That morning she received package supposedly from Emma’s contingency plan.
Inside chocolate pudding mix, metal bowl, B-14 key, capsule and instruction:
ASK LILY WHERE MOMMY HID THE SECOND PIECE.
Claire believed Emma had created scavenger-like memory trigger before death.
She prepared pudding.
Lily refused.
Claire became frustrated.
Then cruel.
She forced spoonful toward Lily and pushed bowl over her face during argument.
Nothing justified it.
But Claire claimed she never knew key/object were already in mixture.
Who placed them?
Rebecca entered kitchen before cameras shut off.
Security guards.
Claire.
Lily.
Potentially household staff.
Then handwriting on package instruction was examined.
Not Emma’s.
Excellent imitation.
Someone was manipulating Claire using Emma’s investigation.
Claire fell for it.
Who knew Emma’s contingency system?
Claire.
Rebecca.
Peter.
Possibly Emma’s attorney.
Then Peter disappeared.
Not fled dramatically—he missed interview and phone off.
Police went home.
Door unlocked.
Peter gone.
On dining table:
Bennett security badge.
Photograph of Lily.
And stainless-steel spoon smeared with same chocolate mixture.
More alarming:
a printed screenshot from hidden kitchen camera.
Claire forcing bowl over Lily.
Timestamped three minutes before official cameras came back online.
Someone had secretly recorded entire incident.
On bottom handwritten:
NOW ETHAN WILL BELIEVE SHE’S THE MONSTER.
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Who wanted Ethan to blame Claire?
And why had Peter vanished before footage was released?
