CHAPTER 8: MARGARET’S CONFESSION
Margaret was found six hours later at a bus station.
She had purchased a ticket under a false name and planned to leave the state.
Investigators brought her to a secure federal building.
Ethan watched through the interview-room glass as she twisted a handkerchief between her fingers.
A year earlier, Margaret had defended Vanessa even after seeing Emma wrapped in Ethan’s jacket.
Now she looked frightened and small.
“I didn’t help them hurt Vanessa,” Margaret said when Ethan entered.
“You met Detective Grant.”
“He told me he was protecting my daughter.”
“You met Dr. Kessler.”
“Vanessa asked me to go.”
“Why?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“She wanted me to hear the results from the doctor.”
“The results that proved Adrian Cole was Lucy’s father?”
“Yes.”
“When did you learn?”
“Two months before the wedding.”
Ethan stared at her.
“You knew the child wasn’t mine.”
“Yes.”
“And you allowed Vanessa to marry me.”
“I believed marriage would protect her.”
“From Adrian?”
Margaret nodded.
“Adrian had promised to leave Celia. When Vanessa became pregnant, he changed. He told her he would destroy her reputation and take the baby if she exposed him.”
“So she chose me as a shield.”
“She chose your name, your money and your reputation.”
Margaret’s voice broke.
“But I never knew she would do that to Emma.”
“You watched her close the curtain.”
“I know.”
“You called the wedding a misunderstanding.”
“I know.”
“No threat from Adrian made you do that.”
Margaret lowered her head.
“No.”
The confession did not erase anything.
But it revealed the size of the deception.
Margaret explained that Vanessa had secretly recorded several meetings with Adrian. The recordings proved he had bribed police officers, paid medical staff and ordered Julian to gain access to Ethan’s company.
Vanessa stored copies on an encrypted drive.
“Where is it?” Daniel asked.
Margaret looked toward Ethan.
“In Lucy’s diaper bag.”
Rachel immediately checked the bag.
The drive was not there.
Instead, she found a tear in the fabric lining.
Someone had removed it.
Daniel reviewed the security footage from the night Lucy arrived.
No stranger had entered the house.
Only Marissa, another social worker and two uniformed officers had handled the carrier.
Ethan called Marissa.
She answered from her office.
“I didn’t remove anything.”
“Who was the second social worker?”
“Thomas Bell.”
Daniel searched the name.
No Thomas Bell worked for child services.
The man had used forged credentials.
Security footage showed him leaving Rachel’s house and entering a blue sedan.
The same sedan was parked outside Emma’s school in the photograph sent to her tablet.
Rachel searched the remaining baby supplies.
Inside a stuffed rabbit, she found a small electronic device.
Daniel examined it.
“It’s a tracker.”
They had not been followed because Cole’s people knew where Rachel lived.
They had been followed because Lucy had carried their location to them.
At that moment, the lights went out.
The security alarm went silent.
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From the nursery upstairs, Lucy began to cry.
Then a window shattered.
