Chapter 5 - My Sister’s Secret
Rebecca answered on the seventh ring.
“Laura?”
I did not bother with hello.
“Why was Chloe Shaw texting you?”
Silence.
A long, terrible silence.
Then my sister whispered, “Oh God.”
I closed my eyes.
“You knew her.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“About six months.”
Mark was sitting across from me at Denise’s kitchen table. Daniel and Detective Owens were at the station.
I put Rebecca on speaker.
“How?”
“She came to me through work.”
Rebecca had worked in payroll compliance for an insurance company before moving west.
“She said Merritt was billing properties for injuries and repairs that didn’t exist. Some claims were being routed through policies my company serviced.”
Mark leaned forward.
“She never told me that.”
Rebecca heard his voice.
“Mark?”
“Yes.”
Her tone hardened.
“You don’t get to sound surprised.”
He flinched.
I asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Chloe made me promise. She was scared. Mark was scared. I thought the less you knew, the safer you were.”
The sentence made me furious.
“Apparently everybody in my life decided I was safer being stupid.”
“No, Laura—”
“You left the state.”
Rebecca began crying.
“Because Victor Dane came to my office.”
Mark’s head snapped up.
“What?”
“He never threatened me directly. He didn’t have to. He put a picture of Ethan on my desk.”
My stomach turned.
Mark stood.
“When?”
“Two weeks after Chloe disappeared.”
I could not breathe.
A picture of my son.
On my sister’s desk.
Rebecca continued. “I quit. I moved. I told myself I was protecting all of you.”
I pressed my fingers to my eyes.
“Where did Chloe go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she tell you anything before she disappeared?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“She said she had one person she still trusted.”
“Who?”
“I never got the name.”
Then Mark whispered, “I know.”
I looked at him.
He looked sick.
“Who?”
“My old assistant manager. Nina Cole.”
The name tugged at something.
I had met Nina once at a company picnic.
Mark grabbed his coat.
“We need to find her.”
My phone rang before he reached the door.
Detective Owens.
“Laura, we just checked Nina Cole.”
Her voice was tense.
“She died eleven months ago.”
I froze.
“How?”
Owens paused.
May you like
“Single-car accident.”
Then she added, “And the officer who handled that accident now works private security for Victor Dane.”
