Chapter 9 - My Mother’s Second Life
Elaine remained in county custody after the hospital poisoning attempt.
Detective Hayes confronted her with Rachel’s rescue.
At first, my mother denied everything.
Then Rachel identified her.
Elaine had delivered food and medication to the cabin twice a month.
“You looked at that woman in chains and walked away?” I asked through the interview-room glass.
Elaine folded her hands.
“Warren said she was dangerous.”
“She was an accountant.”
“She threatened our family.”
“She uncovered theft.”
“She would have sent your father to prison.”
“That was where he belonged.”
Elaine’s face tightened.
“You say that because you have never had to hold a family together.”
I almost laughed.
“You helped him tear it apart.”
She insisted Warren controlled the money, the house, and every decision.
“He said if I spoke, he would take all three of you away from me.”
“You already lost us.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I did what I thought I had to do.”
“That sentence has protected every cruel person in this family.”
Detective Hayes showed her the syringe found in her purse.
“Did Warren order you to inject Maisie?”
“No.”
“Then why did you enter the hospital room?”
“To check whether she remembered.”
“Remembered what?”
Elaine looked toward me.
“Seeing Hannah.”
Maisie had seen more than the red panel.
Hannah had entered the warehouse during the anniversary dinner.
She planned to confront Warren and retrieve the hidden photographs.
Maisie wandered into the office and saw her.
Warren feared the child would describe Hannah to me.
“So he drugged her,” I said.
Elaine nodded.
“Did you know Tessa would put her in the dumpster?”
“No.”
“But you helped lock Lucas away.”
“Yes.”
“Did you intend to inject her at the hospital?”
Elaine began shaking.
“Warren told me the syringe contained something that would erase short-term memory.”
“There is no safe memory-erasing drug.”
“I know that now.”
“You were willing to risk her life to protect him.”
“I thought the dose was small.”
I stood.
Elaine called after me.
“Rebecca, I loved you.”
I turned back.
“No. You loved being needed by a man who made everyone afraid.”
Her expression collapsed.
Before I left, she offered one useful fact.
Warren had a second passport hidden inside the family business’s antique showroom.
The passport used the name William Cole.
His private plane was registered under the same name.
Police searched the showroom.
They found the passport missing.
But inside the compartment was a keycard for the airfield hangar.
Security logs showed someone entered the hangar an hour earlier.
Not Warren.
Martin Vale, the company’s longtime chief financial officer.
The man who had helped Warren create every false account.
Police intercepted Martin before he reached the runway.
He offered a deal immediately.
Warren was not planning to flee alone.
He had arranged to take Maisie.
My father believed controlling my daughter was the only way to force me to surrender the company and the evidence.
Then Lucas called from the hospital.
Maisie’s room was empty.
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A nurse had found him unconscious in the hallway.
👉 Warren had returned for Maisie, and this time he had taken her before Rebecca could reach the hospital.
