Chapter 4 - The Missing Eleven Minutes
Thomas Reed arrived at the hospital forty minutes later carrying a box I had not seen in nearly a decade.
LILY GRANT.
The name was written across the top in black marker.
My knees weakened when I saw it.
Daniel stared at the box.
“You kept everything?”
Thomas nodded.
“I never liked this case.”
I almost laughed.
“That makes two of us.”
Detective Elena Ruiz joined us shortly afterward.
Lily had fallen asleep in the adjoining room with Sophie curled beside her.
I hated discussing the case while she slept ten feet away.
But I needed answers.
Thomas opened the box.
“Start with the day she disappeared.”
I looked at him.
“I’ve told that story a thousand times.”
“Tell it once more.”
So I did.
It had been my father’s sixtieth birthday.
We hosted seventy people at our old Lake Forest house.
Caterers.
Family.
Business partners.
Children running through the garden.
Lily had been wearing a yellow dress.
I remembered because she spilled strawberry juice down the front ten minutes before she vanished.
“I went upstairs to change my blouse,” I said.
Daniel nodded.
“I was near the patio talking to your father.”
Thomas looked at me.
“And Rebecca?”
I closed my eyes.
Memories moved through me.
Rebecca laughing beside the garden doors.
Rebecca lifting Lily into her arms.
Rebecca saying—
I opened my eyes.
“She offered to watch her.”
Daniel swore under his breath.
I stared at him.
“You remember?”
“Yes.”
Thomas pulled out a photograph.
It showed the garden.
Guests.
Children.
And Rebecca carrying Lily near the east gate.
My heart stopped.
“I’ve seen this.”
“You saw a cropped copy.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
Thomas slid another photograph beside it.
The wider version showed the gate.
It was open.
Outside it stood a blue sedan.
“Whose car?”
“We never identified it.”
Detective Ruiz leaned forward.
“Why not?”
“The plate was obscured.”
Thomas looked at me.
“Your family security camera covering the east drive went offline for eleven minutes.”
I knew that.
Everyone knew that.
It had been blamed on an electrical fault.
Thomas continued.
“Years later, I had an independent technician examine the archived system report.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“And?”
“The camera didn’t fail.”
My hands became numb.
“It was manually disabled.”
I whispered, “By whom?”
“Someone using the interior security panel.”
Daniel stood abruptly.
“Only family and security staff knew the code.”
Thomas nodded.
“Exactly.”
I remembered Rebecca helping me set that code.
She had teased me because I used Lily’s birthday.
My stomach turned.
Detective Ruiz asked, “Why wasn’t this pursued?”
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
“Because the original lead detective believed an employee had probably disabled it by accident.”
Daniel slammed his palm onto the table.
“My daughter disappeared!”
Ruiz remained calm.
“And now we’re going to do this correctly.”
Thomas pulled out another file.
“I checked Rebecca’s finances this afternoon.”
“That fast?”
“I’ve been suspicious of Rebecca longer than you realize.”
I stared at him.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because suspicion without evidence would have destroyed your family.”
“My family was already destroyed.”
He looked ashamed.
“I know.”
He opened the folder.
“Three months before Lily disappeared, Rebecca had significant debt.”
“What kind?”
“Private loans. Credit cards. Several cash advances.”
Daniel shook his head.
“She had a trust fund.”
“She had burned through much of it.”
I stared at the numbers.
Hundreds of thousands.
Then Thomas pointed to another line.
“Two weeks after Lily vanished, Rebecca deposited sixty thousand dollars.”
My head jerked up.
“From where?”
“Cash.”
Daniel cursed.
Ruiz wrote something down.
Thomas continued.
“Then a pattern began.”
He showed us monthly withdrawals.
Two thousand.
Three thousand.
Sometimes five.
Always cash.
For almost eight years.
“Denise,” I whispered.
Thomas nodded.
“I searched that name combined with every address connected to Rebecca.”
He slid a photograph across the table.
A woman in her late forties stood outside a small house in Indiana.
I had never seen her.
“Denise Walker. Rebecca’s former college roommate.”
My pulse thundered.
“Is she alive?”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“She died eighteen months ago.”
The timing hit me.
Lily had said Rebecca later took control of her.
“What happened to Lily after Denise died?”
Thomas looked toward the room where my daughter slept.
“I think we need her to tell us.”
Lily woke an hour later.
I hated asking.
But when Detective Ruiz explained that her answers could help keep Rebecca away, Lily agreed.
She held my hand.
The first time she had done that voluntarily.
“I lived with Denise as long as I can remember.”
“Where?” Ruiz asked.
“Different places.”
“Did you call her Mom?”
Lily shook her head.
“She said she wasn’t my mother.”
My throat tightened.
“What did she tell you?”
“That my mother didn’t want me.”
I squeezed her hand.
Lily looked at me.
“I know now.”
Those three words nearly destroyed me.
Ruiz asked, “How often did Rebecca visit?”
“Sometimes every month. Sometimes she disappeared for a long time.”
“What did you call her?”
“Aunt Becca.”
Daniel turned away.
Lily continued.
“She brought money.”
Thomas and Ruiz exchanged a glance.
“What happened when Denise became sick?”
Lily’s face changed.
“She got scared.”
“Of what?”
“I heard them arguing.”
“About?”
Lily closed her eyes.
“Denise said, ‘We have to give her back.’”
My hand began shaking.
“And Rebecca?”
Lily’s voice became quieter.
“She said it was too late.”
I could barely breathe.
“What else?”
Lily hesitated.
Then she looked at me.
“Denise told her she was going to tell you.”
My heart stopped.
“What did Rebecca say?”
Lily swallowed.
“She said if Denise opened her mouth, everyone would find out what really happened at the birthday party.”
Thomas leaned forward.
“Did she say what happened?”
“No.”
Lily shook her head.
“But Denise did.”
The room became silent.
My daughter’s fingers tightened around mine.
“She said Aunt Rebecca never meant to keep me.”
I stared at her.
“What do you mean?”
May you like
Lily looked terrified.
“She only wanted you to pay.”
