Chapter 3: The Woman Everyone Buried
The wedding never resumed.
Still wearing her white gown, Victoria drove with Daniel and Lily to the abandoned train station on the edge of town.
Rain began to fall as they searched the empty platforms.
"There," Lily whispered.
"That's where she sat."
There was only an old wooden bench beneath a dying oak tree.
Victoria looked around, disappointed.
"No one's here."
Just as they turned to leave...
An elderly groundskeeper approached.
"You looking for the woman with the silver scarf?"
Victoria's heart stopped.
"You know her?"
He nodded.
"She came every Thursday."
"Fed the birds."
"Always carried a gold photograph."
"When was the last time you saw her?"
"Three days ago."
Victoria's knees nearly gave out.
"That's impossible."
The old man frowned.
"Why?"
"She's alive."
Daniel pulled out his phone and showed him an old family portrait.
The groundskeeper pointed immediately.
"That's her."
Victoria felt cold all over.
"But..."
"They buried her."
The old man stared at her in confusion.
"No."
"I drove her to the nursing home outside Millbrook."
"She couldn't remember much."
"But she kept saying one sentence."
"What sentence?" Daniel asked.
The old man looked directly at Victoria.
"Don't let Richard find Lily."
Victoria's face lost all color.
Richard.
Her own father.
The man who had arranged the funeral.
The man who insisted the coffin remain closed.
The man who inherited every dollar of her mother's estate.
Suddenly everything fit together.
The fake funeral.
Emily's disappearance.
The missing fortune.
The lies.
May you like
Someone hadn't died.
Someone had been hidden.
