Chapter 12 - The Woman in Maine
Sarah Hale lived under the name Sarah Bell in a coastal town in Maine.
Evelyn had known for seventeen years.
Claire could barely process that.
“You paid Julian to keep her hidden?”
“No.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I paid Richard first.”
“Blackmail?”
“He found Sarah before I did.”
“Why didn’t Sarah come back for me?”
Evelyn looked broken.
“You’ll have to ask her.”
Claire boarded a flight that afternoon.
Rebecca went with her.
The address led them to a weathered blue house overlooking the ocean.
Claire stood on the porch for nearly a minute before knocking.
A woman opened the door.
She was sixty-one.
Thin.
Gray threaded through dark hair.
She had Claire’s eyes.
Claire forgot every question she had prepared.
Sarah stared at her.
Then her hand flew to her mouth.
“Claire.”
One word.
Her name.
Spoken by a mother she had never known.
Claire felt thirty-eight years collapse between them.
“You knew who I was.”
Sarah began sobbing.
“I knew.”
“Why didn’t you come?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“When you were seven.”
Claire’s chest tightened.
“Evelyn told me you never came.”
“She lied.”
Sarah invited them inside.
She brought out a box.
Inside were photographs of Claire clipped from newspapers.
Graduation.
Engagement.
Wedding.
Charity events.
Sarah had watched from a distance.
“I was told if I contacted you, they would challenge your identity and everything Thomas built for you.”
“Who told you?”
“Richard Mercer.”
Claire looked at Rebecca.
Sarah continued.
“He said Alexander’s death would be investigated.”
“Why would that threaten me?”
“Because Richard said I would be blamed.”
Sarah’s hands trembled.
“For what?”
“The boating accident.”
Claire stared.
“Were you there?”
Sarah nodded.
“I saw what happened.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“What did you see?”
Sarah’s voice became a whisper.
“Alexander didn’t fall from that boat.”
Claire’s pulse thundered.
“Richard Mercer pushed him.”
The room went silent.
Then Sarah looked directly at Claire.
May you like
“And Julian knows.”
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