Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Maren woke to the sound of a heart monitor.
For several seconds, she did not know where she was.
Then memory returned all at once.
The salmon.
The sweetness.
Reed’s face.
Celeste’s smile.
The floor.
The button beneath the table.
And the woman in white.
Her mother.
Maren tried to sit up.
Pain immediately stopped her.
A nurse appeared.
“Easy.”
“Where is she?”
“Who?”
“My mother.”
The nurse hesitated.
Then the door opened.
The woman stepped inside.
No sunglasses now.
No white jacket.
Just a gray sweater and a face Maren had memorized from old photographs.
Her name was Evelyn Whitaker.
According to every document Maren had seen for fifteen years, Evelyn died when Maren was seventeen.
Plane crash.
Private aircraft.
Atlantic coast.
No survivors.
Closed casket.
Maren’s father had identified what remained.
At least that was the story.
Evelyn stopped beside the hospital bed.
Neither woman spoke.
Then Maren whispered.
“You’re alive.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Maren slapped her.
The sound was weak.
Her body had almost no strength.
But Evelyn did not move away.
“You let me bury you.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were dead for fifteen years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“Because someone was trying to kill me.”
Maren stared at her.
Evelyn continued.
“And your father believed the only way to keep you alive was to make them believe they succeeded.”
Maren’s pulse accelerated on the monitor.
“Who?”
Evelyn looked toward the door.
Then back at her daughter.
“The same people Reed has been stealing from.”
“What does that mean?”
“Whitaker Medical was never simply your father’s company.”
“It was built on a partnership.”
“Your father.”
“Me.”
“And three investors who later decided your family shares were worth more without your family attached to them.”
Maren struggled to understand.
“What does Reed have to do with that?”
“Initially?”
“Nothing.”
Evelyn sat.
“Then he married you.”
“And somebody realized he was much cheaper to buy than you were.”
Maren closed her eyes.
Celeste.
The affair.
The insurance.
The poisoned salmon.
“What happened to Reed?”
“Police have him.”
“And Celeste?”
“Her too.”
“On what charge?”
“Right now?”
“Assault.”
“Attempted interference with emergency care.”
“Financial crimes are being reviewed.”
Evelyn’s expression became colder.
“The rest depends on whether investigators can prove what they intended when they put peanut oil on your dinner.”
Maren opened her eyes.
“They intended to kill me.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Evelyn removed a phone from her handbag.
On the screen was an audio file.
REED - CELESTE - 8:41 PM.
“You recorded them?”
“No.”
“You did.”
Maren stared.
The dead switch.
Evelyn nodded.
May you like
“Your father never built an emergency system that only called for help.”
“He built one that remembered why help was needed.”
