The Woman in Room 214
Chapter 08 - The Woman in Room 214
The photograph was three weeks old.
Rachel verified the date.
The investigator verified the location.
Claire refused to believe it until she was standing outside Room 214 of St. Agnes Rehabilitation Center in Maryland.
Daniel stood ten feet behind her.
He had driven, but Claire had barely spoken to him.
Marlene waited in the hallway.
Evelyn had stayed home.
Claire touched the door.
Then she walked in.
The woman by the window looked up.
She was thinner than Claire remembered. Her hair was white, her hands bent slightly with arthritis, and a pale scar ran along one side of her jaw.
But her eyes were Anne's.
Claire stopped breathing.
The woman stared.
Then whispered one word.
"Claire?"
Thirty-two years of confusion collapsed into one second.
Claire sat beside the bed.
"You died."
Anne began to cry.
"I know."
Claire stood again.
"No."
"Baby—"
"No. You don't get to call me that."
Daniel stepped toward the doorway, then stopped himself.
Claire's hands shook.
"I buried you."
"I know."
"I picked your dress."
Anne covered her face.
"I know."
"What happened?"
Anne looked toward Daniel.
Claire followed her gaze.
"You know him?"
Anne nodded slowly.
"Thomas's boy."
Daniel swallowed.
"Yes, ma'am."
Anne looked at Claire.
"Victor found me."
Marlene entered the room.
Anne began crying harder.
The sisters stared at each other for a long time.
Then Marlene whispered, "You let me think you were dead."
Anne shook her head.
"No. I woke up and they told me you all believed I was."
Claire felt cold.
"Woke up from what?"
Anne touched the scar on her jaw.
"A car accident."
No one spoke.
Anne continued.
"I had memory problems. Months missing. Then years in pieces. Victor arranged my care. He told me you were better without me."
Claire looked at Daniel.
Victor had not merely stolen money.
He had stolen a life.
Anne reached for Claire's hand.
Claire did not take it.
Not yet.
"Why would he do this?"
Anne looked toward the window.
"Because I found out what he had done with the trust."
Claire's heart stopped.
May you like
Anne turned back.
"And because Thomas Mercer was going to help me prove it."
