Chapter 3 - WHAT LILY SAW
By morning, Lily had slept four hours.
Rachel had slept none.
Child-services investigator Marissa Cole arrived shortly after breakfast.
No uniforms.
No aggressive questions.
She brought coloring pencils.
Lily drew a beach.
A kiosk.
Three cars.
One black.
One silver.
One blue.
Rachel recognized only the silver family SUV.
Marissa asked:
“Who was in the black car?”
Lily immediately colored over it.
Hard.
Black pencil tearing the paper.
Marissa changed subjects.
“Did anyone hold your hands yesterday?”
Lily nodded.
Rachel stopped breathing.
“Who?”
Lily looked at Rachel.
“Grandma said Megan would go away.”
Rachel's hands tightened beneath the table.
Marissa asked:
“What does go away mean?”
“Police.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
Not necessarily prison.
Maybe Lily had simply interpreted a threat.
Then Lily said:
“Because Megan opened the box.”
Rachel looked up.
“What box?”
Lily became silent.
They stopped the interview.
That afternoon Rachel met Megan outside a pharmacy two towns away.
Megan wore sunglasses despite the rain.
She looked terrified.
Rachel grabbed her hands.
“What happened?”
Megan cried immediately.
“I didn't hurt Lily.”
Rachel froze.
“I didn't ask if you did.”
Megan covered her mouth.
“Mom said she'd say I did.”
“Why?”
“Because I tried to take Lily away from her.”
Rachel felt sick.
“From what?”
Megan looked around the parking lot.
Then whispered:
“The black car.”
Lily had seen Diane meeting someone near the dunes shortly after lunch.
Megan followed.
She found Diane giving a metal document box to a man.
Inside were envelopes, bank statements, and old legal papers.
Lily wandered up behind her.
Diane panicked.
Megan tried to leave with Lily.
Then someone grabbed the child.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Rachel stared.
“You were there.”
“I saw his coat. His hands. That's all.”
“Mom?”
Megan shook her head.
“She screamed at him to let Lily go.”
That surprised Rachel.
“So Diane didn't cause the bruises?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why tell Lily not to tell me?”
Megan looked ashamed.
“Because Mom said if you found out about the box, Dad would go to prison.”
Rachel stared.
“What was in it?”
“I only saw one page clearly.”
Megan pulled a photograph from her phone.
A bank statement.
Account holder:
Rachel Bennett Minor Trust.
Balance, twelve years earlier:
$486,220.14
Rachel felt cold.
“My trust?”
Megan nodded.
“What trust?”
“Our grandmother left money for you when you were seventeen.”
Rachel laughed in disbelief.
“No, she didn't.”
Megan's face collapsed.
May you like
“Yes.”
“And it's gone.”
