“Mommy?”
I froze.
The woman turned toward the little girl.
And behind me, my investigator whispered:
“Rowan… Tessa is calling.”
I answered.
Her voice was calm.
Almost cheerful.
“You found her, didn’t you?”
My blood ran cold.
“How did you know?”
Tessa laughed softly.
“Because, Rowan…”
There was a long pause.
“I wanted you to find her.”
Then she whispered something that made my entire world collapse.
“Because she isn’t the only secret Maren and I have been hiding.”
PART 4 — THE SECRET THEY NEVER EXPECTED ME TO FIND
“Because she isn’t the only secret Maren and I have been hiding.”
I couldn’t speak.
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“What does that mean?”
Tessa didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she laughed.
Not nervously.
Not fearfully.
Like someone who had been waiting years for this exact moment.
“You really thought Maren was innocent?”
My chest tightened.
“Maren is dead.”
“I know.”
“And Tessa is alive.”
“I know that too.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
For several seconds, there was only silence.
Then Tessa said,
“Ask her why she needed you to believe the baby died.”
My blood ran cold.
I turned toward my investigator.
“Get me everything.”
He nodded.
The little girl was standing beside the woman who had raised her.
She was watching me with wide blue eyes.
