Chapter 3 - My Sister Had Been Hunting Vanessa
Ruiz let me keep the phone.
Mostly because nobody had yet established what authority they had to take it.
I wrote back:
EMILY?
No answer.
Then:
TAKE OFF THE MASK.
Still nothing.
Vanessa watched me.
“She contacted you.”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“Why should I tell you?”
Vanessa's eyes hardened.
“Because Elias has spent months turning your sister into evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“That Rachel sightings are unreliable.”
I stared at her.
“You knew it was Emily.”
“No.”
“You suspected.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Height. Movement.”
“That's not enough.”
“No.”
“Then?”
Vanessa looked toward Ruiz.
He said:
“You can answer.”
She didn't appreciate that.
“One of the women wore a ring.”
My mind moved immediately.
Emily wore our grandmother’s plain gold signet ring.
Not valuable.
Small C worn almost smooth on the face.
She had taken it after Grandma Ruth died.
“She wouldn't take it off.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Once I saw it, I stopped believing these were random impersonators.”
“Why not contact my family?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Because they thought you were dead.”
“That is generally when families deserve information.”
“I didn't know who had brought Emily onto base.”
“You knew Elias.”
“I knew he was involved later.”
“Later when?”
“Second sighting.”
“And you still didn't call my mother.”
Vanessa looked down.
There was guilt there.
Real.
Not enough to explain three years.
Ruiz asked:
“Why would Mr. Sloane recruit Ms. Carter?”
Vanessa answered:
“To force my signature.”
“What signature?”
“A statement saying I had investigated multiple reported sightings and found each to be intentional impersonation.”
Ruiz frowned.
“What would that accomplish?”
I answered.
“If I ever came back, Vanessa's own statement could be used to say she'd already dealt with fake versions of me.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Exactly.”
I felt sick.
“Why would Elias need that?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“You still think I arranged your death.”
“Yes.”
“You think he wants to protect me?”
“I don't know what he wants.”
“Neither did I at first.”
That wasn't an answer.
I stood.
Ruiz told me to sit.
I didn't.
“I want my sister.”
“We don't know where she is.”
“She left with Sloane.”
“They left the administrative building separately.”
My body tightened.
“When?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
“Where did she go?”
“No answer.”
I headed for the door.
Ruiz moved in front of it.
“Rachel.”
“Get out of my way.”
“You're not cleared to move freely on base.”
“I was cleared here until somebody declared me dead.”
“That is not helping.”
Vanessa stood.
“Rachel.”
I turned.
“If Emily has been doing this for six months, she isn't going to disappear because you couldn't reach the door quickly enough.”
I hated that.
Because she was right.
I sat.
My phone rang.
MOM.
I stopped breathing.
I had not seen those three letters on a screen in three years.
Same contact preserved from an old backup.
Diane Carter.
My mother.
Ruiz looked at the phone.
Vanessa looked away.
I let it ring until it stopped.
Then again.
MOM.
I answered.
No words came.
My mother spoke first.
“Rachel?”
Her voice broke on my name.
I closed my eyes.
“Hi, Mom.”
She made a sound that nearly destroyed me.
Not a scream.
A breath catching on three years of funerals and birthdays and empty chairs.
“Are you alive?”
“Yes.”
I hated the question.
Hated more that she had to ask.
“Emily called me.”
My eyes opened.
“When?”
“Two minutes ago.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“What did she say?”
“That she saw you.”
“Anything else?”
Diane started crying.
“She said not to trust Vanessa.”
Vanessa heard.
Her face tightened.
My mother continued:
“She said Vanessa had been lying to us since the day you disappeared.”
I looked at her.
“What has Emily been doing?”
Silence.
“Mom.”
“I don't know everything.”
“What do you know?”
Diane took too long.
I felt anger returning because it was easier than everything else.
“What do you know?”
“A man contacted Emily last winter.”
“Sloane.”
“I only knew Elias.”
“What did he tell her?”
“That there were inconsistencies in your death investigation.”
“True.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“That General Cole had blocked several attempts to reopen it.”
I stared at Vanessa.
She didn't deny it.
“Did you know Emily was coming here dressed like me?”
Diane cried harder.
“Not the first time.”
My stomach dropped.
“After?”
“Yes.”
“You let her.”
“I begged her to stop.”
“Did you report it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she thought she was close.”
There it was.
Our family had spent three years turning grief into tasks.
Emily got a target.
Diane got hope.
Nobody got me.
“Mom.”
“I thought if Vanessa reacted—”
“You helped my sister impersonate a dead officer on a military base.”
“I did not help her.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
Ruiz looked as though his afternoon had just doubled in length.
Then Diane said something that made me forget him.
“Rachel, Emily didn't start because of Elias.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She had already been looking for you.”
“I know.”
“No.”
My mother’s voice dropped.
“She found someone who saw you alive.”
My pulse changed.
“When?”
“Eighteen months ago.”
I stared at Vanessa.
“Where?”
“A bus terminal in Richmond.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
My mother continued:
“Emily showed the photograph to General Cole.”
I looked at Vanessa.
“You knew I was alive eighteen months ago.”
She said nothing.
The first time she had seen me since my supposed death had not been today.
May you like
It had been a photograph.
And she had buried that too.
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