Chapter 5 - My Sister Took Off The Mask
Emily chose a hotel café ten minutes from the base.
Public.
Bright.
No dramatic basement.
No armed escorts.
Elias sat near the windows.
Emily sat across from him wearing the same cap and mask.
I stopped beside the table.
Elias stood.
“Rachel.”
“Leave.”
Emily looked up.
Elias did not.
“She asked me to be here.”
I looked at my sister.
“Did you?”
A pause.
Then she shook her head.
Elias's face changed.
Small.
Interesting.
I pulled out the empty chair.
“Then leave.”
He looked at Emily.
Not me.
She finally spoke.
“Go.”
He buttoned his jacket.
“Ten minutes.”
Emily's shoulders tightened.
I heard it.
Not an order exactly.
Close.
I looked at him.
“She didn't give you a return time.”
Elias smiled without warmth.
“No.”
Then he walked away.
He chose a table near the lobby.
Still visible.
Emily watched him sit.
I watched her.
“Take it off.”
Her fingers touched the mask.
Stopped.
“Rachel.”
My throat closed.
Same voice.
Older than the sister I remembered.
Not much.
Enough.
“Take it off.”
Emily removed the cap first.
Dark hair fell around her face.
Then the mask.
My sister looked back at me.
Twenty-five now.
Last time I had seen her in person, she was twenty-two and furious because I missed Mom's birthday dinner.
I had promised to make it up.
I never did.
Emily stood.
For one terrifying second I thought she might hug me.
She slapped me instead.
Open hand.
Fast.
Not hard enough to injure.
Hard enough to say three years.
People near us turned.
I didn't move.
Emily's eyes filled.
“You were alive.”
“Yes.”
“Say it again.”
“I was alive.”
“You had a phone.”
“Yes.”
“Money.”
“Yes.”
“A place to sleep.”
“Most of the time.”
“Don't.”
She shook her head.
“Don't make this a survival story if it stopped being one.”
That hit.
I sat.
She stayed standing.
“When did it stop?”
I asked.
“What?”
“Being survival.”
Emily laughed.
“You tell me.”
Fair.
She sat opposite me.
For a while neither of us spoke.
Then:
“Did Elias tell you Vanessa killed me?”
“He said she signed the statement that closed your case.”
“Did you see it?”
“Yes.”
“Full statement?”
“No.”
There it was.
“What did you see?”
“A page.”
“Photograph?”
“Scan.”
“Signature?”
“Yes.”
“Anything saying she arranged my disappearance?”
“No.”
Emily looked away.
“So why believe him?”
“Because she lied to me.”
“About the Richmond photo.”
“Yes.”
“That happened before Elias?”
“No.”
She corrected herself.
“He was already helping by then.”
“How did you meet him?”
Emily rubbed her forehead.
“Online tip.”
I almost smiled bitterly.
Of course.
She had maintained a small page called FIND RACHEL CARTER.
Not viral.
Family.
Old colleagues.
Anyone who might remember.
Elias contacted her using his real name.
Said he had worked on the Redford matter.
“What did he tell you about himself?”
“That he represented compliance during the audit.”
“Did he tell you he represented Redford's contractor?”
Emily's face changed.
“No.”
I leaned back.
She stared toward the lobby.
Elias remained at his table.
“He said he was independent.”
“He wasn't.”
“Are you sure?”
“Vanessa says.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“And now you believe Vanessa?”
“No.”
Good question.
“I believe invoices.”
Emily's expression shifted.
I had seen Elias's name on contractor correspondence before I disappeared.
I had forgotten his face.
Not his name.
“What did he want from you?”
“At first? Nothing.”
“That never lasts.”
“No.”
He helped Emily obtain public records.
Pointed her toward people who remembered my car being found.
Explained which agencies could reopen missing-person inquiries.
Useful things.
Months passed.
Then Emily found the Richmond photograph.
“How?”
“A woman responded to the page.”
“Who?”
“Traveler. Said she recognized you from a local article.”
“Did Elias verify it?”
“He said the image looked credible.”
“Then you confronted Vanessa.”
“Yes.”
“She lied.”
“Yes.”
“And Elias suggested you impersonate me.”
Emily didn't answer.
There.
“How did he sell it?”
“He said Vanessa only reacted when she thought you were physically close.”
“So you became me.”
“Covered.”
“Same difference.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I never used your name with security.”
“You walked around disguised to resemble a dead officer.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To make her tell the truth.”
“And did she?”
“No.”
“Then you kept doing it.”
Emily looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“How many times?”
“Three.”
Vanessa had said four sightings.
I caught it.
“Three?”
“Yes.”
“Vanessa saw four.”
Emily stared.
“What?”
“You did three.”
“Yes.”
I felt cold.
“Then one of the fake Rachels wasn't you.”
Emily's face changed.
We both looked toward Elias.
He had stopped checking his phone.
He was watching us.
Emily whispered:
“He told me every sighting was mine.”
I looked back at her.
“No.”
May you like
For the first time since she removed the mask, my sister and I were frightened by the same thing.
Someone else had been wearing my disappearance before I ever came home.
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