Chapter 16 - Doris Calls HomeThe call came at 11:43 p.m.
Rachel answered because the number was blocked.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then Doris spoke.
“You look tired.”
Rachel stood.
Ethan was asleep on the couch.
Miles was upstairs.
Her pulse began hammering.
“Where are you?”
Doris ignored the question.
“You should close the curtain behind the kitchen sink.”
Rachel turned.
The curtain was open.
Darkness beyond the glass.
Fear hit her so violently she almost dropped the phone.
She moved away from the window.
Ethan woke.
“What?”
Rachel held up one finger.
Doris laughed softly.
“I’m not outside.”
Rachel switched on the recorder Detective Shaw had instructed her to use if Doris contacted her.
“What do you want?”
“My family back.”
“You kicked my son off a cliff.”
“He survived.”
Rachel’s jaw tightened.
“That is not a defense.”
“He was wearing a parachute.”
“With the backup system disabled.”
Silence.
For the first time, Doris seemed surprised.
Rachel continued.
“Nolan talked.”
Doris’s voice hardened.
“Nolan is a coward.”
“He recorded you.”
Another pause.
Rachel realized she had landed a blow.
Doris recovered quickly.
“You’ve always enjoyed turning people against me.”
“I spent years defending you.”
“No. You spent years judging me.”
Rachel almost laughed.
“You tried to kill my child.”
“You have no idea what I intended.”
“Then tell me.”
Doris became quiet.
Rachel waited.
“I intended to stop being erased.”
There it was.
Not remorse.
Not denial.
Grievance.
“You think Miles erased you?”
“Evelyn did.”
“Evelyn is dead.”
“But her rules aren’t.”
Doris’s voice trembled for the first time.
“Her trust. Her descendants. Her precious mountain.”
Rachel stared toward the staircase.
“My son is not a clause in a trust.”
“He became one the day he was born.”
Rachel felt sick.
“You knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That if Miles died, his approval right disappeared.”
Doris did not answer.
That silence said enough.
Rachel pressed.
“And if Dad were declared incompetent, you thought you’d control the trustee vote.”
Still silence.
“You forged the successor amendment.”
Doris laughed.
“You suddenly care about Hale Ridge?”
“I care about what you were willing to do for it.”
“You left.”
“You pushed me out.”
“You were weak.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
There was her mother.
Not the public woman.
The real one.
“You always needed Harold’s approval,” Doris continued. “Then Ethan’s. Now police. Lawyers.”
“No.”
Rachel’s voice became calm.
“I needed yours.”
That stopped Doris.
“For years,” Rachel said. “I kept thinking one day you’d tell me I was good enough.”
Silence.
“I’m done.”
Doris breathed slowly.
“You’ll regret choosing Harold.”
“This isn’t about Dad.”
“It always is.”
“No.”
Rachel looked upstairs.
“It’s about Miles.”
Doris’s voice lowered.
“You don’t understand what that boy took from me.”
Rachel’s stomach turned.
“What did he take?”
“My last chance.”
The line went dead.
Detective Shaw arrived fifteen minutes later.
The call had bounced through an internet service, but forensic analysts began tracing it.
More importantly, Rachel had captured Doris discussing the trust motive.
It was not a confession.
But it was powerful evidence.
Miles appeared at the stairs.
“You were talking to Grandma.”
Rachel froze.
“How long were you there?”
“Not long.”
He came down slowly.
“Did she say I took something?”
Rachel nodded reluctantly.
Miles looked hurt.
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
“I just got born.”
Rachel’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Miles stood in front of her.
“That’s not stealing.”
“No.”
She hugged him.
“That’s not stealing anything.”
The next morning police traced part of Doris’s internet call.
It originated from a public Wi-Fi network near Denver Union Station.
Surveillance cameras showed Doris boarding no train.
Instead, she entered a parking garage.
Another camera captured her getting into a gray sedan.
Registered owner:
Miriam Blake.
Rachel stared at the screen.
“Miriam?”
Harold went white.
Detective Shaw immediately tried her phone.
Disconnected.
They drove to Miriam’s house.
The front door was unlocked.
No sign of struggle.
Her purse was gone.
So was a suitcase.
On her kitchen counter lay a note.
I’m sorry. I couldn’t do this anymore.
Rachel read it.
Then shook her head.
“This isn’t right.”
Shaw looked at her.
“Why?”
“Miriam spent nine years hiding evidence because Doris threatened her son.”
Rachel held up the note.
“She wouldn’t suddenly run away with her.”
Harold looked toward the empty driveway.
Rachel whispered, “Doris has something on her.”
May you like
And for the first time, the investigation was no longer only about finding Doris.
It was about finding Miriam before fear forced her to help Doris destroy everything.
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