Chapter 7 - CATHERINE WASN'T DEADThe room erupted.
“That’s impossible,” Eleanor whispered.
Howard stared at his phone.
“The bank has security footage.”
Sarah's voice trembled.
“My mother is dead.”
Howard shook his head.
“That is what we were told.”
Eleanor collapsed into a chair.
Richard, who was being escorted away, suddenly laughed.
Everyone turned.
“You finally found out.”
David stared at him.
“What?”
Richard smiled.
“Catherine isn't dead.”
Sarah couldn't breathe.
“Where is she?”
Richard said nothing.
Howard grabbed his collar.
“Where is Catherine?”
Richard laughed again.
“You think she wanted to come back?”
Eleanor screamed:
“Where is my sister?”
Richard's smile disappeared.
“She ran.”
“Why?”
“Because she discovered what I had done.”
Sarah stepped closer.
“What did you do?”
Richard looked at her.
“I made her believe her daughter was dead.”
Sarah froze.
He continued.
“She thought you had died.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
“That night…”
Richard nodded.
“I told Catherine the baby had been killed.”
Sarah's entire body trembled.
“You told my mother I was dead?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she wouldn't stop searching.”
Richard looked away.
“She left the country.”
Howard's phone rang again.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“It's the bank.”
He listened.
Then slowly said:
“There's a message.”
Sarah stepped forward.
“What does it say?”
Howard looked at her.
“It says…”
He swallowed.
“‘Tell my daughter I am sorry I was too afraid to come home.’”
Sarah began crying.
“She's alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
Howard looked at the timestamp.
“She was at the bank this morning.”
Sarah's eyes widened.
“Can we find her?”
Howard nodded.
“There is one clue.”
He showed her a photograph from the security camera.
A woman in a dark coat stood outside the bank.
Her face was partly hidden.
But she wore a small sapphire rose around her neck.
Sarah stared at the image.
“That’s my mother.”
Margaret held her hand.
May you like
“Then we find her.”
And for the first time in twenty-eight years, Sarah ran toward her past instead of away from it.
