“That’s not true!”
The words tore from Clara instantly.
Too fast.
Too desperate.
Her mother’s eyes glittered.
“Then tell them what happened.”
Daniel looked stunned.
Noah looked terrified.
And Clara—
Clara felt thirteen years old again.
The lake house.
The storm.
Anna running across the slippery dock while laughing.
Then the crack.
The fall.
The freezing black water swallowing her whole.
Clara shut her eyes tightly.
“I was a child,” she whispered.
Her mother stepped closer.
“You were jealous.”
“No!”
“You pushed her.”
“I did not push her!”
The scream echoed through the room.
Noah flinched.
Daniel grabbed Clara’s shoulders.
“Hey. Look at me.”
She couldn’t.
Because another memory surfaced.
Not the one she had repeated to herself for decades.
Another.
Anna crying earlier that day.
Their mother yelling.
A broken violin.
Then Anna whispering to Clara:
“Sometimes I think Mom wishes one of us would disappear.”
Clara opened her eyes.
Her mother was watching her carefully now.
Too carefully.
Not confused.
Not delirious.
Calculating.
And suddenly Clara understood something even more terrifying than the accusation itself.
Her mother’s dementia had been exaggerated.
Maybe even faked.
The realization crawled across Clara’s skin.
“Why are you really here?” she whispered.
The old woman’s expression changed.
For a second, genuine fear flickered there.
Then came another crash.
This time from the front door.
A violent pounding.
Everyone jumped.
Daniel hurried toward the hallway.
A man’s voice shouted from outside.
“Police! Open the door!”
Clara’s blood ran cold.
Two officers entered moments later.
Rainwater dripped from their coats.
One of them looked directly at Clara’s mother.
“Margaret Vale?”
The old woman stiffened.
The officer continued:
“We’ve been looking for you for six days.”
The room fell silent.
Clara stared.
“Looking for her… why?”
The officer hesitated.
Then spoke carefully.
“Ma’am, three caretakers at Saint Jude Medical Facility are dead.”
Noah gasped.
Daniel went pale.
And Clara felt the world split open beneath her feet.
The officer’s next words landed like a hammer.
“Your mother disappeared the same night the fires started.”
