Chapter 5 - The Promise She Couldn't Keep
“Why didn't you give me these?”
I held the train tickets between us.
Mae looked down.
“I should have.”
“Eighteen months, Mae.”
“I know.”
“You saw me at her funeral. You saw me crying in the flower shop before Daniel sold it.”
Her eyes filled.
“I know, sweetheart.”
“Then why?”
She leaned against the bakery wall.
“Daniel came looking for those tickets the morning after Rebecca died. He told me you'd been having trouble coping, and that upsetting you with Rebecca's plans would make things worse.”
I stared at her.
“You believed him?”
“At first.”
“And afterward?”
Mae swallowed.
“He told me to stay away from you. Said he wouldn't hesitate to make trouble for anybody spreading stories about his wife.”
I felt anger rise in my chest.
“Rebecca trusted you.”
“Yes.”
“And you let him decide what I should know.”
Mae nodded.
There was no excuse.
She didn't offer one.
“I was afraid,” she whispered. “And I let that matter more than doing the right thing.”
Vincent stood quietly beside us.
I was grateful he didn't interrupt.
This wasn't an argument for a powerful man to settle.
It was my sister's life.
And my grief.
I slipped the tickets into my purse.
“I need to know why she was so frightened.”
Mae wiped her cheeks.
“Then you should speak to Gloria Salazar.”
“Who's Gloria?”
“She coordinates the women Rebecca helped through Hearth House. She knew about Daniel long before your sister married him.”
Vincent's expression changed.
“Gloria Salazar?”
Mae nodded.
“Do you know her?”
“Not personally. My father once told me what happened to her.”
We met Gloria that afternoon in a community center near the lake.
She was sixty-three, with silver hair and a slight limp.
She greeted Vincent cautiously.
“Your father still alive?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Good. Tell him he still owes me a decent cup of coffee.”
Vincent almost smiled.
“I'll pass that along.”
Then Gloria looked at me.
“Rebecca's sister.”
I nodded.
She took both my hands.
“You have her eyes.”
It was such a simple thing to say.
But I nearly cried.
“Everybody tells me that.”
“Then everybody's right.”
We sat near the window.
I showed her the tickets.
Her face softened.
“She was going to take you somewhere Daniel couldn't reach you.”
“Why?”
“Because she'd finally learned what he was doing.”
Vincent leaned forward.
“Tell us.”
Gloria glanced toward the closed door.
“The women staying at Hearth House don't always use their real names. Some have left dangerous husbands. Others have testified against men who have money and connections.”
I nodded.
“Rebecca helped them find jobs?”
“Yes. Your sister understood that a woman couldn't start over if she had no paycheck, no address she could safely use, and nobody who believed her.”
I remembered how Rebecca had slipped grocery money into my coat pocket during college.
She'd always been like that.
Quietly generous.
Never asking for credit.
Gloria continued.
“Daniel knew about Hearth House because he used to help your father's family arrange transportation.”
Vincent's face hardened.
“He was dismissed eleven years ago.”
“Yes.”
“After your address was exposed?”
Gloria nodded.
“My husband had been looking for me. I'd left him after years of being frightened in my own kitchen.”
She looked down at her hands.
“When he found the apartment, he hurt me badly enough that I spent six weeks recovering.”
I swallowed.
“Margaret gave him the address?”
“Vivian trusted Daniel to drive me to a medical appointment. He was given the pickup details.”
Vincent frowned.
“My father always said she sold that information.”
Gloria shook her head.
“I never saw her take money. I saw her trying to get me away from my husband.”
“Then why did she disappear?”
“I don't know everything. But after what happened, she couldn't convince your family she'd made a mistake rather than a bargain.”
Vincent sat very still.
For eleven years, he'd believed his stepmother had deliberately endangered people.
Now the woman who'd suffered was telling him the story wasn't that simple.
I looked at Gloria.
“Where does Rebecca fit into this?”
“She started helping after Daniel married her. At first, he encouraged it.”
That surprised me.
“Why would he?”
“Because it gave him a reason to ask about the people she helped.”
My stomach dropped.
“Did she tell him?”
“Not intentionally.”
Gloria took a breath.
“About two years before she died, Rebecca noticed that a woman she'd helped relocate received a visit from her estranged husband. Then another woman reported something similar.”
“Daniel was giving out their addresses?”
“We suspected he was using information from deliveries and transportation arrangements. Rebecca began checking old orders.”
Vincent rubbed his jaw.
“She was collecting evidence.”
“Carefully,” Gloria answered. “She wanted to be certain before she accused her own husband.”
I thought about Rebecca's wedding photograph.
Her smile.
The way she'd looked at Daniel as if he'd hung the moon.
“How do you tell yourself the person sleeping beside you might be dangerous?” I whispered.
Gloria looked at me.
“Usually, you spend a long time trying not to believe it.”
I understood that better than I wanted to.
Vincent asked whether Gloria had seen Rebecca shortly before her death.
She nodded.
“The afternoon she died.”
My heart began pounding.
“Was she sick?”
“No. She was upset, but she walked in carrying two bags of groceries.”
“Did she mention Daniel?”
“Yes.”
Gloria's eyes filled.
“She said she'd found out he had asked about your work schedule. She was frightened he'd use you to make her stay quiet.”
I gripped my purse.
“She was going to take me on that train.”
“I know.”
Gloria took a long breath.
“Before she left, Daniel arrived outside. Rebecca saw his car.”
“What happened?”
“She told me to stay inside. Then she went out to speak to him.”
“Did he hurt her?”
“I didn't see him touch her. But she didn't want to leave with him.”
My eyes burned.
“Did you tell the police?”
“Yes. After she died, I told an officer she'd seemed frightened.”
“What did he say?”
“That married couples argue. He said there wasn't evidence of a crime.”
Gloria reached across the table.
“Emma, there's something I wish I'd understood sooner.”
I looked at her.
“Rebecca wasn't only afraid Daniel would stop her leaving.”
Her voice trembled.
“She was afraid that once she left, he would come looking for you instead.”
Then Gloria took a folded photograph from her purse.
It showed Rebecca standing beside the entrance to Hearth House.
And in the background, watching from across the street, was Daniel Mercer.
May you like
Gloria pointed to the date printed on the back.
“This was taken the same afternoon she died. He'd already found the one place she thought he couldn't follow her.”
