Chapter 11 - The Girl on the Staircase.
Maren returned to the Vale mansion the next afternoon against the advice of almost everyone except Detective Ruiz.
A doctor cleared her for a short supervised visit.
Two officers rode in the car with her.
Vivian sat beside her in silence.
The mansion looked smaller when they arrived.
Yellow evidence markers dotted the foyer.
A section of the dark wooden floor had been lifted around the hidden panic button.
The wheelchair remained near the staircase exactly where Maren had left it.
Lila sat on the lowest step wearing borrowed gray sweatpants and a police sweatshirt.
Her blonde hair was tied back.
There was no glass in her hand now.
There was no smug smile either.
She looked exhausted.
When Maren entered, Lila stood.
Maren stopped ten feet away.
"Sit down."
Lila sat immediately.
Ruiz remained near the doorway.
Vivian stood behind Maren's wheelchair.
Maren looked at Lila for a long time.
"You watched me die."
Lila's face crumpled.
"I thought you weren't going to die."
Maren's voice turned icy.
"That is not an answer."
"I know."
"Then answer me."
Lila pressed her hands together.
"I came into this house because of Reed."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
Lila swallowed.
"I came because I wanted him to trust me."
Maren laughed bitterly.
"You did excellent work."
Lila looked down.
"My mother left me files before she died."
Vivian stiffened.
"Naomi's files?"
"Copies."
Lila looked at her.
"She knew she was in danger."
Vivian's eyes filled with guilt.
Lila continued.
"When I was twenty-two, I found a storage receipt in one of her old books."
"The locker contained photographs, bank statements, and a list of names."
"Reed's was on the list."
Maren leaned forward.
"So you approached him."
"Not at first."
"Who did you approach?"
Lila hesitated.
"Rebecca Ward."
Vivian closed her eyes.
Ruiz stepped closer.
"How long have you known Rebecca?"
"Four years."
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
Ruiz's jaw tightened.
"You disappeared from police custody using a forged order tied to her father."
"Rebecca didn't take me."
"Who did?"
"A man who said Rebecca sent him."
"Name?"
"He never gave one."
Maren cut in.
"Why did you come back here?"
Lila looked at the floor.
"Because this is where it started."
"For you?"
"For everyone."
Maren followed her gaze toward the hidden panel.
"Tell me about the tile downstairs."
Lila inhaled.
"Rebecca told me that if Reed ever moved against you, I had to step on it before he completed the transfer."
"Why?"
"She said it would lock the trust."
"Did she tell you it would freeze his accounts?"
"Yes."
"Did she tell you police were coming?"
"No."
Maren's anger sharpened.
"Did she tell you Reed planned to poison me?"
Lila's face paled.
"Not until that morning."
"What exactly did she say?"
"She told me Reed had obtained something that would make you weak and confused."
"Something?"
"She called it a sedative."
Maren looked at Ruiz.
Ruiz's expression remained unreadable.
Lila continued.
"Rebecca said the amount was medically controlled and that you would be taken to a hospital before anything serious happened."
Maren stared at her.
"And you believed her."
Lila's voice broke.
"I wanted to believe her."
Maren's hand tightened around the wheelchair arm.
"You stood there while I begged for air."
"I froze."
"You smiled."
Lila covered her face.
"Reed was looking at me."
Maren said nothing.
Lila lowered her hands.
"He told me if I showed fear, he would know I had betrayed him."
"So you smiled."
"Yes."
Maren's voice was quiet.
"I will remember that smile for the rest of my life."
Lila began crying.
Maren did not look away.
"You should remember it too."
Lila nodded.
"I do."
Ruiz stepped forward.
"What was Black Square?"
Lila wiped her face.
"Rebecca."
Maren felt the confirmation like a weight.
"She controlled Reed?"
"She let him think she was an offshore fixer connected to one of his father's old accounts."
Vivian stared.
"How?"
"She had Nathan's files."
Lila looked at Vivian.
"She knew things only Charles's inner circle should have known."
Maren's voice hardened.
"And the dosage?"
Lila hesitated.
"Rebecca gave Reed instructions."
"For a harmless sedative?"
"That's what she told me."
Ruiz asked the question Maren feared.
"Was that what Reed received?"
Lila looked at the evidence markers.
"No."
Maren's stomach tightened.
"How do you know?"
"Because I checked the bottle after he left the study."
"And?"
"The label was different from the photograph Rebecca sent me."
Ruiz leaned closer.
"What did you do?"
"I messaged her."
"The unsent draft?"
"No."
Lila shook her head.
"I sent three messages before that."
"They aren't on your phone."
"Because someone deleted them."
Maren looked at Ruiz.
"What did the messages say?"
Lila recited them from memory.
"This is not what you showed me."
"Reed has something else."
"Call it off."
Maren's chest tightened.
"Did Rebecca answer?"
Lila nodded.
"One line."
"What line?"
Lila looked directly at Vivian.
"Let him choose."
The foyer went silent.
Vivian whispered.
"She wanted to see if Reed would do it anyway."
Lila nodded.
Maren's anger became suddenly clear and cold.
Rebecca had not tried to stop the crime.
She had built a test and placed Maren's life inside it.
"Where can we find her?"
Lila looked toward the grand staircase.
"There is one place."
"Where?"
"The house her father left her."
Ruiz took out her phone.
"Address."
Lila shook her head.
"It's not under her name."
"Then whose?"
Lila swallowed.
May you like
"Thomas Hale."
Maren went completely still.
