Chapter 8 - Rebecca’s Last Christmas Notebook
The basement room did not look abandoned.
That was the first frightening thing.
The second was the date on Rebecca’s notebook.
December 21.
Three days before Claire found Evan behind the wall.
Rebecca had been alive and inside the Whitaker mansion that week.
Claire read the first page standing up.
I came back because Margaret is preparing something involving Evan.
Daniel thinks he controls the operation. He doesn’t. Victor does.
Marcus looked toward Ruiz.
“Victor was in Arizona.”
“Maybe physically,” Ruiz said. “Money travels.”
The notebook described Rebecca’s return to the United States under
another identity. She had spent years moving between Canada and Vermont,
collecting records with Stephen.
After Stephen died, she became convinced someone inside the Whitaker
household was helping Victor.
Rebecca entered the mansion posing as temporary holiday staff.
Claire remembered dozens of caterers moving through the house.
She might have walked past her dead friend.
The thought made her sit down.
Evan pointed at a page.
“She gave me cocoa.”
Claire looked at him.
“You met her here?”
He nodded.
“She said Mr. Buttons was sick.”
“What did she mean?”
“She fixed his eye.”
Rebecca had discovered the hidden camera and altered its connection so
recordings copied to a private server.
That explained the ballroom feed.
Rebecca had hijacked Daniel’s system.
She wanted Claire to see Evan.
Marcus whispered, “She created the glitch.”
Claire shook her head.
“Not a glitch. A warning.”
The notebook continued.
Daniel intends to stage a final Christmas video tonight. Evan will be
placed in the west room. Claire must see it before they erase the
archive.
Rebecca had saved her son.
Again, indirectly, the woman Claire had mourned five years earlier had
tried to protect her.
The final written line stopped mid-sentence.
If Margaret realizes who I am—
Nothing followed.
Police searched the basement.
A small bloodstain was found near the service stairs.
Not enough to establish what happened.
Security footage from December 21 had been deleted.
But a neighboring home camera showed a dark sedan leaving the Whitaker
property at 11:42 p.m.
Registered owner:
Paul Sutter.
Daniel’s attorney.
Sutter was detained.
He denied knowing Rebecca was alive.
Then investigators showed him the traffic footage.
His story changed.
Margaret had called him and said a trespasser needed to be driven away.
“Where did you take her?”
Sutter looked miserable.
“To a motel.”
“Which motel?”
“The Pine Crest.”
Police found the reservation.
Rebecca Sloan, under the name Rachel Stone, had checked in.
She had not checked out.
Her room contained clothing, medication, and a laptop.
No Rebecca.
The laptop contained copies of North Star’s accounts and a folder titled
EVAN.
Claire opened one video.
Rebecca spoke directly to the camera.
“Claire, I owe you an apology.”
Claire began crying before the next sentence.
“I should have told you about Daniel before the fundraiser. I thought I
needed perfect proof. I thought if I confronted him first, he might back
away. I was wrong.”
Rebecca explained that Daniel approached Claire because Hale Grocers
offered access to donors, warehouses, and financial networks.
The romance became real only in the sense that Daniel enjoyed the life
it gave him.
“Maybe he believes he loves you,” Rebecca said. “But Daniel confuses
love with possession.”
Claire looked away.
The video ended with Rebecca saying she intended to meet someone who
could expose Victor.
She named the person.
Mrs. Pike.
Evan’s nanny.
Claire stared.
Mrs. Pike had supposedly gone home sick before the Christmas Eve party.
Police found her apartment empty.
Her phone was off.
Marcus remembered something.
“Who hired Pike?”
Claire answered slowly.
“Daniel.”
They searched personnel records.
Mrs. Pike’s real name was not Pike.
It was Susan Dane.
Victor Dane’s younger sister.
Claire felt the floor shift beneath the entire case.
The nanny who had spent two years inside their home belonged to the man
Rebecca feared most.
Evan loved her.
Claire had trusted her.
Susan Dane had access to every room, every schedule, every private
conversation.
Ruiz asked Evan carefully whether Mrs. Pike ever took him to the hidden
room.
He shook his head.
“She said don’t go.”
“Did she know about the camera?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She told me cover Mr. Buttons when Dad gets mad.”
Claire stared.
Susan had been protecting him.
Or pretending to.
The distinction mattered.
A nationwide alert went out for Susan and Rebecca.
That night, Claire found Evan sitting beneath the Christmas tree.
“Can Christmas be over?”
She sat beside him.
“Are you tired of it?”
“Bad things keep happening when lights are on.”
Claire looked at the tree.
She unplugged it.
The room went dark except for the fireplace.
“How’s that?”
“Better.”
He leaned against her.
Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang.
Marcus checked the camera.
A woman stood outside.
Thin.
Dark hair streaked with gray.
A scar near her temple.
Claire knew the face despite five missing years.
Rebecca Sloan looked directly into the door camera.
Then she raised both hands.
In one hand was Mrs. Pike’s phone.
In the other was a flash drive.
“Claire,” she said through the intercom, “don’t call the police yet.”
Ruiz, standing ten feet away, almost smiled at the irony.
May you like
Rebecca continued.
“Victor has someone inside their task force.”
