Chapter 14 - The Cabin
The mountain road ended at a small cedar cabin above the lake.
Police were ten minutes behind them.
Ava had convinced her mother to stay by pretending she wanted to leave town with her.
Elena stood on the porch when they arrived.
She was fifty-one, elegant, blonde, and eerily calm.
Her eyes went first to Evan.
Then Maya.
“So you came.”
Maya walked toward her.
“What did you tell Lily?”
Elena looked at the lake.
“The truth.”
Maya’s hands curled.
“What truth?”
“That adults lie.”
Evan stepped forward. “You went into my daughter’s ICU room to punish my mother?”
Elena smiled sadly.
“You think everything is about you. Just like Richard.”
Ava flinched.
“Is he my father?”
Elena’s expression softened.
“Yes.”
Ava closed her eyes.
Evan turned away.
Maya did not care about Richard Hale.
Not right now.
“What did you say to Lily?”
Elena looked at her.
“I told her none of it was her fault.”
Maya’s anger faltered.
“What?”
“She was crying. She said she thought her father left because she needed too much.”
Evan’s face crumpled.
“I told her children do not cause adults to betray each other.”
Maya stared at Elena.
“Then why did her heart rate spike?”
“Because I told her her father was coming.”
Evan looked up.
Elena’s eyes were wet now.
“I lied to her. I thought it would calm her.”
Maya’s knees weakened.
“She asked me to tell him she forgave him.”
Evan covered his mouth.
Maya whispered, “You photographed her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted Diane to live with what her family had done.”
“You used my dying daughter as ammunition.”
Elena looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
Sirens approached in the distance.
Ava said, “Mom, give them your phone.”
Elena shook her head.
“There’s something else first.”
She went inside and returned with a small digital recorder.
“Lily asked me to record her because her phone battery died.”
Maya’s breath caught.
Elena held it out.
“I never sent it.”
Evan reached.
Maya took it first.
Her finger hovered over PLAY.
A child’s voice filled the mountain air.
“Mom, if Dad comes home…”
Maya stopped breathing.
May you like
Lily continued.
“…please don’t hate him forever.”
