Chapter 5 - My Sister-in-Law's Lie
I did not scream.
I did not cry.
I pressed the speaker button and waved frantically at the officer outside my door.
“Who is this?” I asked.
The woman laughed softly.
“You already know.”
Marissa.
“Where is Rose?”
“Safe for now.”
“For now?”
“Your family made an agreement. Your husband is breaking it.”
“My family made no agreement.”
“Ask Diane.”
The officer entered. I pointed at my phone. He immediately radioed Ortiz.
Marissa continued.
“Tell Ethan to pull the police out of the garage and the ambulance bay.”
“You think I control the police?”
“You control your husband.”
“No. That’s apparently Diane’s hobby.”
The line went quiet.
Then Marissa said, “You have ten minutes.”
She disconnected.
The officer took my phone to trace the call.
A minute later, Lauren was brought back into my room with Detective Ortiz.
Her eyes were swollen.
I looked at her and felt something inside me turn cold.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Don’t answer fast. Answer true.”
She swallowed.
“I knew Mom was trying to arrange a private placement.”
“Of my daughter?”
“No.”
“Did you know she had documents with my name on them?”
Lauren looked at the floor.
My stomach dropped.
“Lauren.”
“She showed me papers last week.”
Ethan walked in behind Ortiz.
His face changed when he heard that.
“What papers?”
Lauren began crying again.
“Mom said you and Rachel had changed your minds. She said you wanted to keep it quiet until after the delivery because Rachel’s parents would judge you.”
I stared at her.
“And you believed that?”
“I wanted to.”
Those three words hurt more than a lie.
Ethan stepped closer.
“You wanted one of our children badly enough to believe Mom when she told you Rachel was secretly giving her away?”
Lauren’s voice cracked.
“I asked to talk to Rachel. Mom said it would upset her and could trigger early labor.”
“You had my number,” I said.
She covered her face.
“I know.”
Ortiz asked, “Did you sign anything?”
Lauren hesitated.
“Yes.”
Ethan cursed.
“What did you sign?”
“A statement saying I intended to assume guardianship after birth.”
“Where is it?”
“Marissa has the original.”
Ortiz’s eyes sharpened.
“When did you meet Marissa?”
“Three times. Once at Mom’s house. Twice at a fertility support office downtown.”
“What office?”
Lauren gave the name: New Path Family Services.
The detective typed it into her phone.
Nothing.
No state license. No adoption registration. No corporate listing under that name.
Ethan turned away and pressed both hands against his head.
His own mother had built a fake adoption around us while we were buying car seats and painting a nursery.
I asked Lauren, “Where were you supposed to take the baby?”
“I wasn’t.”
“What?”
“Mom said she would handle the first forty-eight hours. Then the baby would be brought to me after the paperwork cleared.”
Ortiz leaned in.
“Brought to you where?”
Lauren whispered, “The lake house.”
Ethan turned around.
Our family lake house was ninety miles north, closed for winter, isolated enough that the nearest neighbor was half a mile away.
Ortiz immediately radioed state police.
Then Lauren’s phone buzzed on the table.
Everyone looked at it.
A text from an unknown number appeared on the screen.
CHANGE OF PLAN. BRING THE BLUE FOLDER TO ROOM 712. COME ALONE IF YOU STILL WANT A DAUGHTER.
Lauren went white.
Ortiz asked, “What blue folder?”
Lauren whispered, “The one Mom told me never to open.”
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