The Reckoning (16 page)

“It’s coming in handy today.” Claire sat down next to
Elizabeth
and placed her purse in her lap.

The door open, and John came strolling in. “Sorry I’m late, Aunt Emma.” John walked over to his mother and kissed her on the head. “Sorry, Mom.”

Abby knowingly nodded. “You can fill me in later.”

Emma turned on the monitors to a picture of Helen, the woman that
Elizabeth
had come to learn was the head of Emma’s staff. Her face strategically paused in time on the monitor. She glanced at John. “Are you ready?”

He nodded and Emma hit play and fast-forwarded on the slowest setting she had. “Just tell me when to stop if you see the woman from your dreams.”

Ten minutes later they were still watching in silence. A few faces had come into the café that
Elizabeth
had never seen. Her mouth dropped open. “Shit, stop the tape!” she screamed.

Emma hit the pause button.

“Go back a couple of frames,”
Elizabeth
demanded. Her mind must have been playing tricks on her or the couple just looked like people she knew. Her mind raced with the implications of what she might have just seen.

Emma moved the shots back, frame-by-frame.  

“Stop, stop here!”
Elizabeth
shouted, pointing at the screen.

Abby got up from the leather chair and walked closer to the screen then turned toward
Elizabeth
. “Doc, isn’t that your sister having coffee with the professor?”

Elizabeth
couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There was no way her sister had withheld that type of information from her. No, she’d give her sister the benefit of the doubt and let her explain. What that explanation might be eluded
Elizabeth
. “What the hell?”

Abby put her hands on her hips. “It seems she has some explaining to do.”

Elizabeth
fisted her hands as her heart raced. The need to get to the bottom of what she’d seen was riding her hard. It took every ounce of concentration to stay seated and rooted on the couch. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Claire raised her hand, putting it on
Elizabeth
’s shoulder. “I’m sure she has a good reason.”

Elizabeth
nodded and bit her lip. “I’m sure you’re right. Hit play, Emma.”

Emma hit play, got up, and walked to the small fridge in the corner. She pulled out a bottle of wine and a glass. Emma filling the glass about half full and handed it to
Elizabeth
. “We don’t normally drink so early. But you sure look like you could use this.”

“Thanks.”
Elizabeth
took the glass, threw her head back, and drained the contents. She reached up and wiped at the liquid that dripped from the corners of her mouth.

Emma walked back around her desk and sat in her chair.

“Stop it, Aunt Emma.”

Emma hit the stop button and rewound frame-by-frame, just like she had done for
Elizabeth
.

John pointed to the screen. “Right there, that’s her.” John turned toward his mom with excitement in his eyes. “That’s the woman from my dreams.”

Silence filled the room as each sister inspected the woman on the screen. No words passed any of their lips. They sat that way for what seemed like minutes but was probably mere seconds.

Elizabeth
glanced around the room. “Someone say something.”

Claire cleared her throat. “She looks just like our dad, same eyes and same strong cheekbones.” Claire tilted her head. “Well, all except for that wavy fire-engine red hair.”

Abby shook her head. “No, it’s not possible.” She stood abruptly and pointed to the monitor as she looked at Claire. “He would have told us. He wouldn’t have let us find out this way.”

Abby frowned with cold fury in her expression;
Elizabeth
didn’t envy the redhead on the screen. She was glad Abby’s hatred wasn’t directed toward her.  Claire stood and pulled her baby sister into her embrace. “I’m sure he would have, Abby.”

Abby let out a breath and laid her head down on Claire’s shoulder and whispered, “How could he? How could he have been married before Mom, had another child, and kept it a secret from us.”

A tear slid down her cheek.
Elizabeth
was stunned into silence, watching the events unfold before her eyes. She felt like an intruder on a private family moment. All of this was her fault. If she wouldn’t have thought about it in the first place when she’d been testing Claire’s abilities, her friends wouldn’t be hurting right now.

Elizabeth
pushed herself up from the couch and looked at all the women who she’d come to care about over the last two years. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Abby swiped at the tear that had trickled down her cheek. “It’s not your fault, Doc. It’s our dad’s.”

John walked over to Abby and put his arm around her shoulders. “Mom, we don’t know the whole story. We don’t have all of the evidence. Isn’t that what you always tell me?” John pointed to the screen. “At least we won’t have the evidence until we find her.”

Abby straightened under her son’s embrace, tilted her head back, and smiled up at her son. “You’re right, kiddo. So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to find her.”

Abby took her seat.
Elizabeth
could see the wheels in motion as Abby eyes searched the screen, remembering all of the details, all the fine lines, a face that none of the sisters would forget. “Emma, move it ahead frame by frame. See if she talks to anyone, if she uses a credit card to pay, anything that will help lead us to her.”

They spent the next ten minutes analyzing each frame until the redhead handed the waitress a credit card. “Stop! That’s it, note the time on the screen.” Abby turned toward Emma. “Pull your credit card receipts from that day at that time and see who it belonged too.”

Emma smiled. “Follow me.”

They all followed behind Emma to the front of the café. She spoke in hushed tones to Helen, who nodded and disappeared.

Emma slid behind the counter and made each of them a fresh coffee. “Now comes the worst part…we wait.”

John tapped his mom on the shoulder. “Uh… Mom?”

They all turned toward John to find him staring out the front window of the café. His mouth hung open, his eyelids unblinking. The rest of the group turned to see what had caught his attention. John pointed. “Mom, I don’t think it’s going to be a long wait. She’s crossing the street and heading this way.”

They all watched as the redhead pulled the door open and walked in, heading straight toward them.
How had she known?

She held their gaze, surveying the Bennett group. Biting her bottom lip, she walked straight up to where they stood. The very air surrounding her seemed electrified somehow. The fine hairs on the back of
Elizabeth
’s neck stood on ends. “Hi, I’m Lydia Stevens, your half-sister.”

Abby’s lips thinned with irritation as she narrowed her eyes. It wasn’t a stretch for
Elizabeth
to imagine Abby didn’t trust the redhead. Abby’s unrelenting gaze held the intruders. ‘Why now?”

The redhead’s eyes opened wide, like a deer caught in the headlights. “I didn’t know about him or that any of you were real until a week ago.”

Claire took a step closer to their half-sister and held out her hand. “I’m Claire, the oldest.” She paused. “Wait… How old are you?”

“Thirty-nine. I guess that makes me the oldest.”

Abby stepped between their joined hands, breaking the contact and glared. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. You aren’t a Bennett. We didn’t even know about you, and I’m not so sure I even believe your story.” Abby put her hand around Claire’s shoulder. “Our dad would have told us about you.”

The redhead held up her hands, palms out. “Look, this is just as new to me as it is to you. I didn’t come here to cause trouble.”

Elizabeth
stepped up beside Claire and tilted her head. “Then why are you here?”

Elizabeth
watched the redhead turn and start to pace across the floor, just like Mike would do, before she stopped and turned toward the Bennett sisters. “I’ve always been different. I don’t expect you to understand, but I have. I’ve dreamt about you guys for years. I always just assumed you were figments of my imagination, people I’d dreamt up, that kept coming back when I was going through difficult times. It wasn’t until my aunt was on her deathbed that she told me the truth about what she’d done to me and my father.”

Claire took a step forward and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry,
Lydia
, but our father is dead. He died a long time ago.” Claire glanced over her shoulder. “But we’re not, and we know all too well about being different.”

A tear slid down the redhead’s cheek, and she let her head fall forward. “I’m too late.”

Abby threw her hands in the air and turned. “You’re not buying this crap, are you?” Abby pointed to the redhead. “She shows up out of the blue when things are starting to heat up.” Abby glared at
Lydia
. “Where’s your proof?”

Lydia
held her chin high and glared right back at Abby
. Definitely a Bennett
.
Elizabeth
could see it just by her demeanor. “I look like him, or are you too blind to see it?”

Abby took a step toward
Lydia
, only to be pulled back into John’s side to nestle underneath his arm. John’s voice pierced the tension. “It’s going to take more proof than that, lady, and next time you talk to my mom like that, I’m not going to stop her from kicking your ass.” John smirked.

Elizabeth
held up her hands in the form of a T. “Okay, everyone, time out before this gets out of hand.” She felt her heart break. This woman had never known her father or her mother. She’d been lied to all of her life by a woman who was dying and now she’d learned that her dad was gone too. It was too much for any one person to bear in such a short time, and the fact that the woman was still standing and hadn’t broken down convinced Elizabeth she was probably as strong as the Bennett women she’d come to know and care about. Her defiance to stand her ground reminded Elizabeth of Abby, but that was one thought she’d never vocalize.
Elizabeth
placed her arm around Emma and whispered, “What does your gut tell you? Are you in danger?”

Emma lifted a hand to her stomach and shook her head. “No.”

“Great, let’s go back to Claire’s and make some coffee so we can sort this out.”
Elizabeth
turned to the redhead. “You do like coffee, don’t you?”

The redhead gave her a genuine smile. “I drink it by the gallons.”

Elizabeth
let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. If the woman didn’t like coffee that was just another strike against her in Abby’s book.
Elizabeth
felt compelled to smooth things over since she was the reason Mike’s sisters had found out about their new relative in the first place.

She needed to make sure they’d all be okay and together before she left. Maybe then, when Mike and his sisters were happy about the new discovery,
Elizabeth
would feel less guilty about leaving them all behind.

Abby took
Elizabeth
by the elbow and started walking out of the café. “You’re riding with me, Doc.”

Elizabeth
looked down at the hand on her elbow. “It appears I am.”

Abby dropped her hand. “Sorry, I’m not usually like this, but I have to be careful. I can’t just accept what she said as truth, and besides, I made a promise to Mike.”

Elizabeth
pulled the door open to Abby’s SUV and climbed in. “Why not? Why can’t you believe her?”

Abby glanced over at
Elizabeth
with her eyebrows pulled together. “If you haven’t noticed, trouble follows us Bennett girls around like a bee to honey. That’s why you fit in so well. Now the redhead… I’m not so sure about her. I guess the forensic investigator in me is demanding proof.”

Elizabeth
smiled. “That’s simple; we could do a DNA test on her.”

Abby chuckled. “I was thinking more along the lines of Claire reading her mind.”

Elizabeth
waved her hand in the air. “Well, yes, there is always that.”
Elizabeth
dropped her hand. “What do you think her special talent is?

Abby shrugged. “Don’t know if she’s got one. We don’t know which side we got ours from, but you can bet if she’s for real, we’ll find out.”

Elizabeth
reached over and touched Abby’s arm. “Let’s see what she has to say before you kick her ass, okay?”

Abby’s grin grew. “If you insist, Doc.” Abby glanced over at
Elizabeth
. “I guess that’s the least I can do for my soon-to-be sister-in-law.”

Elizabeth
swallowed around the lump in her throat. How was she going to reply to that since she would be leaving as soon as she could find a way to slip past the sisters? “Abby, as great as the sex is with your brother—”