CHAPTER 6 – Rebecca's Biggest Lie
CHAPTER 6 – Rebecca's Biggest Lie
When I opened the door, I found a woman in her early sixties standing on the porch.
She looked exhausted.
"Mrs. Hudson?"
"Yes."
"My name is Linda Lawson."
The surname caught my attention immediately.
"I'm Rebecca's mother."
I almost closed the door.
She raised both hands.
"Please."
"I'm not here to defend her."
"I'm here because you deserve to know the truth."
Something in her voice made me step aside.
We sat in the living room.
She looked around quietly.
"I've imagined this house many times."
"I never thought I'd actually be here."
After a long silence, she finally spoke.
"Rebecca didn't become this way overnight."
"I know."
"No... you don't."
Linda reached into her purse and removed a thick folder.
Inside were newspaper clippings.
Court documents.
Old photographs.
One by one, she placed them on the table.
The first article was ten years old.
Local Charity Treasurer Arrested for Embezzlement.
The photograph showed a much younger Rebecca.
My heartbeat quickened.
"There were charges?"
Linda nodded.
"They were dropped after the money was quietly repaid."
The next document.
A luxury apartment lease.
Signed under another person's identity.
Then another.
A former fiancé had sued Rebecca after discovering she had opened credit cards in his name.
Another settlement.
No criminal conviction.
Every time...
Someone had rescued her.
Her parents.
A boyfriend.
An employer.
Someone always paid.
Someone always believed her tears.
Linda lowered her head.
"I spent twenty years cleaning up after my daughter."
"I told myself she would change."
"I was wrong."
She looked directly at me.
"When she met Martin..."
"I warned him."
I frowned.
"You warned my son?"
She nodded sadly.
"I told him she loved expensive things more than people."
"He said I was jealous."
She handed me one final envelope.
"I found this in Rebecca's apartment after she moved in with you."
Inside was a notebook.
Each page contained handwritten financial calculations.
Monthly expenses.
Estimated property values.
Retirement savings.
Insurance payouts.
Then I saw my own name.
Margaret Hudson
Underneath it was a chilling sentence.
Convince Martin to move in. Gain trust. Access finances. Sell house within three years.
My blood ran cold.
It hadn't been spontaneous.
It hadn't even been personal.
It had been a plan.
From the very beginning.
Linda began crying.
"I'm sorry."
"I failed as her mother."
I gently closed the notebook.
"No."
"You came here."
"You told the truth."
She looked at me in surprise.
"What happens now?"
I looked out the window toward the garden where Daniel and I had planted roses decades ago.
"I stop surviving."
"I start living."
At that exact moment, Officer Ramirez called.
"Mrs. Hudson..."
"We've completed the initial search of Rebecca's storage unit."
"We found something that belongs to you."
"What is it?"
There was a brief pause.
"A fireproof safe."
"It contains documents... and several pieces of jewelry."
My heart nearly stopped.
"One of them appears to be your grandmother's diamond necklace."
The very necklace I had supposedly sold years ago.
Which meant...
May you like
Someone had lied to me.
And the truth was even more shocking than I had imagined.
