CHAPTER 3: CATHERINE'S SECRET
CHAPTER 3: CATHERINE'S SECRET
The knock came at 12:47 a.m.
Not loud.
Not angry.
Three measured taps.
Thomas looked through the peephole before unlocking the door.
A sheriff's deputy stood on the porch beside a woman in a navy winter coat with a county identification badge clipped to her collar.
"I'm Deputy Aaron Collins," the officer said quietly. "This is Melissa Harper with Child Protective Services."
Thomas stepped aside.
"Please come in."
The warmth inside the small rental house fogged Melissa's glasses for a moment. As she removed them to wipe away the condensation, her eyes immediately found the sofa.
Lucy and Lily were asleep beneath mismatched blankets, curled together so tightly they looked like one child with two heads.
Jason's teddy bear rested between them.
Melissa's expression softened.
"They're exhausted," Thomas whispered.
"I can see that."
She knelt beside the girls without waking them. Years of experience had taught her how to examine sleeping children gently.
The bruise on Lucy's cheek was impossible to miss.
Then she noticed Lily's bare feet protruding from beneath the blanket.
The skin was cracked and red from prolonged exposure to the cold.
Melissa slowly pulled the blanket back just enough to inspect their arms.
Her face changed.
"What happened?" Deputy Collins asked quietly.
Melissa didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she looked up at Thomas.
"You said they mentioned injuries?"
Thomas nodded.
"They showed me a burn scar."
Melissa inhaled sharply.
"Did they say how it happened?"
"They claimed their aunt burned them with a fireplace poker."
The deputy's jaw tightened.
Melissa carefully covered the girls again.
"We'll document everything once they wake up."
An hour later, Lucy stirred first.
For one terrifying second she didn't recognize the room.
She bolted upright, grabbing Lily's arm.
"We're sorry!" she blurted.
"We didn't mean to fall asleep!"
Melissa's heart sank.
Children who lived in safe homes didn't apologize for sleeping.
"It's okay," she said gently. "My name is Melissa."
Lucy instantly grew cautious.
"Are you taking us back?"
"No."
The answer came without hesitation.
"I'm here to listen."
The twins relaxed only slightly.
Deputy Collins remained near the front door, intentionally giving them space.
Melissa spoke softly.
"Can you tell me about Aunt Patricia?"
The girls glanced toward Thomas.
He gave a small encouraging nod.
"You don't have to protect anyone anymore."
For nearly two hours, Melissa listened.
No leading questions.
No interruptions.
Just patient silence while two frightened little girls slowly unfolded a nightmare.
When they described missed meals, Melissa took notes.
When they described sleeping in the basement, she took more.
When Lucy quietly explained the punishments involving the fireplace poker, Melissa stopped writing altogether.
Instead, she simply looked at the girls with tears gathering in her eyes.
Deputy Collins quietly excused himself.
No one mentioned that he needed a minute to compose himself.
By dawn, the living room table was covered with paperwork.
Melissa rubbed tired eyes.
"This is enough for emergency protective custody."
Thomas let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"So they won't go back?"
"Not today."
"Tomorrow?"
"We're going to ask the emergency judge to suspend Patricia Wells' guardianship while we investigate."
Lucy looked up.
"What does that mean?"
Melissa smiled gently.
"It means she can't just come and take you."
Lily whispered the same question she'd asked the night before.
"For how long?"
Melissa answered carefully.
"For as long as the court believes you're safest somewhere else."
The twins exchanged another silent conversation.
Thomas had begun to recognize them.
Every glance carried entire sentences.
Before leaving, Melissa noticed the folded paper on the coffee table.
"Catherine Mason?"
Thomas nodded.
"The girls' mother left them this."
Melissa frowned.
"That name sounds familiar."
"You know her?"
"I'm not sure."
She thought for a moment.
"I've handled hundreds of cases."
Then her eyes widened.
"Wait..."
She turned toward Lucy.
"Was your mother's name Rebecca Dawson?"
Lucy nodded.
Melissa closed her notebook.
"Oh my goodness."
"You knew Mommy?"
"I met her once."
"When?"
"A few months before she died."
Thomas leaned forward.
"What happened?"
Melissa looked troubled.
"Rebecca requested information about changing guardianship."
The room went silent.
Thomas blinked.
"She wanted someone other than Patricia?"
Melissa nodded slowly.
"She told our office she was... reconsidering her decision."
Lucy stared.
"Then why didn't she?"
Melissa looked genuinely pained.
"I don't know."
After CPS left, Thomas couldn't stop thinking about those words.
Reconsidering her decision.
Rebecca had known.
Somehow, she had seen Patricia's true nature before she died.
So why hadn't she changed the paperwork?
There had to be an answer.
At ten o'clock that morning, after making pancakes no one had much appetite to eat, Thomas drove to the address on the folded paper.
Lucy and Lily insisted on coming.
"So she'll know Mommy really sent us," Lucy explained.
The address led them to a modest white farmhouse just outside Lakeside.
Snow blanketed the fields.
Wind chimes tinkled softly on the porch.
An elderly golden retriever lifted its head as their car pulled into the driveway.
Jason smiled.
"I think the dog likes visitors."
Before Thomas could knock, the front door opened.
A woman in her early sixties stepped onto the porch.
Silver streaks ran through her chestnut hair.
She wore gardening gloves despite the cold, as though she had been tending winter plants inside a greenhouse.
The moment she saw the twins...
She dropped the flowerpot in her hands.
It shattered across the porch.
"No..."
Her voice cracked.
"Lucy?"
"Lily?"
The girls froze.
"Miss Catherine?" Lucy whispered.
The woman covered her mouth with trembling hands.
"My babies..."
She hurried down the porch steps.
Not running.
Almost afraid they might disappear if she moved too quickly.
When she reached them, she knelt in the snow.
"Oh, look at you..."
Tears streamed down her face.
"You've gotten so big."
Lily hesitated only a second before throwing her arms around Catherine's neck.
Lucy followed.
The three of them remained there, kneeling in the snow, crying together.
Thomas looked away, giving them the privacy they deserved.
After several minutes, Catherine stood.
Then she noticed the bruise.
Her smile vanished.
She gently touched Lucy's cheek.
"Patricia did this."
It wasn't a question.
Lucy nodded.
Catherine closed her eyes.
"I was too late."
Inside the farmhouse, family photographs lined the walls.
Rebecca appeared in dozens of them.
Laughing.
Fishing.
Holding newborn twins.
Decorating Christmas cookies.
Thomas noticed something else.
Catherine wasn't just a friend.
She was in almost every picture.
Birthday parties.
School plays.
Beach vacations.
Jason whispered, "She looks like their grandma."
Catherine heard him.
"I wish I had been."
She poured hot cider for everyone before sitting at the kitchen table.
"I suppose you're wondering why Rebecca trusted me."
Thomas nodded.
"And why she didn't leave the girls with you."
Catherine looked toward the window.
Snow drifted silently outside.
"Because someone made sure she couldn't."
Thomas frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Catherine walked to an old wooden cabinet.
From the bottom drawer, she removed a thick manila folder.
Its edges were worn.
As if it had been opened hundreds of times.
She placed it gently on the table.
"I've been waiting almost two years for someone to come through my front door."
Thomas looked down.
May you like
Across the front, written in Rebecca's unmistakably neat handwriting, were seven words that made every heartbeat in the room seem to stop.
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME—DON'T TRUST PATRICIA.
