Chapter 16 - THE GRAVE WITH NO MOTHERThe grave contained a sealed casket, but the transport records belonged to an unidentified woman from another county.
Someone had given Isabella a place to mourn while hiding what happened to Clara.
Confronted with the foundation invoices, the mortuary director admitted Clara had survived. Injured and heavily medicated, she had been transferred under a false name to a private care facility in upstate New York.
Victoria called it protection for an unstable woman.
Isabella turned on her.
“You stole twelve years from us and called it protection.”
Eleanor began to cry. She had repeatedly asked about Clara, only to be told the maid abandoned her family after being caught stealing.
That evening, Isabella, Eleanor, Adrian, and two detectives reached the facility.
A thin woman sat behind a glass wall, folding the same handkerchief again and again.
When Isabella said, “Mom,” the woman slowly looked up.
May you like
Clara touched the glass, then stared past her daughter at Adrian.
“Your father was still alive,” she whispered, “when they brought me here.”
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