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“So she was Sean’s dad’s sister. Did you know Sean well?”
“I’d met him a few times while growing up. He came to our house maybe three times that I remember. He never stayed long.”
“Was there anyone else with him? Did he mention any friends he was close to?”
She shook her head. “He’s the one who told me—” She stared down at her hands. It was more than she should have revealed.
“Told you what?”
The sheriff didn’t believe her anyway. She raised her gaze to stare defiantly in his face. “That I was really Sarah Vitanen.”
“How did he know?”
“He saw a picture of me as a little girl, then showed me a picture of Annie and Sarah at about the same age. You couldn’t miss that I was that same girl.”
“How much do you remember about being kidnapped?” Mason’s voice was gentle.
Taylor’s throat tightened, and she swallowed past the stricture in order to speak. “I remember screaming for help. I rememberAnnie. When Mother took me, Annie just floated in the water having a good time.”
“You must not have seen Annie get knifed by Becky. She still has a nasty scar on her neck. It’s a miracle she survived. She lost a lot of blood and had to have several transfusions.”
Taylor gave a slight shake to her head. It was hard to know what to believe—her own memories or what she was told. Could she have missed Annie’s injury? In her memory, she was sitting with outstretched arms as Annie faded into the misty night, but that’s not the way it went down according to her sister.
But Annie would want to hide her neglect. No one would want to admit they’d let someone kidnap their baby sister. Annie couldn’t be trusted any more than the others in this town.
Mason uncapped his water bottle and took a swig. “Did Becky ever talk to you about your previous life?”
“I was punished if I ever asked about my sister or the cottage by the lake. Or if I asked for Cocoa, my stuffed kitty. I learned to be polite and well mannered. The few times I mentioned my previous life, she locked me in the closet.” Taylor clasped herself and rocked a little. “I don’t like the dark.”
“I’m sorry she wasn’t kind. Do you know why she abducted you?”
“I overheard Mother tell Uncle Clive that she needed a child, and once she told me she’d had three miscarriages. I suspect she took me after the last one.”
“She wasn’t married? You didn’t have a father?”
Taylor shifted the Pepsi can on the table. “Mother never even had men over. She must have given up trying to have a baby once she abducted me.”
Mason gave a slight whistle through his teeth. “So you came here after realizing this is where you used to live? You wanted revenge on Annie? Or did you hope she’d recognize you and welcome you back with open arms?”
“I took steps to make sure she didn’t recognize me.” She touched her fading red hair. “Hair dye and brown contacts. I wanted to find out more about her before I admitted who I was. And it was a good thing—she didn’t seem overjoyed to find out I’m Sarah.”
In spite of her anger, pain pierced her heart. It wasn’t a sin to want to be loved by her sister. But it clearly was not to be.
Mason rose. “I’m charging you for falsifying evidence. And I’ll be watching you. Don’t even think about hurting Annie or her little girl. If you give me information that leads to an accompliceSean might have had, I’ll see about dropping the charges. Did you ever see anyone with him after you arrived? Or overhear any phone conversations? Did he have more than one phone he might have used to send texts?”
She wished she could do more than shrug and shake her head. Spending any time behind bars wasn’t something she wanted to do.
***
Thick foliage along the narrow fire trail in the Kitchigami Wilderness Preserve hid most of the cream-colored BMW. The same spruce and oak trees encroaching against the paint also nearly obstructed the path down the lane, and Annie doubted anyone had been down this trail since the car had nosed into the leaves. The pungent scent of pine swept down the hillside on the summer breeze.
Kade pulled back a heavy oak branch to reveal the back window. Orange tow warnings carpeted the glass. “The first one of these is from a year ago.”
Annie peered closer. “Whisper Creek Condos issued the tow warnings. They wouldn’t have towed it out into the wilderness. Who called it in?”
“A hiker thought it seemed suspicious.”
“Is there any other info you’ve uncovered about Sean targeting Sophie Smith and Penelope Day? Do you think he could have had anything to do with this?”
