Chapter 8 - The Note That Named Margaret
Laura told me that one night Emma waited downstairs until almost dawn.
Gideon later claimed:
“She wandered out of bed.”
The exact language he used about Roger.
Laura eventually discovered he had contacted family-law counsel even though they weren’t married.
He had no parental rights to Emma.
But over time he had persuaded Laura to sign school and medical caregiving authorizations.
Then he began telling people he was effectively raising the child.
Laura confronted him about the refinance and documentation.
He cried.
“He said he only wanted security.”
“I know that version.”
“He told me I was paranoid.”
“I know.”
“He said nobody would believe I was a stable mother because I worked nights.”
That stopped me.
Then Laura added:
“Margaret was the one who told me to leave.”
I stared.
“You knew Margaret?”
“She made me call her Mom.”
“You and Gideon weren’t married.”
“No.”
Laura’s mouth tightened.
“She didn’t care.”
Then:
“She told me working mothers were easy to make look absent.”
Something inside me went cold.
Evelyn opened Joan’s sealed envelope and removed one handwritten note.
My mother’s handwriting.
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, GIDEON IS NOT THE PERSON I AM AFRAID OF.
I read it twice.
“Who?”
Evelyn pointed to one name in the investigation file.
MARGARET HALE.
My mother had not stopped investigating Gideon because she trusted him.
She stopped because she became afraid of the woman behind him.
Laura continued.
“Margaret found the lawyer Gideon talked to.”
“She knew about the refinancing?”
“Yes.”
“She knew about you?”
“Yes.”
“She told me they would make sure I lost Emma if I kept fighting.”
Three clues now sat in front of me.
Margaret’s obsession with my night shifts.
Her involvement in Laura’s disappearance.
My mother explicitly naming Margaret as the danger.
For months I thought Gideon created the custody script because he wanted my house.
Now another possibility emerged.
Maybe the house was not the origin of the system.
Maybe Gideon had learned the system long before he ever met a woman who owned property.
Then Laura said:
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Margaret contacted me three weeks ago.”
My skin prickled.
“What did she want?”
“Emma’s childhood medical records.”
“Why?”
“She said Gideon needed them to prove something about Roger.”
I looked toward the photograph of my son on Nina’s desk.
“Prove what?”
Laura shook her head.
“I never answered her.”
Then the receptionist appeared.
“There’s someone asking for Mrs. Hale.”
“Who?”
“She says she’s Gideon’s sister.”
I almost laughed.
“Gideon doesn’t have a sister.”
Laura stood immediately.
Her face drained of color.
May you like
“Yes,” she whispered.
“He does.”
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