CHAPTER 14 The Woman Beside Elaine Looked Exactly Like My Mother-in-Law
CHAPTER 14 The Woman Beside Elaine Looked Exactly Like My Mother-in-Law
The surveillance photo lay in the center of the conference table.
No one reached for it.
No one needed to.
Every person in the room was studying the same image.
The woman standing beside Elaine Porter wore a camel-colored coat.
A cream scarf.
Dark sunglasses.
Her hair was pulled into the same neat bun I had seen for years at family dinners.
I felt my pulse racing.
"That's Patricia."
Nathan looked at the photograph.
"We can't be certain."
"I know my mother-in-law."
Luke remained calm.
"The resemblance is strong."
"But resemblance isn't proof."
Detective Harris nodded.
"Exactly."
"We need confirmation."
David Mercer leaned closer.
"Can the image be enhanced?"
The FBI agent answered.
"Our lab is already working on it."
I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.
If it really was Patricia Reynolds...
Then this nightmare had reached much further into Justin's family than I ever imagined.
Luke broke the silence.
"When was this footage recorded?"
The FBI agent checked his notes.
"Two nights after the incident at the clinic."
I frowned.
"The same night someone took our family photograph."
"Correct."
Nathan looked at me.
"Where was Patricia that night?"
I searched my memory.
"She called me."
"About what?"
"She asked if Maya was feeling better."
Luke raised an eyebrow.
"Did she mention coming by the house?"
"No."
"Did she ask where you were staying?"
I stopped.
Then slowly nodded.
"She did."
The room fell silent again.
At the time, I hadn't thought anything of it.
She sounded concerned.
Like a grandmother checking on her granddaughter.
Now every question felt different.
Detective Harris turned another page.
"There's something else."
He placed a call log on the table.
"We obtained Patricia Reynolds' phone records."
Luke looked surprised.
"Already?"
"With a warrant."
He pointed to several highlighted numbers.
"She called Justin twelve times the day after the clinic incident."
I stared at the page.
"Twelve?"
Nathan frowned.
"That's unusual."
It was.
Patricia had always claimed Justin rarely answered her calls.
Yet now there were twelve conversations in one day.
Luke looked at the timestamps.
"Some lasted only a minute."
He pointed lower.
"But this one..."
"...lasted forty-seven minutes."
I tried to remember my relationship with Patricia.
She had never been especially warm.
But she had never been openly cruel either.
She criticized my parenting sometimes.
She thought I worried too much.
She believed babies should "cry it out."
We disagreed often.
Still...
She had always kissed Maya goodbye.
She always remembered birthdays.
Nothing about her suggested involvement in financial crimes.
Rebecca quietly spoke.
"Sometimes people become involved without understanding the whole picture."
David slowly shook his head.
"Not with Regency."
Everyone looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"If someone worked directly with Elaine Porter..."
He paused.
"...they knew exactly what they were doing."
The FBI agent's phone vibrated.
He read the message.
Then looked at Detective Harris.
"The enhancement is finished."
The room became perfectly still.
The agent connected a laptop to the conference room monitor.
The blurry surveillance image appeared.
Then another.
Sharper.
Clearer.
The software gradually improved the woman's face.
The sunglasses became visible.
The hair.
The jawline.
Finally...
The image finished processing.
I held my breath.
It wasn't Patricia.
For a moment, I simply stared.
The woman looked remarkably similar.
The hairstyle.
The clothing.
Even the build.
But the face was different.
Older.
More angular.
Rebecca exhaled.
"So it wasn't her."
Detective Harris nodded.
"No."
I felt both relief and confusion.
"If that's not Patricia..."
"Who is she?"
David answered before anyone else could.
"I know her."
Every head turned.
"You do?"
His face hardened.
"Her name is Margaret Ellis."
Nathan frowned.
"I've never heard of her."
"You wouldn't have."
David looked at the enhanced image.
"She spent years posing as someone she wasn't."
Luke folded his arms.
"What does that mean?"
"She specializes in impersonation."
The room fell silent.
"Impersonation?"
David nodded.
"She studies people."
"Their routines."
"Their clothing."
"Their mannerisms."
Rebecca looked shocked.
"Why?"
"So she can move around without attracting attention."
I felt a knot form in my stomach.
"You mean..."
David looked directly at me.
"Someone wanted witnesses to believe your mother-in-law had been there."
Luke immediately understood.
"They were creating confusion."
Detective Harris nodded.
"Exactly."
"If anyone recognized the woman from a distance..."
"They'd report Patricia Reynolds."
Nathan looked at the surveillance still again.
"That's incredibly calculated."
"It is," Harris agreed.
"And it tells us something important."
"What?"
"The photograph was a targeted operation."
Just then, another FBI analyst entered carrying a thin file.
"We identified Margaret Ellis."
Luke looked up.
"Where is she now?"
The analyst shook his head.
"Unknown."
He handed Detective Harris the file.
"But we did recover her employment history."
Rebecca quietly read over Harris's shoulder.
Her eyes widened.
"Oh no."
Luke noticed immediately.
"What?"
Rebecca pointed to one line.
"Before becoming a private consultant..."
"...Margaret Ellis worked for a document authentication company."
Nathan looked confused.
"So?"
Rebecca answered quietly.
"She specialized in detecting forged signatures."
The room became silent.
Luke understood first.
"If she can detect forgeries..."
"...she can create convincing ones."
Rebecca nodded.
"Exactly."
Detective Harris closed the file.
"I think we finally understand something."
"What?"
Luke asked.
"The forged company documents."
"The fake medical records."
"The custody strategy."
"They weren't amateur work."
"They were professionally prepared."
David nodded.
"That's Margaret."
My phone suddenly buzzed.
Unknown number.
Again.
Everyone looked at me.
Luke quietly said,
"Speaker."
I answered.
"Hello?"
There was no greeting.
Only a calm female voice.
"Mrs. Reynolds."
My heart skipped.
"Who is this?"
"You've been asking about Margaret."
Nobody in the room moved.
The woman continued.
"You should stop."
Luke motioned for me to keep talking.
"Why?"
"Because you're looking in the wrong direction."
"What do you mean?"
A brief silence followed.
Then she laughed softly.
"You still think Elaine Porter runs Regency."
I swallowed.
"Doesn't she?"
"No."
The woman sounded almost amused.
"Elaine works for someone else."
Every person in the room leaned closer.
I asked the question everyone was thinking.
"Who?"
The answer came without hesitation.
"The founder."
My pulse quickened.
"Who is that?"
The woman whispered one sentence.
"You've already met him."
The line went dead.
The room remained silent for several long seconds.
Finally, Luke looked at Detective Harris.
"Trace it."
The detective lowered his phone.
"They already are."
I looked around the room.
"You've already met him."
The words echoed in my mind.
Every person I'd encountered over the past week suddenly felt like a suspect.
Justin.
David.
Company executives.
Investigators.
Even people I barely remembered meeting.
Then Detective Harris's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
His expression changed within seconds.
"What?"
He stood up so quickly his chair tipped backward.
Luke looked alarmed.
"What happened?"
Harris slowly lowered the phone.
"The call was traced."
"Where did it come from?"
He looked directly at me.
"Not from another state."
"Not from another country."
"It came from..."
He paused.
"...the parking garage beneath this FBI building."
Someone who knew the investigation...
Someone who knew my name...
May you like
Someone who knew about Margaret Ellis...
Had been watching us from just floors below.
