Chapter 9 - WHAT MARJGERY KNEW
By spring, the mystery surrounding Celeste had become a formal cold-case investigation. Detectives traced Lorraine Vale’s movements, reopened old witness interviews, and discovered that she had worked briefly at the private clinic where Eliana was born. Records from that clinic had been partially destroyed in a flood years later, but enough remained to connect Lorraine to a night-shift administrative role during the same period.
Theories multiplied.
Proof remained scarce.
Then Marjgery asked to speak with Eliana.
The request came through attorneys because the no-contact order prohibited direct communication. Eliana’s first reaction was immediate refusal. She had built months of peace without hearing Marjgery’s voice. She did not owe her another minute.
But Detective Alvarez said Marjgery had hinted that she knew something about Celeste’s disappearance.
Eliana agreed to one monitored meeting at the correctional facility.
Ethan offered to come. She declined.
“I need to know I can walk into that room and still be myself.”
The visitation room was smaller than Eliana expected. A metal table stood between two chairs bolted to the floor. Marjgery entered wearing institutional clothing, her hair shorter and gray at the roots. For the first time in Eliana’s memory, she looked older than her anger.
Neither spoke for several seconds.
Then Marjgery said, “Boston suits you.”
Eliana did not respond.
“You look like her.”
“Tell me what happened to Celeste.”
Marjgery’s mouth tightened. “No hello?”
“No.”
The old fury flickered, then faded. Prison had not made Marjgery humble, but it had removed the audience that once rewarded her performance.
“She was going to take everything,” Marjgery said. “My husband. My family. My parents adored her. Teachers adored her. David adored her. Then she got pregnant and everyone expected me to smile while she carried proof of what they had done.”
Eliana kept her voice level. “What happened after I was born?”
“David refused to leave me. Not because he loved me. Because he was afraid of scandal. Celeste said she would return to Boston with you.”
“And?”
Marjgery stared at the table.
“I told her if she left, David would never see you again.”
“That was not your decision.”
“I know that now.”
Eliana almost laughed at the absurdity. “Do you?”
Marjgery’s eyes hardened. “Do not mistake regret for surrender.”
There she was.
The woman Eliana remembered.
Marjgery described meeting Celeste near the rural bridge four months after the birth. They argued. Celeste accused her of intercepting letters and manipulating David. Marjgery admitted threatening to expose Celeste professionally as unstable if she tried to take Eliana.
“Then another car arrived,” Marjgery said.
“Whose?”
“Your father’s.”
Eliana’s pulse quickened.
“David came?”
Marjgery nodded. “He had followed me. There was shouting. Celeste left in Lorraine Vale’s car.”
“Why?”
“Lorraine worked at the clinic. She had helped Celeste arrange documents. New documents.”
Eliana leaned forward. “For what?”
“To disappear.”
The room seemed to shrink.
According to Marjgery, Celeste had planned to leave the state under another name with Eliana. David refused to let her take the baby without legal arrangements. The argument became chaotic. In the end, Celeste drove away with Lorraine.
“What happened to Lorraine?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why was Lorraine found in Celeste’s car?”
Marjgery looked away.
“Eliana, you have to understand—”
“No. You have to answer.”
Marjgery’s hands clenched.
“Three days later, David came home with you. He said Celeste was gone. He said there had been an accident.”
“Did you see the body?”
“No.”
“Did you know Lorraine was dead?”
“Not then.”
“Did you help falsify the records?”
Marjgery’s silence was answer enough.
Eliana felt cold.
“You let everyone believe Celeste died.”
“Yes.”
“And you let me believe you were my mother.”
“I raised you.”
“You punished me for being hers.”
Marjgery flinched.
For once, the accusation landed.
“I tried,” she said. “At first.”
Eliana remembered birthday cakes, school uniforms, fevers, piano lessons. Marjgery had not been cruel every minute. That complexity had kept Eliana trapped longest of all. Abusers were easier to leave in stories when they were monsters without ordinary moments.
“But every time you looked at me,” Marjgery continued, “I saw her. Then you grew up and became a doctor. You applied to Harbor North. It was happening again.”
“So you hit me.”
“I lost control.”
“No. You took control the way you always did. You used fear.”
Marjgery’s eyes filled, but Eliana could not tell whether the tears were for regret, shame, or self-pity.
“Do you hate me?” she asked.
Eliana considered the question.
“No.”
Marjgery seemed surprised.
“Hate would still make you the center of my life.”
Eliana stood.
“Wait.”
She paused.
“There was a place,” Marjgery said. “Celeste talked about it before she disappeared. A cabin near Lake Aster in Vermont. It belonged to one of her research colleagues.”
“Name?”
“I don’t remember.”
Eliana turned toward the door.
“Eliana.”
She looked back one final time.
Marjgery’s voice cracked. “I did raise you.”
Eliana nodded slowly.
“Yes. And I survived how you did it.”
Then she left.
Outside, Detective Alvarez waited in the hallway.
Eliana handed over her notes about Lake Aster.
“You okay?” Alvarez asked.
Eliana thought about the question.
“Yes,” she said.
This time, it was true enough.
May you like
Two days later, investigators located tax records for an abandoned cabin near Lake Aster.
The owner had been Naomi Pierce’s late uncle.
