The Girl: Unabridged Part 3 of 3

9 | After Margo got the girls home and Janet arrived, she headed back out in her car. While she’d been waiting earlier, she’d called Justine and got the information about Maddy. Justine thought it would be good for the girl to have a visit from a family member, even if they’d never met. Margo looked enough like Maddy’s mother, seeing someone with a family resemblance may bring her comfort. And Janet had given Margo the name and address of the accountant assigned for their money management, who’d also been Stella and Adam’s as well as Adam’s family’s financial advisor.

She visited the accountant first to get that out of the way. She had a feeling the visit to Maddy was going to be emotional, and she’d probably just want to go home to the girls after.

She pulled up to the address of a Mr. Alexander Brown and walked through the office entry door. She walked up to a front desk in an empty lobby where there were two offices to either side and slightly further back of the desk, and a large conference room with all glass walls behind it.

“Just a moment!,” came a voice from the office to the right. An older, balding man walked out a couple minutes later. He was short and thin, and wore a knit sweater and khaki pants with brown leather shoes and thick-rimmed glasses.

“Hi, sorry about that. Judy, our receptionist called in sick this morning for her kids. I’m Alexander Brown, you can call me Alex,” he said with a cheerful smile, as he extended his hand for her to shake. “And you are?”

“Hi Mr. Brown--”

“Alex. Call me Alex. Mr. Brown was my father.”

“Right. Alex. We haven’t met. My name is Margo Smith,” she started, “and I have guardianship of my nieces Ella and Elyse Montgomery. My sister Stella’s children.”

“Oh yes, Miss Smith, I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s tragic what happened to your sister and her husband. I hope you and the kids are getting along well. What can I do for you?”

“Well, first, call me Margo,” she said and smiled back at him. The atmosphere in this office was more welcoming than anywhere she’d been in the past month. “Second, I was hoping you could shed a little light on my sister and her husband’s financial situation over the last ten years. Had she purchased anything that was out of the ordinary?”

“Well, Margo, normally I wouldn’t share that kind of information, but seeing as you’re the only living relative other than their daughters whom you are taking care of, I don’t see why we can’t have an informal chat. I was close with Adam’s parents. Met his father when we were both in college. He hit it big with his business, and he brought me in right away for financial advice and accounting. For a while I ran the accounting department for their company before my late wife and I had opened our own business. I wasn’t as close to Stella and Adam, but I’d met their girls Maddy and Mia, and later Ella and Elyse. Such sweet girls, all of them, but better to talk now so you can make sure the girls grow up to be more financially conscious when they get older than their parents had been.”

“Oh, I know my sister’s spending was indulgent, no question about it, and I have every intention of making sure the girls know the value of being responsible with money. I’m more curious about ten years ago just before Mia went missing. I’m going to visit Maddy today to meet her, and I’m trying to get a picture of what their lives were like at that time that Maddy and Mia were still in the home with my sister. I haven’t been close with my sister since her wedding, so I don’t know many of their friends to ask. Even if I did, I doubt they’d humor me. I’m a little out of place in their world. I just have Janet, the family attorney, Justin, the social worker that had been assigned to Ella and Elyse, and now you.”

“Oh, I understand. It’s a whole different world. That’s how Adam’s father and I drifted apart and one of the big reasons I started my own accounting and investment firm. Wasn’t meant for that lifestyle. I was always more comfortable with a good book and an armchair than going to expensive restaurants and networking at parties.”

“Exactly. you understand, Mr-- Alex.”

“Think nothing of it, Margo. Since you mention that time specifically, I do remember your sister and her husband were having trouble maintaining livable funds with their spending habits before Adam’s parents passed away. It was such a tragedy when Mia went missing. Hard enough when something like that happens, but they’d already been struggling and barely holding on after his parents cut them off--”

“--Cut them off? How bad was it?” asked Margo as she slowly sat down in one of the lobby chairs.

“Oh, forgive me, please,” he said gesturing toward the door he’d come out of, “let’s go sit in my office and we can talk more.”

They walked into Alex’s office and Margo took a seat in front of the large L-shaped wooden desk, and Alex sat down in his swivel chair behind it. Margo was trying to piece together the information she’d just learned with what she already knew, and it wasn’t looking good for her opinion of Stella.

“There. Now, to answer your question. Your brother in law worked for his parents and earned a salary, but his parents also gave Stella and him a sizable monthly allowance as well. But your sister had a tendency to overspend on furniture that wasn’t necessary, just because she, in her words, ‘wanted to change it up’ every so often. And then there was her extravagant taste in clothes, shoes, bags, jewelry, you name it. And then there were the vacations, and extra cost for 24-hour child care on those trips, the new cars every year, and Adam’s recurring substance addictions. His parents had us stop depositing money into their account and had met with them to talk about needing to end their frivolous spending habits.”

He stopped and leaned forward to pop a peppermint in his mouth as he offered the bowl to Margo if she’d like one. Margo held her hand up and said, “No, thank you. Please go on.”

“Well, with all the stress, you can imagine your sister had difficulty coping with the events that followed with Mia. Adam’s parents did step in to pay off networks and authorities to keep it quiet, had volunteers sign NDA agreements to keep the whole ordeal out of the media. We’re talking in the millions. After that, Maddy had been removed from the home, Adam was back in rehab, and Stella was in counseling that his parents made sure she didn’t skip. A few weeks later, Adam’s parents were in a car accident, car ended up in the river,” he removed his glasses to wipe some tears, and continued, ”and Adam received his full inheritance. I’m relatively certain they were going to change their will to put restrictions in place, but they never had the chance. Then your sister and her husband were back to their old spending habits after Adam got out of rehab, and they carried on as if the previous year hadn’t even happened. Then Stella was pregnant again and they were focused on rebuilding a family. It’s very sad they hadn’t even tried to get Maddy back. It was like they put their entire past behind them and moved on.”

Alex shook his head back and forth. Even Margo felt embarrassed about the situation and she hadn’t even been in Stella’s life at that point. It was shameful, and poor Maddy. All alone with no family to visit from five years old right after losing her sister.

“I should be going,” said Margo, “if I want to make it to see Maddy during visiting hours. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know more about my family, Alex. I really appreciate it.”

“Any time Margo. And if you are ever in the area or bored, feel free to drop by and visit a lonely, old man for coffee.”

“I absolutely will do,” she said, “And thank you, again.”

Margo returned to her car and checked the time on the radio. She still had a couple hours until visiting hours would be over and it’d only take about 45 minutes to get there. She made a quick call to check on Janet and the girls. Once done, she was back on the road, headed to meet her other niece.

10 | Margo pulled into the recently resealed parking lot. Her tires squealed and she could see wet areas that had fresh oil. She pulled into the first open space she could find and got out of the car. She was immediately hit by the smell of tar in the hot summer evening. The sun looked huge and red as it was setting. There should still be light by the time visiting hours end, to get home before full dark.

Margo had no trouble getting in, getting her visitor’s pass and being led down the winding corridors to Maddy’s room. Justine must have called ahead to let them know who she was and that she’d be visiting. Margo’s heartbeat started to speed up the closer they got to the room. She was nervous to meet Maddy and how she might react to an aunt she’d never met.

“Don’t worry,” said the nurse, “Maddy is sweet as pie and we talked with her to let her know that you were coming and who you were after Justine called. Justine spoke very highly of you. I think it’s wonderful that you stepped in to raise those girls without ever having met them. You changed your whole life around, and now you’re coming to see Maddy. Something her mother couldn’t even bother to do in the last five years. I know from that alone, that you must be a wonderful, kind person.”

Margo felt comforted by the nurse’s words. She felt like she really misjudged the upstate area before she’d moved here. So many people were welcoming and lovely. The wealthier people that fit the stereotype she’d expected were few and far between.

As the nurse opened the door, Margo found herself staring into the eyes of the ghost girl. Only she was very alive, and clean. Looks like Ella and Elyse, but dark blonde hair like Margo’s (a common family trait). That decided it for Margo: the ghost girl was most definitely Mia.

She stepped into the room and gave Maddy a smile with a little wave, “Hi Maddy, I’m your Aunt Margo. I’m glad that I was allowed to meet you. Do you mind if I stay for a little bit and get to know you?”

“Okay,” came the reply. The girl was clearly on guard.

“Maddy,” added the nurse, “would you like me to stay during your visit, or would you like me to leave?”

“You can go,” she replied.

“Okay, I’ll leave the door open, and I’ll be over at the central station.” At Margo’s inquiring look, she added, “this floor isn’t high security. All our patients down here are free to roam from room to room and into the television area.” She smiled at Margo, nodded toward Maddy and left the room.

“So,” started Margo, “did your mom ever tell you she had a sister?”

“No. Well… yes. Not really. I remember her mentioning having a sister when she was little, but she didn’t tell us much else. I thought maybe you were dead like my sister.”

“Why do you say ‘dead?’ The police said she was missing, but they never said she had died.”

Maddy gave Margo a long, evaluating look. This girl didn’t appear to be mentally unstable to Margo. She was clearly depressed, but who wouldn’t be in her shoes? She had intelligent eyes, she carried herself more like Margo than like her mother.

“Even if I didn’t know what I know, it’s still obvious. No one came into our house. My parents set the alarm every night and suddenly, the one night they didn’t, my sister went missing?”

Margo knew without a doubt that this girl had been underestimated by a lot of people. Whether those people believed something was truly amiss or if the people in charge had been paid off to make sure everyone understood that there was something wrong with the girl, remained to be seen. Margo was sure she’d be able to find out around the time Maddy was admitted, exactly how much money had been spent, and she knew she wouldn’t be surprised.

“You’re right, Maddy. I’ll be honest, I know you’re still very young, but I don’t want you to feel like I’m keeping anything from you. Nothing about you being here made any sense to me when I’d first learned about you and your sister. I’ve been trying to piece it together, but I feel like I’m missing something. I know you have no reason to trust me. You don’t even know me. But I promise you, I’m going to clear up what happened to your sister, and, if you’ll have me, I’d like to petition to adopt you and your little sisters.”

Maddy’s eyes widened at the mention of her little sisters, and it was at that moment that Margo realized that Maddy had no idea about Ella and Elyse. Why should she afterall? Stella had all but dumped her in this place and started her life over. Margo’s heart hurt for this young girl who’d been so mistreated. How condescending everyone must have been to her in the beginning. At least the staff that work directly with the children in this ward seemed caring.

“I can tell by the look on your face that I just casually said some big news that you are just now learning. I’m so sorry to have dropped that on you.”

“It’s okay,” said Maddy, “I’m not surprised at all. I knew the day I was taken away that my parents didn’t care about me at all. I knew before that. They dressed us up and brought us out, but that’s the only time they were nice to us. They never hugged us at home. They were never around. We always had nannies with us.”

“Well, once I can get things figured out, I’d like for you to meet them. Whether I get you out of here and bring you home, or if that takes a long time, I will get permission to bring them here. Their names are Ella and Elyse. They look just like you, except they have very light blonde hair. They are almost six years old.”

“Just like we were…” Maddy had drifted off into thought for a moment, then snapped out of it. Clearly, the only problem with this girl was that she was on medication that she didn’t need. “The nurses told me my parents died like it mattered to me anymore… Aunt… Margo?” she asked, referring to her by her familial title as if she was trying it out to see how it felt.

“Yes, Maddy?”

“Can I tell you something?”

“Of course.”

“No one else believed me.” The pain in her eyes was enough to break Margo.

She got down on Maddy’s level, took her hands, looked her right in the eye and sincerely told her, “Maddy, whatever it is you want to tell me, I’m listening. I know you don’t belong here.”

Maddy’s eyes teared up and her lip quivered. Margo was trying her best to keep it together, but the pain she felt for Maddy in that moment was overwhelming and tears started sliding down her cheeks too.

“I think… I mean…. I KNOW my parents killed my sister.” There it was. The words Margo had been expecting. And while she was certain it was true, part of her was hoping it wasn’t.

“That night… The night it happened,” Maddy continued, “we were having dinner with my mom and my dad at home. All of the nannies were sent home for the night. It seemed weird. They’d never done that before, and we were so excited thinking they might have been missing us and wanting to spend more time with us. The food. It tasted funny. Mia said it was probably because our mom cooked it and she never cooked. She said mom must have tried her best, and that we should eat it. She ate everything on her plate. I had only a few bites but couldn’t finish it. My mom seemed upset. I thought it was because she felt insulted and I felt bad.”

Margo couldn’t peel her eyes off of Maddy. She was fully entrenched in this horrible story now.

“When we were going to bed, they gave us both a glass of water to take upstairs to bed. They were really pushy about me drinking it all before bed to stay hydrated… Anyway, Mia was already really sleepy and had taken her glass upstairs right away. My mom and dad watched me sip the water. It tasted funny too, but I didn’t say anything about it. I said thank you and went up to our bedroom. I stopped in the bathroom on the way and dumped my glass of water in the sink. Mia fell asleep right away. I felt a little fuzzy but it took longer for me to fall asleep. In the middle of the night I heard the door open and could hear my mom and dad whispering, but I couldn’t tell what they were saying. I remember hearing them, and I saw some stuff, but I couldn’t move. I remember feeling so tired I couldn’t turn over. They walked over by me, I could feel my mom hover over me and say something to my dad about drinking all my water. Then I could hear a noise and felt a cold breeze. I could hear them over by Mia, and the next thing I knew I woke up in the morning feeling really tired with an achy tummy and Mia was gone.”

Margo moved from the chair onto the bed next to Maddy. She put her left hand across her to hold Maddy’s hands, and looped her right arm around her to pull her in against her side. Maddy seemed okay with the gesture, she just needed comforting as she told the whole story to the first person who listened to her in all this time.

“Then there were all the police and people asking questions. I didn’t say anything at first. I didn’t know what happened. By the time I started to tell people what happened, they didn’t believe me. They said I must be in shock and had a nightmare. After that my mom was always by my side. I couldn’t talk to anyone without her there. My mom and dad spent a lot of time on the phone and fighting with each other about insurance for days, then the police came to pick me up and bring me here. For a long time I thought the insurance was for having me put in here, but I heard one of the nurses talking to my grandparents on the phone about making sure they had enough funding for me. They never even stopped in to see me. At first, no one bothered to leave the room or speak quiet in front of me. I think the nurses who work here now can tell I shouldn’t be here, but I gave up trying to get anyone to listen to me anymore anyway. Then my grandparents died, and a little while ago my parents died. I didn’t know about you or my little sisters. Everyone I knew was dead, so it seemed pointless to say anything to anyone anymore.”

By the time she was done, her nose was running and her eyes were streaming tears. Margo reached for a few tissues from the box on the table by the bed. She gave a tissue to Maddy and helped wipe her tears. Then she used a tissue for herself. They sat quietly while Margo hugged her niece for a few minutes. She held her until she got all her tears out.

Margo promised Maddy that she’d do everything in her power to be able to take her home. After a few more minutes, a nurse or orderly, Margo wasn’t sure which, came in to let her know visiting hours were almost over. She gave Maddy a hug and left. She stopped by the main office to talk to someone about what she needed to do to start the process of getting custody of Maddy to be able to take her home, and if there are different forms she’d need to fill out for adoption. The head nurse that managed that floor gave Margo a big smile and came around the desk just to hug her.

“That lovely young girl doesn’t belong here. Thank you for doing this. We’re so happy that someone finally came to see her, but this? This is the biggest surprise, in the best way, that we could have gotten. I have your home address on file, I’ll bring everything you need tomorrow afternoon and I’ll walk you through everything. There will be a home evaluation, but if what Justine had said about you is true, everything is going to go smoothly.”

As Margo walked to her car smiling to herself that she’d be bringing Maddy home soon, and she, Maddy, Ella and Elyse would be a little family together. She had a niggling feeling in the pit of her stomach about the whole situation with Stella and Mia. She tried not to let it get to her, as she drove home in the last of the sunlight.

11 | Margo pulled up the drive towards the house in the twilight, and as she neared the house, she saw their ghost girl-- Mia, at the edge of the pond facing Margo’s direction. She slowly turned to follow the movement of Margo’s car as she pulled around the pond and up to the house. She threw the car in park, keeping her eyes on the apparition. She had no idea how to reason with a ghost or explain she was trying to help everyone. She slowly stepped out of her car and shut the door behind her, never taking her eyes off Mia. She held her hands up in a gesture that she hoped signalled that she meant no harm.

“I know what happened to you,” she said as she stepped towards the door. “I don’t mean you any harm, Mia.” Mia cleared half the distance between them in the blink of an eye. She held her hands up higher and could hear her heartbeat in her ears. “I just want to bring you peace.”

As she finished the sentence Mia had closed in on Margo. Her hand went through Margo’s throat, and, suddenly, Margo started spewing water. The stream was unending. She started to feel the desperate need to breathe and could feel the blood flooding into her face.

Margo heard screams behind her, knowing the girls and Janet must have heard her pull up and come out to see what had been taking so long, but she couldn’t turn around to see them.

Margo started to feel light headed, and her knees started buckling. She fell. She coughed and gasped for air as her palms and knees ground into the gravel. As she caught her breath, she looked behind her into the faces of Ella and Elyse, and she did the only thing she could think of. She launched herself up and ran towards the pond. As she gained the edge of the water, she leaped forward and dove straight out and then down. Ella and Elyse wailed as Margo went into the dark water as twilight slipped into dusk.

Margo kicked down about twenty feet to the bottom of the deep pond. She couldn’t see, so she felt along the dirt and weeds at the bottom until her hand hit something solid. She reached out to feel if it was a rock, and instead found that she was holding something solid and long wrapped in some sort of rags. She knew it could only be one thing -- the thing she knew would be here. She felt further along, adrenaline helping her hold her breath after choking and then running, and now swimming underwater. She felt tattered rags around many more solid bones and slid her arms underneath it as gently as she could. Then she pushed off the bottom of the water towards the surface.

Janet and the girls fell to their knees in relief as they saw Margo break the surface of the water.

Margo was exhausted and turned onto her back in the water, holding her bundle on top of her as she kicked toward the shallow side of the pond. Once she reached far enough along to the edge to stand on the ground and still be above water, she planted her feet and lifted the bundle out of the water. Once she was out of the water, she dropped to the ground. Janet told the girls to stay just inside and she ran to Margo.

Margo was breathing heavily, lungs gurgling and burning while she stared blankly at her lap. Janet looked down and then back at Margo. She gave Margo a minute to collect herself. When Margo looked up at Janet’s concerned face, she said one word: “Mia.”

Janet put her arms under Margo’s while Margo held Mia and pulled her up to her feet. Margo cradled Mia’s remains as they walked into the house.

12 | After Margo showered and threw on some clean clothes, she headed downstairs to the formal dining room where they had rested Mia’s remains. Margo stared down at the tattered, slimy sheet wrapped around the bones of a little girl.

“Poor thing,” said Janet, “In that water all this time. The fish in the pond must’ve….”

“Yeah… I know…”

“How did you figure it out?” asked Janet.

“It wasn’t that hard actually. Like all things with my sister, follow the money. If the police or anyone had taken a moment to listen to Maddy and look into it, they would have found her years ago, but they were either paid off or too busy looking outside the property for a suspect and not looking at Stella and Adam. Right before it happened, they’d been cut off financially from Adam’s parents. Maddy knew what happened, she just didn’t know why. They put something in the girls’ food but Maddy didn’t eat it all like Mia. They took Mia’s body out of the house and after that they spent time fighting with the insurance company. It had to have been payout for Mia they were looking for. Then Adam’s parents stepped in to cover the costs of everything regarding Mia, and not long after that they both died and Adam got all their money. They got away with what they did. They got what they wanted. Then, they started over. I’m glad my sister isn’t around anymore after what she did.”

“But how did you know where Mia was?”

“That part was easy. The ghost girl we’d all seen looked just like the girls and she was soaking wet. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together,” she said. “I am absolutely positive Mia was the reason why Stella and Adam, and maybe Adam’s parents too, died. Mia was protecting the girls from bad people.”

“But she came after you too, Margo…”

“She did. But not until after I talked to the girls about changing bedrooms and not being across the hall from Mia and Maddy’s old room. She thought I was taking the girls away where she couldn’t watch over them.”

Just then, little footsteps approached the dining room and a quiet voice asked, “Who was she? Did you find out?” It was Elyse, for the first time not in her bold tone.

Margo turned around towards the girls and walked up to them. “Yeah.”

She kneeled down so she was on the girls’ level. She looked into each of their eyes.

“Girls, I have some people to tell you about. Why don’t we go into the tv den, sit down on the couch, and we’ll have a talk.”

EPILOGUE | Ella was the last to come outside and bring her bag to the car.

“How long is the drive?” asked Elyse.

“Forty-five minutes,” replied Margo from the driver seat.

“Buckled!” shouted Ella. “When will all our stuff get there?”

“The truck will arrive tomorrow morning,” Margo replied.

“Don’t worry. We have enough packed in the bags in the trunk to last a few days.” Maddy beamed at her little sisters from the front passenger seat. She already felt like Ella and Elyse had always been part of her life.

For Ella and Elyse, it WAS like she had always been part of their lives. Their other sister, Maddy’s identical twin sister, had watched over them for as long as they could remember, and now they have a real life sister to watch out for them. And an aunt that cared so much about all of them, that she would soon be their legal mother. Maddy and the girls looked over at Margo, then shared a look, then all three of them looked down at the identical pendants that Margo had made for them and put them on necklace chains. After Margo and Janet had contacted the police, they were able to recover the remains a few weeks later and have Mia cremated. There were very few ashes, and she had them poured into three hollow heart-shaped pendants and sealed in so that their other sister could always be with them. Margo gave them the necklaces a week after Mia had been cremated when they had a private memorial for her where they walked slowly and silently from Mia’s bed, to the edge of the pond.

Now that they finally all had the closure they needed to move on, they drove out past the pond, through the forest and turned onto the main road, passing the SOLD sign on the way.