The Truth About Rachel by Deanna Sletten (recommended reading .TXT) 📕

watching the news. I can’t believe it’s all over the country. This is crazy!” Rachel said.

“I know. It’s gone viral. Mom, you’re trending on Twitter. Everyone is talking about your story.”

“How am I ever going to find answers now?” Rachel said, dropping down on the bed. She was so frustrated. She’d been thwarted at every turn just trying to learn the truth.

“What do you mean?” Jules asked. “Use it. Now that the press is involved, they’re going to have to reopen the case. This may end up being a good thing, Mom.”

Avery had said the same thing just this morning. Now, Rachel had no choice.

***

Avery came back with food and was shocked to hear that Rachel had hit the national news. She’d left the TV on with the sound off, and they kept flipping channels as they ate. She was the main topic of conversation on several news channels. Reporters were repeating the story of her murder, rehashing the trial transcripts, and reporting anything they could dig up about her. Luckily for Rachel, they had no idea her married name was Rachel Emery, and they hadn’t figured out that her aunt—Mom?—had taken her and changed her last name to Scott. At least her current identity was safe until someone recognized her photo and called in that they knew who she was. Rachel dreaded that.

“How do they get all their information so quickly?” Rachel asked Avery as they both sat staring at the television. “It’s insane. And they keep speculating on information they don’t even have.”

“It’s a circus,” Avery said, sounding disgusted. “They don’t care if they get the correct information or not. They just want to be the first to say it.”

After eating, Rachel sat back in her chair and studied Avery.

“What?” he asked when he noticed her staring.

“I have to ask you this, and you need to tell me the truth,” Rachel said. “Did you alert the media?”

Avery had the good grace not to pretend to be shocked by her question. “I promise you, it wasn’t me. I never contacted the media. I haven’t even said anything to my employees at the paper. If I’d wanted to make a story of it, I would have done it in my own newspaper first.”

“I want to believe you,” Rachel said. “I need someone to trust, and I want it to be you. I can’t do this alone.”

“You can trust me.” Avery reached for her hand and held it firmly. “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt or upset you. I promise.”

Rachel had no choice. She desperately wanted to believe Avery. “So, what do we do now?”

“It’s out there, so we may as well use the press. Honestly, they can help us if we’re careful what we leak to them.”

“My daughter said that too. It scares me, though. If they find out who I am and where I live, they could start bothering my daughter, or worse yet, my aunt. If Julie sees this on television, she could freak out. She’s in a fragile frame of mind already.”

“You should call the place where she lives and warn them not to let her watch the news. You don’t need any more stress than you already have,” Avery said.

Rachel agreed. She immediately texted Jules to ask her to talk to Shirley at the care center.

“The next thing we need to do is write up a statement for the press,” Avery said. “We’ll control what we give them. The press can put a lot of pressure on Jeremy to dig into the case.”

“Okay. Then what?”

“I found a lawyer who will file a request to the court to open the evidence. So, while he’s working on that, I figured you and I would work on something else.”

“What?” Rachel asked, intrigued.

Avery grinned. “I did some digging and found Robert Mitchell, the DA. He’s retired but lives in Modesto. Lawyers generally keep their own case files. He may still have his. I think we should give him a little surprise visit.”

***

The next morning, flanked by Avery and the officer assigned to protect her, Rachel stood on the steps of City Hall and gave a press conference to the eager reporters. They’d purposely kept Jeremy and the Mayor, Archie, in the dark. Avery wanted Rachel to have a chance to share her side of the story without them standing there, lying.

The night before, Rachel had told Avery what she’d learned from Gladys about her true parentage. They’d called Jules and asked her to get a DNA sample from Julie so they could compare the results with Rachel’s. Jules would overnight it to the Central Valley testing facility in care of Glady’s cousin, and hopefully it would be run through as quickly as possible. Once it was determined that Rachel was Julie’s true daughter, it should be enough proof to move forward in discovering who the dead girl really was.

Rachel stood in front of a microphone that had been placed on the steps for her and tried not to think of the hundreds of thousands of people across the country listening to her every word. Her hands were sweaty, and she was visibly shaking. She’d spent her entire life hiding on the sidelines, trying not to be noticed. And now, here she was, the country’s main attraction.

“I’d like to make a statement, and then I will answer a few questions,” Rachel said, her voice shaking. “A week ago today, I happened upon an article online about the murder of eight-year-old Rachel Parnell thirty-five years ago in Casita, California. I was not only shocked to read that she was thought to be murdered, but I was also stunned to learn that her brother, Keith Parnell, had been convicted of the crime. I was surprised because I am Rachel Parnell.”

Lights flashed, and voices in the crowd rose as Rachel took a breath. Someone behind her shushed the crowd so she could continue. “I won’t go into the details of how I left town the day of the murder or