Chapter 27 - Page Forty-SevenPolice searched Charles Vane's Boston townhouse.
They found nothing.
Emma returned to Julianne's notebook.
Page 46 ended with:
C.V. authorization attached.
Page 48 began:
If anything happens, the original isn't where they think.
Emma stared at the binding.
“Maybe page forty-seven wasn't just a page.”
Adrian looked over.
“What do you mean?”
“The original.”
They examined the storage boxes again.
One laboratory report contained forty-six pages.
The next document began at forty-eight.
Page forty-seven was missing from the report itself.
But the index described it.
AUTHORIZATION FOR CONTINUED OCCUPANCY DESPITE HAZARDOUS FINDINGS.
Signed by Charles Vane.
Countersigned by Leonard Mercer.
That would prove both men knowingly allowed children into contaminated schools.
But Julianne said the original was elsewhere.
Where?
Emma remembered the emerald ring.
Inside the band:
Forever starts here.
Adrian had proposed to Julianne at a small coastal inn in Marblehead.
They drove there.
The inn had changed owners but still existed.
Behind a loose wooden panel beneath the old gazebo, Adrian found a rusted metal box.
Inside was page forty-seven.
And something worse.
A handwritten note from Charles.
L.M. is getting nervous. J.M. needs to be contained before she speaks.
J.M.
Julianne Mercer.
Adrian stared at the sentence.
Below it was Graham Holt's handwriting.
May you like
Vehicle arranged.
The conspiracy was finally written in ink.
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