Chapter 13 - The Man Without a Face
Amelia delivered the photograph to police.
Forensic examination showed it was an original print from the early 1980s.
The scratches across the man’s face were old.
The message on the back was recent.
The hallway camera showed a person in a maintenance uniform leaving the envelope, but the cap and mask concealed their identity.
Richard studied the photograph for a long time.
“Do you recognize his clothes?” Amelia asked.
“No.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Richard placed the photograph on the desk.
“I recognize the ring.”
The man wore a square black ring on his right hand.
Richard opened an old family album and turned to a photograph taken at a charity dinner.
A younger Richard stood beside Amelia’s father, Thomas.
Behind them was Dr. Samuel Vale, Brenda’s first husband.
He wore the same ring.
“Brenda was married before my father?” Amelia asked.
“For eleven months.”
“No one ever mentioned him.”
“The marriage was annulled.”
“Why?”
“Samuel was controlling and violent.”
“Was he Grace’s father?”
Richard looked at her sharply.
“We never knew Elena’s baby’s father.”
“But you suspected him.”
“Your father did.”
Dr. Samuel Vale had died twenty-five years earlier in a boating accident.
At least, that was the official story.
The prosecutor reopened questions surrounding his death.
Records showed Samuel owned a white sedan seen near the Hart farmhouse the night Elena vanished.
A bank ledger showed a large cash deposit into Brenda’s account the following morning.
The amount matched the payment from Grace’s adoptive parents.
The emerging theory was brutal.
Brenda arranged the private adoption.
Samuel helped pressure Elena.
When Elena threatened to expose them, they confronted her at the farmhouse.
She died during the confrontation.
Samuel and Brenda buried her.
Years later, Samuel died before anyone could question him.
But someone else knew enough to send the photograph.
The identity of that person remained unknown.
Meanwhile, Lily’s fourth birthday approached.
Amelia decided against a large celebration.
She invited only Richard, Grace, Kendra, Dr. Walsh, and two trusted friends from the hospital.
They decorated Richard’s garden with red paper ladybugs.
For the first time since the mall, Lily seemed entirely carefree.
She chased bubbles across the grass and laughed when one landed on Richard’s nose.
Grace gave her a wooden music box.
Kendra gave her a picture book and asked permission before hugging her.
Lily hesitated, then stepped into her arms.
Kendra cried afterward in the bathroom.
At sunset, Richard gathered the adults in his study.
He explained that Lily’s trust branch had officially activated.
Amelia signed documents appointing an independent professional trustee to manage distributions.
She refused direct control over the money.
“I want every expense reviewed,” she said.
Richard nodded approvingly.
Grace’s DNA results had also arrived.
She was conclusively Elena’s daughter.
Her trust branch would be restored.
Grace stared at the report.
“I don’t know what to do with any of this.”
“You don’t have to decide now,” Amelia said.
Richard opened a bottle of champagne.
“To Elena,” he said.
“To Lily,” Grace added.
“To people who came back,” Kendra whispered.
Later, while guests ate cake outside, Amelia found Lily standing near the garden gate.
A black car was parked across the road.
“Who are you looking at?” Amelia asked.
“The old man.”
Amelia turned.
No one stood near the car.
“What old man?”
“He gave me this.”
Lily opened her hand.
A square black ring rested in her palm.
The same design worn by Samuel Vale.
Amelia immediately alerted security.
The black car accelerated away before guards reached the road.
Police later confirmed the license plate was stolen.
Inside the ring, microscopic letters had been engraved.
Not Samuel.
May you like
S.V.
Still alive.
