Chapter 15 - THE PACKAGE THAT NEVER ARRIVED
No package had ever reached the district attorney.
But eighteen years earlier, one postal van carrying registered mail from St. Matthew’s had been involved in an unusual robbery.
Only three bags were taken.
Robert found the archived police report.
The case had never been solved.
Miriam traced the officer who investigated it.
Retired Detective Paul Bennett remembered it immediately.
“It never made sense,” he said.
The thieves ignored cash deliveries and stole documents.
One witness described a black Hale Holdings service vehicle near the scene.
Nathan had signed out that vehicle.
Liam leaned back.
“So Lydia tried to expose them.”
“Yes,” Bennett said.
“What was inside?”
“No one knows.”
Nora did.
When she heard about the missing package, she remembered something Lydia had said.
“If they take the first one, Evelyn has the second.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Evelyn.
Again.
They searched Evelyn’s safe.
Nothing.
Her journals.
Nothing.
Her old house.
Nothing.
Then Olivia remembered the first envelope had been hidden behind a photograph.
“Grandma hid things where the family could see them every day.”
Robert understood.
Evelyn had donated a collection of books to the public library after Lydia died.
Lydia had worked in a bookstore.
The connection was too precise.
They searched the donated collection.
Hours passed.
Then Liam found an old copy of Jane Eyre with two pages glued together.
Inside was a microfilm strip.
The library still owned an old reader.
Miriam loaded it.
Photographs appeared.
Howard.
Nathan.
Dr. Crane.
Bank transactions.
Signed orders.
And finally Lydia herself, holding Liam as an infant.
Beside her was Evelyn Hale.
On the final frame Lydia held a handwritten sign.
IF ROBERT NEVER FINDS HIS SON, HOWARD HALE IS THE REASON.
May you like
Robert sat down and cried.
This time, no one looked away.
