Chapter 7 - The Woman in Sophie’s Photograph
The hospital bracelet proved that Chloe had been processed through Saint Catherine’s.
A hidden serial number linked the band to an unregistered private examination room in the hospital’s old east wing. Daniel obtained the information from a records technician who owed him a favor.
The room had officially been closed for renovation six months earlier.
Dr. Keller continued using it.
“We need whatever remains inside,” Daniel said.
Eleanor examined the hospital floor plan.
“Can we enter without alerting him?”
“Not through the public corridors.”
Arthur pointed toward an old service elevator.
“The east wing was once connected to the laundry building.”
Daniel looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Mrs. Whitmore funded the hospital expansion twenty years ago. I supervised several deliveries.”
Eleanor stood.
“Then we go now.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You remain here.”
“Chloe’s funeral is tomorrow. We no longer have time for caution.”
“You are also the obvious target.”
“That has been true since Julian was born.”
Before Daniel could respond, the library doors opened.
A woman Eleanor had not seen for nearly two years entered with Arthur’s assistant behind her.
Her name was Claire Rowan.
She had been Sophie’s closest friend.
Claire looked exhausted. Her dark hair was tied carelessly behind her neck, and she carried a large envelope beneath her coat.
“I heard about Chloe,” she said.
Eleanor approached her.
“Where have you been?”
“Trying not to be found.”
Daniel closed the doors.
Claire placed the envelope on the desk.
Inside were photographs.
The first showed Sophie standing beside a marina office on the afternoon before her death.
The second showed Victoria entering the same office.
The third showed Julian on the dock after midnight.
Eleanor looked at Claire.
“Who took these?”
“I did.”
“Why did you never give them to the police?”
“I tried.”
Claire removed another photograph.
It showed Captain Reeves accepting an envelope from Samuel Vale.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Reeves buried the investigation.”
Claire nodded.
“He told me I had imagined seeing Julian. Two days later, someone broke into my apartment. They left Sophie’s scarf on my bed.”
“Why return now?” Eleanor asked.
“Because Chloe called me.”
The room became silent.
“When?” Daniel asked.
“Four days ago.”
Eleanor’s heart raced.
“What did she say?”
“She whispered that Victoria was giving her medicine. Then someone took the phone away.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I did.”
“I received no call.”
Claire looked at Arthur.
“Someone answered your private line and said you were traveling.”
Arthur’s face changed.
“Only Mrs. Whitmore’s family and senior staff have that number.”
Daniel looked toward the household wing.
“You have someone inside the estate.”
Eleanor thought of every employee who had access to the library telephone.
“Continue,” she told Claire.
“After the call, I returned to Sophie’s old storage unit. She rented it under my name before she died.”
“What was inside?”
“Most of it had been removed. But I found this taped beneath a drawer.”
Claire placed a brass key on the desk.
A tiny bluebird was engraved on its head.
Eleanor stared at it.
“Chloe drew bluebirds after Sophie died.”
Claire nodded.
“Sophie told me that if anything happened to her, the truth would be in a place Chloe considered safe.”
“Whitmore House,” Eleanor said.
Arthur brought Chloe’s drawing from the greenhouse.
GRANDMA’S HOUSE IS SAFE.
In the corner, almost hidden beneath a painted flower, Chloe had drawn a small bluebird.
Daniel picked up the key.
“We search the house.”
For two hours, they examined rooms Chloe used during her visits.
The blue guest bedroom.
The library window seat.
The greenhouse cabinets.
The nursery that had once belonged to Julian.
Nothing fit the key.
Then Lily, sitting quietly beside Arthur in the hallway, noticed a carved bluebird on the frame of Sophie’s portrait.
She pointed.
“Is that the same bird?”
Eleanor approached the portrait.
The carving was part of an antique wooden frame Henry had purchased in France. Eleanor had seen it thousands of times without noticing the tiny keyhole hidden inside the bird’s wing.
Claire inserted the key.
A section of the frame opened.
Inside was a memory card.
Daniel loaded it onto a secure laptop.
The card contained financial records, audio recordings, medical reports, and one video file.
Eleanor opened the video.
Sophie appeared on the screen.
She sat in Chloe’s bedroom, speaking directly into the camera.
“If you are watching this, I may be dead.”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Sophie continued.
“Julian has been transferring company funds through accounts controlled by Samuel Vale. Victoria designed the network. When I confronted them, Julian begged me to remain silent. Victoria threatened Chloe.”
The video cut briefly, then resumed.
“I obtained samples of a drug Dr. Keller has been supplying to Victoria. In small doses, it causes confusion and memory loss. In larger doses, it can slow the heart and breathing until a person appears dead.”
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
The blue bottle.
Sophie raised a small vial toward the camera.
“If the police claim my death was an accident, they are compromised. Do not trust Captain Reeves.”
The video continued for twelve minutes.
Sophie described the accounts, the forged documents, and Victoria’s plans to take control of Whitmore Industries.
Then she said something none of them expected.
“Victoria is not working alone. She reports to someone she calls the Chairman. I do not know his identity. I heard her say that the Whitmore company is only one piece of a larger acquisition.”
The screen flickered.
Sophie looked toward the bedroom door.
“They are here.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Before the recording ended, Sophie leaned closer to the camera.
“Eleanor, there is one more thing you need to know about Chloe.”
The video cut to black.
Daniel replayed the final seconds.
The file was damaged.
“What was she going to say?” Claire whispered.
Eleanor stared at the black screen.
Before anyone answered, the estate alarm sounded.
Arthur ran to the window.
Smoke rose from the eastern wing.
“The greenhouse,” he said.
Eleanor rushed into the corridor.
Flames climbed the glass walls where Chloe’s drawing had been found.
And standing beyond the fire, visible for only a second through the smoke, was a member of Eleanor’s household staff.
May you like
He held a telephone in one hand.
In the other, he held a gun.
