Chapter 10 - The Border Crossing
The alert reached border authorities eight minutes too late.
Daniel’s vehicle had entered Canada through a private commercial lane using forged medical transport credentials.
Bethany was seen in the passenger seat.
The woman in the back appeared sedated.
Canadian police began searching highways and clinics while Price coordinated with federal investigators.
Brooke was ordered to remain home.
She refused.
“That could be my mother.”
“And running toward an international investigation won’t help her,” Price said.
“I’ve spent ten years believing she was dead.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
Price did not argue.
He gave Brooke a direct number and promised updates.
Larry sat in the living room, surrounded by old photographs Rebecca had retrieved from storage. He studied Amelia’s face as though trying to memorize her all over again.
Evan remained in the kitchen.
He had answered hours of questions and surrendered passwords to every account he knew. Although he had benefited from stolen money, investigators believed Bethany had concealed its source from him.
Brooke was not ready to forgive him.
But she no longer believed he was part of the original conspiracy.
Nora made coffee.
Rebecca worked through the ledger.
Near midnight, she found something.
“Daniel Vale appears under initials D.V. beginning twenty years ago.”
Brooke looked over the entries.
Daniel received payments for property appraisals and medical transportation. Later, the amounts increased.
One entry read:
D.V. will maintain secondary subject. B.V. placed with family.
“Secondary subject,” Brooke repeated.
Larry leaned closer.
“What does that mean?”
Rebecca turned several pages.
A coded section listed two girls born within the same week.
Subject A: Brooke Amelia Caldwell.
Subject B: Bethany Rose Vale.
Brooke stared at the names.
“That’s impossible. Bethany is older than me.”
“Her current records say she’s forty-eight,” Rebecca said. “But her birth certificate was issued late and amended twice.”
They searched archived records.
Bethany’s age was false.
She was thirty-five.
Only ten years older than Brooke, not twenty-three.
Larry’s face filled with horror.
“She was twenty-five when we met.”
“And you were forty-four,” Brooke said.
“She told me she was thirty-eight.”
Why lie about being older?
The answer lay in another document.
Daniel Vale had worked for Brooke’s grandfather, Henry Caldwell, as a property manager. Years before Brooke’s birth, Daniel claimed Henry had fathered a child with Daniel’s wife.
The child was Bethany.
Henry denied it.
No legal determination was made.
Daniel became convinced the Caldwell fortune belonged partly to his daughter.
Rebecca found a handwritten note from Henry.
Daniel has mistaken obsession for justice. Bethany is not mine. He has threatened to place her near Amelia’s family one day and take back what he believes was stolen.
Larry read the note.
“Bethany married me because of the money.”
“Maybe,” Brooke said.
But the explanation felt incomplete.
If Bethany wanted only access, she could have stayed quiet. Instead, she had spent years trying to erase Brooke emotionally, socially, and financially.
Perhaps she did not merely want the Caldwell inheritance.
Perhaps she wanted Brooke’s place.
Price called at two in the morning.
Canadian police had found Daniel’s vehicle abandoned near Montreal.
There was blood in the back seat.
A hospital bracelet lay beneath it.
The printed name was Anna Mercer.
Brooke gripped the phone.
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Was the blood hers?”
“Testing is underway.”
“What about Bethany?”
“No sign of her or Daniel.”
A truck driver reported seeing two women arguing beside the vehicle before another car arrived. One woman appeared weak and disoriented.
The driver thought the younger woman was supporting her.
Brooke knew better.
Bethany was moving Amelia again.
Price warned that Martin remained unaccounted for and might be coordinating the escape.
The next morning, investigators discovered a message in Daniel’s abandoned vehicle.
It was recorded on a small voice device.
Bethany’s voice said:
“Brooke, you wanted the truth. Come to Montreal alone, and I’ll let you hear it from your mother.”
A location followed.
An old church scheduled for demolition.
Price forbade Brooke from responding.
She agreed.
Then she packed a bag.
Nora found her at the back door.
“You’re not going alone.”
“I have to.”
“That is exactly what people say before walking into traps.”
“My mother may be there.”
“And Bethany may kill you.”
Brooke looked at Nora.
“I can’t lose her a second time.”
Nora picked up her coat.
“Then you’re not losing yourself either.”
They reached the car before Larry stepped onto the porch.
He carried Amelia’s photograph in one hand.
“I’m coming.”
“No,” Brooke said.
“I failed both of you for ten years.”
“This won’t fix that.”
“I know.”
Larry opened the passenger door.
“But she is my wife, and you are my daughter.”
Brooke saw something in his face she had not seen since childhood.
Resolve.
She handed him the keys.
May you like
They crossed the border before sunrise.
None of them noticed the black sedan following three cars behind.
