Chapter 13 - The House Beyond the Lighthouse)
Federal agents found the Maine property within twelve hours.
It belonged to a holding company connected to Ardent Meridian.
They did not allow Daniel to join the search.
He went anyway.
By the time he reached the coastal road, police vehicles already surrounded the estate.
The house stood above dark water.
A lighthouse flashed in the distance.
Daniel remained behind the barrier beside Marcus.
At six seventeen in the evening, officers brought Victor out.
Alive.
Handcuffed.
Victor looked smaller than Daniel remembered.
He saw Daniel.
Then smiled.
"You came."
Daniel stepped toward him.
An agent blocked the path.
Victor raised his voice.
"Emily did the same thing."
Daniel froze.
"She always had to see for herself."
"What did you do to her?"
Victor laughed.
"Still asking the wrong question."
He was placed inside a vehicle.
But before the door closed, Victor leaned forward.
"Ask who paid Jonathan after she died."
Then he was gone.
Inside the house, investigators found computers.
Financial ledgers.
Passports.
Cash.
Encrypted drives.
One room contained photographs.
Daniel.
Emily.
Sophie.
Claire.
Teresa.
Rachel.
Even Marcus.
Someone had watched them for years.
Marcus stared at the wall.
"This isn't Victor's operation."
Daniel nodded.
Victor was part of it.
But he was not the top.
A photograph near the center showed Jonathan Vale entering a hotel.
Beside him was a woman.
Daniel recognized her.
Dr. Evelyn Ross.
She had been Emily's obstetrician.
And later, Sophie's pediatric specialist.
Daniel felt the ground shift beneath him.
"No."
Marcus looked at the picture.
"You know her."
"She treated Sophie."
"Recently?"
"Last spring."
The allergy.
Daniel's mind raced.
Dr. Ross had diagnosed Sophie's flower sensitivity.
She had provided emergency instructions.
She had recommended the medication Sophie carried.
Daniel's phone rang.
Rachel.
He answered.
Her voice was frantic.
"Daniel, where are you?"
"Maine."
"You need to come home."
"What happened?"
"Sophie's doctor called."
Daniel looked at the photograph.
"Dr. Ross?"
"Yes."
"What did she want?"
Rachel hesitated.
"She said there's been a mistake in Sophie's medical records."
Daniel's blood ran cold.
"What mistake?"
"The allergy."
Marcus turned toward him.
Rachel continued.
"She says Sophie isn't allergic to flowers."
Daniel could not speak.
Rachel added, "She says the reaction at the wedding may have been caused by something on the bouquet."
Daniel looked again at Dr. Ross's photograph.
Not pollen.
Something on the flowers.
The wedding attack had been more deliberate than anyone knew.
Claire claimed she only meant to scare Sophie.
But someone else had prepared that bouquet.
Someone who understood medicine.
Someone who knew exactly how Sophie would react.
Daniel whispered, "Rachel, don't let Dr. Ross near her."
"What?"
"Take Sophie and leave the house."
"Daniel."
"Now."
He ended the call.
Marcus was already calling investigators.
At the same moment, an agent emerged from the Maine house carrying a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was a small bottle.
The label had been removed.
Beside it was a florist receipt dated the morning of the wedding.
And a handwritten note.
Two drops.
No more.
Daniel stared at it.
Someone had turned Sophie's bouquet into a weapon.
Claire may have pressed it against Sophie's face.
Victor may have ordered the act.
But neither of them had created the substance.
Daniel looked at Marcus.
"Find Dr. Ross."
Marcus's phone rang before he could answer.
He listened.
His face changed.
"What?"
May you like
Marcus ended the call.
"She disappeared this morning."
