Chapter 6 - The Road to Evelyn
Thomas’s wound was not fatal.
Vanessa’s bullet had passed through the muscle above his hip. Mark stopped the bleeding while Leo called emergency services through the satellite phone.
By the time police vehicles reached the lake house, Vanessa was gone again.
During the struggle, she had kicked Mark into the fireplace and escaped through the broken window. Officers searched the woods, but heavy rain erased her trail.
Detective Moreno arrived from the hospital with her arm in a sling.
“You attract trouble,” she told Mark.
“My wife attracts it.”
“Your wife is now wanted for child abuse, unlawful imprisonment, evidence tampering, attempted murder and several other crimes that will take me an hour to list.”
“She said Anna survived.”
Moreno studied him.
“Do you believe her?”
“I believe she knew Anna.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Mark looked toward Leo, who sat wrapped in a blanket beside an ambulance.
“I don’t know what to believe.”
Thomas was transported to the hospital under guard. Before leaving, he gave Moreno a statement.
Vanessa had contacted him during the garden party and claimed Leo had been kidnapped from the kennel by armed intruders. She showed him a video of a frightened girl and said the kidnappers would kill her unless Thomas drove Vanessa to the east gate during the blackout.
Thomas admitted he should have called Mark.
Instead, he obeyed.
The story sounded suspicious, but the girl in the video might have been Elise.
Moreno turned to Mark.
“Where is Evelyn Shaw?”
“We have a possible location.”
Mark did not mention Anna’s hidden map. He only said Leo had received directions through the red phone.
Moreno insisted on accompanying them.
They left at sunrise in an unmarked police vehicle.
The map led north through small towns and forest roads. After four hours, they reached an abandoned textile factory near the Canadian border.
The brass key from the lake house opened a side entrance.
Inside, the factory was silent.
Dust covered rusted machinery. Broken windows admitted thin shafts of daylight.
“Evelyn?” Mark called.
No answer.
Leo stayed close to him.
Near the back of the factory, they discovered a converted living space with two beds, canned food and medical supplies.
Someone had lived there recently.
On the wall hung dozens of photographs of Leo.
School events.
Trips to the park.
His first bicycle ride.
Some had been taken from far away.
Mark’s skin prickled.
“Evelyn has been watching him.”
Moreno examined the images.
“Or protecting him.”
A mechanical sound came from the ceiling.
Metal shutters dropped over every exit.
Leo cried out.
A voice spoke through an old intercom.
“Place your weapons on the floor.”
Moreno drew her pistol.
“Evelyn Shaw?”
“Detective Moreno, your presence was not requested.”
“How do you know who I am?”
“I have been watching the investigation.”
Mark looked toward a camera mounted above the door.
“Evelyn, Anna left me a message.”
Silence followed.
Then the intercom clicked.
“What did she say?”
“She said you could explain Elise.”
A hidden door opened in the far wall.
A woman stepped out.
She was in her late forties, with dark hair streaked with gray. A scar crossed one side of her face. She held a rifle but kept it pointed toward the floor.
Leo stared at her.
“You’re the lady on the phone.”
Evelyn’s expression softened.
“You sound like your mother.”
“Do you know where she is?”
The softness vanished.
Evelyn looked at Mark.
“You told him she might be alive?”
“Vanessa did.”
“Vanessa lies when truth is more dangerous than fiction.”
Mark stepped forward.
“Did Anna survive the crash?”
“Yes.”
The single word echoed through the factory.
Mark gripped the edge of a machine to remain standing.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You helped her disappear.”
“I helped her escape.”
“From whom?”
“Your father’s remaining partners.”
“My father was dead.”
“His organization wasn’t.”
Moreno lowered her pistol slightly.
“Start at the beginning.”
Evelyn looked at Leo.
“Not in front of him.”
“He has already been locked in a cage because of this secret,” Mark said. “He deserves more truth than any of us.”
Evelyn hesitated, then placed her rifle on a table.
“Anna found me when Elise was two years old. I had been hiding since the Bellweather project shut down. She brought money, identification and a plan to move us overseas.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Because your phones were monitored. Your house was monitored. Your father had died, but Gerald Pike and others were still protecting the foundation.”
Mark remembered Gerald, the missing head of security.
“Anna’s crash was arranged?”
“Yes.”
“Did Vanessa arrange it?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Evelyn looked toward the photographs.
“Someone in your own family.”
“My parents are dead. I have no siblings.”
“You have an uncle.”
Mark frowned.
“My father’s brother died before I was born.”
“No,” Evelyn said. “He changed his name.”
She reached into a drawer and removed a photograph.
It showed Mark’s father standing beside a younger man.
The younger man had Gerald Pike’s eyes.
“Gerald is my uncle?”
“He is Richard Harrison’s half brother.”
The implications were immediate.
Gerald had a blood connection to the trust.
If Mark and his children disappeared, Gerald might attempt to claim control through a hidden provision.
“Where is Elise?” Mark asked.
Evelyn’s face became guarded.
“She was safe until three days ago.”
“What happened?”
“Someone found us.”
“Vanessa?”
“Gerald.”
Leo moved closer to Mark.
Evelyn continued.
“He took Elise and another woman.”
“Anna?”
“I don’t know. The woman’s face was covered.”
Moreno stepped forward.
“Where did he take them?”
“An old Bellweather clinic beneath Saint Augustine Hospital.”
Mark knew the hospital.
It had been closed for twenty years and was scheduled for demolition the following week.
Evelyn picked up her rifle.
“If Gerald still has Elise, he will not keep her alive once the trust documents are signed.”
“What documents?”
“A declaration naming him guardian of the final Harrison heir.”
Mark looked at Leo.
“Final heir?”
May you like
Evelyn’s voice dropped.
“Gerald intends to make Leo disappear tonight.”
