Chapter 11 - The Empty School Bus
Aaron ordered the police to send units to Sophie’s school.
Evelyn called the principal.
No one answered.
It was after midnight, and the building should have been empty.
But the Blackthorn map showed four active signals moving around the school grounds.
Then a fifth signal appeared on the road behind the building.
It was labeled TRANSPORT UNIT.
Evelyn looked at Sophie.
“Why would anyone go to her school?”
Elena answered.
“Because they believe Margaret hid something there.”
“Sophie has attended that school for only two years.”
“Margaret’s foundation financed its construction fifteen years ago.”
Evelyn remembered the bronze plaque near the entrance.
The Carter Education Fund had donated the original library wing.
Richard stood.
“There’s a vault beneath the library.”
Everyone looked at him.
“You knew?” Evelyn asked.
“I approved the construction budget. Margaret demanded a reinforced records room. I thought she intended to store foundation documents.”
“What did she actually store?”
“I don’t know.”
Lydia gave a small smile.
“You know enough.”
Richard faced her.
“Gabriel believed the first camera contained the key to controlling Blackthorn. Margaret created duplicates and scattered them.”
“The camera Sophie is holding is the original,” Aaron said.
Lydia shook her head.
“It is the first body. Not the first memory.”
Evelyn looked at the old camera.
“What does that mean?”
“The camera’s photographs were stored on strips of encoded film. One strip can rewrite access permissions. Another can reveal every Blackthorn identity. Another can shut the network down.”
“And one is hidden at the school?”
“Possibly.”
Vanessa suddenly spoke.
“My mother took me there.”
Lydia’s face hardened.
Vanessa looked at Evelyn.
“Three weeks ago, she said we were visiting a charity site before the wedding. She spent twenty minutes in the old library while I waited outside.”
“What did she take?”
“A wooden box.”
“Where is it?”
“Her townhouse.”
Lydia laughed.
“You are helping people who will never forgive you.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with anger.
“You never wanted me to be forgiven.”
“You were raised to complete a task.”
“And what happens after the task?”
Lydia did not answer.
Vanessa looked toward Preston.
“I was supposed to marry him, gain access to the Carter Trust, and transfer the Blackthorn foundation to Gabriel.”
Preston’s voice was flat.
“And then?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never asked?”
“I thought we would run the company together.”
“Lydia raised you to believe that.”
Vanessa nodded.
Preston turned away.
Aaron received an update.
“Police have reached the school. The gates are open. A school bus is missing from the transport lot.”
Evelyn’s stomach tightened.
“Is anyone inside the building?”
“They found a night caretaker unconscious but breathing. The library door is open.”
Another signal moved across the Blackthorn map.
The transport unit was heading west.
Aaron enlarged the route.
“It’s moving toward the Carter estate.”
Richard’s face changed.
“The storage building.”
“The one with the nursery toys?” Evelyn asked.
He nodded.
The film necklace could still be hidden inside Preston’s wooden horse.
The intruders had gone to the school first, then changed direction toward the estate.
“They didn’t find what they wanted at the school,” Aaron said. “Now they’re searching the second location.”
“Or they found a clue telling them where to go,” Elena replied.
Evelyn checked the time.
The Carter estate was twenty minutes away.
“We need to get there.”
Aaron shook his head.
“You and Sophie stay here.”
“The estate belongs to the trust. My phone may be required to open whatever Margaret hid.”
“Then I’ll take the phone.”
“The system authenticated me through the camera.”
“Your daughter has already been used once tonight.”
Evelyn looked at Sophie.
She could not bring her into another dangerous situation.
“I’ll go. Sophie stays with Elena and police protection.”
Sophie immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Evelyn knelt.
“I have to find something Grandma left.”
“What if the bad people come back?”
“Elena will stay with you.”
Sophie looked at her aunt.
Elena gave a reassuring nod.
“I won’t leave you.”
Sophie hugged Evelyn tightly.
“Promise you’ll come back.”
“I promise.”
Preston stepped forward.
“I’m going with you.”
“No.”
“The wooden horse was mine. I may remember where I hid the necklace.”
“You are under investigation.”
“So is nearly everyone in this room.”
Richard moved toward the doors.
“I’m coming.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“You have lied to me all night.”
“And someone is entering my home.”
“The trust owns the estate now.”
Richard gave a tired nod.
“Then someone is entering your home.”
Aaron assigned officers to escort Lydia and Vanessa to the police station. Rebecca remained at the hotel to preserve the audit documents. Elena stayed with Sophie.
Before Evelyn left, Elena gave her the third key.
“Margaret trusted you to choose correctly.”
“You barely know me.”
“I watched you from a distance.”
Evelyn stepped back.
“You watched me?”
“Blackthorn watched you. I made sure they never got close.”
“They reached Sophie’s school.”
“Only after the audit changed control.”
“Why didn’t you contact me sooner?”
“Because I did not know whether Richard had turned you into someone like him.”
Richard heard the words but did not react.
Elena closed Evelyn’s fingers around the key.
“At the estate, do not trust the first thing you find.”
“What does that mean?”
“Margaret loved decoys.”
Aaron called from the doorway.
“We have to move.”
Evelyn kissed Sophie’s forehead and left the ballroom with Aaron, Preston, and Richard.
Police vehicles led them through the city.
The Blackthorn map showed the transport signal arriving at the Carter estate.
Then it stopped.
A camera feed appeared automatically on Evelyn’s phone.
The image came from the estate’s front gate.
An empty school bus rolled slowly up the drive.
No driver sat behind the wheel.
The doors opened.
May you like
Six children stepped out.
Each child wore a white flower-girl dress identical to Sophie’s.
