Chapter 10 - The Voice in the Dark
Claire’s heart stopped.
“Evelyn?”
Static answered.
Then the girl spoke again.
“I don’t have much time.”
Mia pressed against Claire’s side.
Everyone remained silent.
Claire held the storage chip so tightly its edge cut her palm.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know the name of the place.”
“Are you in danger?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Can you see anything outside?”
“There are mountains. And a lake.”
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
“Who is with you?”
The connection crackled.
“A woman who says she’s my aunt.”
Claire looked at Eleanor.
“I don’t have a sister.”
Eleanor stared back at her.
No one spoke.
Claire returned her attention to the speaker.
“What is her name?”
“She makes me call her Aunt Rose.”
Richard turned toward Eleanor.
“Rose?”
Eleanor whispered, “Impossible.”
“Who is Rose?” Claire asked.
Eleanor did not answer.
The girl’s voice became urgent.
“They know I used the old radio. I have to go.”
“Wait. Evelyn, listen to me. My name is Claire.”
“I know.”
“I am your mother.”
The speaker carried a small breath.
“I know that too.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“How?”
“Grandpa Thomas left me videos.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Thomas had known where Evelyn was.
He had left Claire clues while preparing Evelyn separately.
The betrayal and mercy were tangled so tightly that Claire could not separate them.
Evelyn continued.
“He said you would find me when the camera turned red.”
Claire looked at her phone.
Her recording indicator had been red outside the party.
The entire chain had been planned around the moment she filmed Eleanor.
“Did Grandpa tell you where you are?”
“He said not to say names over the radio.”
“Then give me something else.”
The line went quiet for several seconds.
“Ask Grandma what happened at Lake Aurelia.”
Eleanor took a step backward.
Claire saw fear.
Real fear.
“Evelyn?”
The connection ended.
Emergency lights returned.
Mercer looked at Eleanor.
“What happened at Lake Aurelia?”
“Nothing.”
Richard approached his mother.
“You recognized Rose.”
Eleanor glanced toward the corridor.
“Rose Ashcroft was Thomas’s younger sister.”
Claire searched her memories.
Her father had never spoken of a sister.
“There are no photographs of her.”
“Thomas removed them.”
“Why?”
“Because Rose tried to kill him.”
Daniel gave a disbelieving laugh.
“Another secret relative?”
“She was committed to a psychiatric institution when she was twenty-three.”
“Which institution?” Claire asked.
“Saint Aurelia.”
Mercer’s expression changed.
“That facility burned down thirty years ago.”
“Rose died in the fire.”
Victor, still seated against the wall, shook his head.
“No body was recovered.”
Eleanor looked at him with disgust.
“You knew?”
“I suspected Thomas helped her escape.”
Richard stared at them.
“What does any of this have to do with Evelyn?”
Eleanor faced Claire.
“Thomas may have given your daughter to Rose.”
“Why would he trust a woman who tried to kill him?”
“Because she did not try to kill him.”
Everyone turned toward Mrs. Finch’s voice.
She appeared at the corridor entrance, leaning against the wall. Blood marked her temple, but she was conscious.
Claire rushed to her.
“We saw the hangar.”
Mrs. Finch’s eyes filled.
“Adrian got away.”
“And you?”
“The broadcast was pre-recorded by six minutes. I reached the estate through the service tunnel.”
“Who attacked you in the study?”
“A man wearing one of Mercer’s police uniforms.”
Mercer stiffened.
“Did you see his face?”
“No.”
Eleanor pointed at Mrs. Finch.
“Tell them about Rose.”
The housekeeper looked at Claire.
“Your aunt discovered what Thomas and Eleanor were doing with the Vale research. She threatened to expose them.”
Eleanor snapped, “I had nothing to do with the early trials.”
“You signed the payments.”
“I did not know children were involved.”
Mia looked up.
“What children?”
Claire covered her ears gently.
Mrs. Finch continued.
“Rose gathered evidence. Thomas tried to stop her from going to the police because the company would collapse. They struggled near the lake. Thomas fell through the boathouse railing.”
Claire remembered a scar along her father’s neck.
“He told us it was a sailing accident.”
“Rose pulled him from the water. Eleanor used the incident to have her declared unstable.”
Eleanor’s voice dropped.
“She was unstable.”
“She was inconvenient.”
Claire looked between them.
“Is Rose alive?”
Mrs. Finch nodded.
“And she raised Evelyn?”
“For several years.”
“Where is Lake Aurelia?”
Mercer answered.
“Across the northern border. Six hours by road.”
Claire looked at the chip containing Archive Eight.
Eleanor saw the decision in her face.
“You cannot leave.”
“My daughter is there.”
“The estate is surrounded by police.”
“Your police or his?”
She nodded toward Mercer.
His face hardened, but he did not object.
Victor struggled to his feet.
“Claire, Archive Eight is not simply a list of locations. It contains a protocol.”
“What protocol?”
“A failsafe Thomas designed to destroy Ashcroft Industries if the Vale crimes became public.”
Richard stared at him.
“Destroy it how?”
“By transferring every patent, account, and voting right to a protected beneficiary.”
Claire looked at Mia.
Then she understood.
“My first daughter.”
Victor nodded.
“Evelyn owns the company.”
Eleanor stepped closer.
“Which means the people hunting Adrian do not only want the archive.”
Claire looked toward the dark speaker.
“They want Evelyn alive.”
May you like
“No,” Eleanor said.
“They need her alive only long enough to sign.”
