Chapter 13 - The Man Who Knew
Hannah recognized the voice.
Thomas Vale.
He stepped into the basement.
Older.
Elegant.
Calm.
Dangerously calm.
Allison backed away.
"You."
Thomas looked at her.
"You've grown up."
Hannah stepped between them.
"What happened to Evelyn?"
Thomas smiled.
"You've been asking the wrong question."
"What question should I ask?"
"Why did Richard choose Allison?"
Hannah frowned.
Thomas continued.
"Because Allison wasn't supposed to be the replacement."
Hannah felt a chill.
"Then who?"
Thomas looked at her.
"You."
Hannah stared.
"Me?"
"Richard needed someone to blame."
"For what?"
Thomas's expression changed.
"For a death."
Silence.
"Whose death?"
Thomas didn't answer.
Allison stepped forward.
"You know where Evelyn is."
Thomas smiled.
"Yes."
"Tell us."
"Not yet."
Hannah's patience broke.
"What do you want?"
"Something your grandfather left behind."
"James Carter?"
Thomas nodded.
"What?"
"A ledger."
Hannah remembered the basement.
"The ledger is here."
Thomas's smile disappeared.
"Then you found it."
Hannah realized.
He had come for it.
She reached behind herself.
Allison understood.
She quietly picked up the ledger.
Thomas moved.
Hannah shouted.
"Run."
They raced upstairs.
The old house echoed with footsteps.
They reached the front door.
Thomas caught Allison's arm.
Hannah turned.
She grabbed a lamp and knocked it from the table.
Thomas released her.
They escaped.
Outside, Hannah ran toward the car.
Allison got inside.
Hannah followed.
They drove away.
For several miles neither spoke.
Then Allison opened the ledger.
"Hannah."
"What?"
"There's a name."
She looked.
The ledger contained financial transfers.
Payments made twenty-eight years earlier.
Hospital.
Doctors.
Nurses.
Officials.
And one final recipient.
Richard Barrett.
But beneath Richard's name was another.
Linda Barrett.
Hannah stared.
"They both knew."
Allison nodded.
Then she turned the page.
There was another payment.
A much larger one.
Paid to Thomas Vale.
And beside it was a note.
For the third child.
Hannah felt sick.
Thomas hadn't been helping Richard.
He had been part of the plan.
Then Allison found something else.
A recent transaction.
Made only four days earlier.
The same amount.
Same account.
Same name.
Thomas Vale.
Hannah stared at the date.
"Four days ago."
Allison nodded.
"Why would he pay him again?"
Hannah looked at the ledger.
"Maybe he didn't."
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe someone paid Thomas to make sure we found this."
Allison looked at her.
"You think someone wanted us to know?"
Hannah nodded.
"Yes."
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A woman's voice whispered.
"You're getting close."
Hannah recognized it.
Emily.
"Mom?"
"Don't trust Thomas."
"Where are you?"
Silence.
Then Emily said.
"Come to the university."
The call ended.
Hannah looked at Allison.
"We're going back."
But neither sister noticed the second message arriving on Hannah's phone.
A photograph.
It showed a young woman standing outside a hospital.
The timestamp was from that morning.
May you like
Underneath was one sentence.
She has been waiting for you.
