Chapter 23 - Twenty-Three Years
Eleanor walked slowly toward her daughter.
Caroline's first instinct was to embrace her.
Instead, she stopped.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me grow up thinking I had been abandoned.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
“Because every person who knew I was alive became a target.”
Caroline's voice broke.
“My father knew.”
“Yes.”
“And Margaret.”
“Yes.”
“Travis?”
“No.”
Caroline looked at Travis.
He stepped forward.
“I didn't know anything until the night I arrested you.”
Eleanor nodded.
“That arrest wasn't supposed to happen.”
Caroline frowned.
“Then why did it?”
“Because Hale discovered the archive.”
Eleanor explained that someone inside the county department had altered the arrest order.
They needed Caroline's fingerprints.
Her signature.
Her official identification.
Once she was processed, the system would connect her identity to the old investigation.
Then the hidden evidence would automatically surface.
Caroline realized the horrifying truth.
“The arrest was a trap.”
Eleanor nodded.
“And you walked straight into it.”
Caroline looked at Travis.
“But Travis made a mistake.”
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“No.”
“He handcuffed the wrong woman.”
“He handcuffed the right person.”
May you like
Caroline stared at her.
“The person they were trying to erase.”
