Chapter 11 - the red key)
The red key did not fit anything at Briarwood.
It did not match Daniel’s desk.
It did not match the Union Station lockers.
For twenty-four hours, investigators found nothing.
Then Thomas Reed called Claire.
“The ivory box.”
Claire sat upright.
“What about it?”
“It had a false bottom.”
The police evidence technicians had discovered a paper-thin compartment.
Inside was a baggage claim ticket.
JFK Airport.
Storage facility C.
Unit 417.
Claire looked at the red key.
At JFK, airport security escorted them through a restricted storage area used for long-term bonded property.
Unit 417 had been rented eleven years ago by a corporation called Red Haven Consulting.
Daniel had made annual cash payments through an attorney.
The last payment occurred six days before his death.
The red key opened it.
Inside were three suitcases.
One contained clothes for a little girl.
Age four.
Another contained children’s books.
The third contained documents.
Claire opened it.
Passports.
Emily Carter.
Emily Hale.
Emily Ward.
Three identities.
Three birth dates.
Same child.
Hayes examined the records.
“Someone moved her repeatedly.”
Claire found photographs.
Emily at age one.
Age two.
Age three.
Age four.
Then nothing.
The final image showed Daniel holding Emily in a park.
Claire sat on the floor.
Daniel had met her.
Her husband had known their daughter.
He had held her.
And he never told Claire.
Anger mixed with grief until she could not separate them.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Vanessa sat beside her.
“He may have been protecting you.”
Claire looked at her.
“I was her mother.”
“I know.”
“No. Nobody gets to decide that for me.”
She turned another page.
A handwritten letter.
Claire.
I have written this letter twenty-seven times.
If you are reading it, I am probably dead or I finally became brave enough to tell you.
Claire stopped.
Her hands shook.
Daniel continued.
Emily survived.
I found her when she was eleven months old.
Arthur helped me.
Claire looked toward Vanessa.
Arthur.
Daniel wrote that Margaret’s faction had intended to keep Emily hidden as leverage, but Arthur discovered the plan.
Arthur secretly removed Emily and placed her with a trusted couple.
Every time Preston’s people got close, Emily was moved.
Claire read faster.
I wanted to bring her home.
Arthur stopped me.
At first I hated him for it.
Then our apartment was entered while you and Sophie slept.
Nothing was stolen.
A photograph of Sophie had been placed on the kitchen table.
That was the warning.
Claire remembered that morning.
She had assumed Daniel moved the photo.
She kept reading.
If I brought Emily home, I risked losing both girls.
So I made the worst choice of my life.
I let you believe you had one daughter.
Claire began crying.
Vanessa looked away.
Daniel’s letter continued.
Please hate me if you need to.
But find Emily.
Arthur knows where she was last placed.
Do not trust him completely.
He saved her once.
He also helped build the system that stole her.
At the bottom:
The red key opens one more door.
The address is in Sophie’s middle name.
Claire stared.
Sophie’s full name was Sophie Rose Carter.
Rose.
Vanessa searched property databases.
They found thirteen Red Haven holdings with “Rose” in the address.
Only one had been owned for eight years.
17 Rosewood Lane.
Maine.
A remote coastal town.
Hayes arranged a team.
Before they left, Preston requested to speak with Claire.
He claimed he would only talk to her.
Against every instinct, Claire agreed.
Preston sat behind reinforced glass.
He looked exhausted.
Claire picked up the phone.
“Where is Emily?”
Preston smiled.
“You found the key.”
“Where is she?”
“I was never trying to hurt Sophie.”
Claire laughed coldly.
“You threw her belongings across a wedding aisle.”
“I needed your reaction.”
“You framed a child.”
“I needed to know whether you knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That Daniel had another daughter.”
Claire leaned closer.
“Why?”
Preston’s smile disappeared.
“Because Emily Blackwood owns everything.”
Claire froze.
“She’s not a Blackwood.”
May you like
Preston whispered:
“That depends which birth certificate you believe.”
