Chapter 7 - The Missing Page
Lucas reached the highway while Claire stayed on the phone.
Daniel Mercer tracked the vehicle carrying Ellie through traffic cameras. It was a black sedan registered to a transportation company owned by a subsidiary of Voss Legal Holdings.
“Police are moving to intercept,” Daniel said. “Do not approach the vehicle yourself.”
Lucas ignored him.
The sedan was eight minutes ahead.
He pushed through traffic until he saw it near the Ashford exit. Two police vehicles closed in from the opposite direction.
The sedan pulled over.
Lucas stopped behind the officers and ran forward.
The rear door opened.
Ellie climbed out by herself, clutching her coat around her.
Lucas crossed the distance and lifted her into his arms.
“I’m sorry,” she cried. “The lady said you sent her.”
“What lady?”
A woman in medical scrubs sat behind the wheel. She claimed she had received an authorized transport request signed by Lucas.
The request included his identification number, digital signature, and a copy of the custody order.
The police detained her while Daniel examined the paperwork.
“It’s professionally done,” he said. “But the signing certificate was generated yesterday.”
“By Voss?”
“Through a private server registered in Nevada.”
Ellie pulled at Lucas’s collar.
“She said we had to get the paper before Vanessa found it.”
“What paper?”
“The one Mommy hid.”
Lucas carried her into Claire’s car where the interior was warm.
Ellie reached into her coat and removed a folded page.
“I got it from the old music box.”
Lucas recognized the page as part of Mara’s missing guardianship letter.
“Who told you where to find this?”
“The lady on the phone.”
“What lady?”
“She called Aunt Claire’s house. She knew the secret song.”
Mara used to sing Ellie a lullaby with a final verse she had written herself. Lucas had never heard anyone else sing it.
“What did the lady say?”
“She said the music box had a false bottom.”
Claire stared at Lucas.
The music box had belonged to Mara. After the accident, Lucas had packed it away with other personal items and placed the box in Claire’s guesthouse.
He unfolded the page.
Most of it contained language he remembered from the guardianship letter. Claire was named as Ellie’s guardian.
But at the bottom, Mara had added a handwritten paragraph.
If this letter is removed or challenged, contact Rebecca Shaw. She holds proof that my death was planned. Do not allow Graham Voss or Evelyn Arden to obtain custody of Eleanor. Evelyn’s identity is false. Her real name is Helena Vale.
Rebecca went pale when Lucas read it aloud.
“You know that name,” he said.
“She was Mara’s mother.”
Lucas looked at her.
“Mara told me her mother died when she was young.”
“That was the story Helena required everyone to repeat.”
“Why?”
“Because Helena was wanted for financial crimes in three countries. She changed her identity and disappeared. Years later, she returned as Evelyn Arden.”
“Vanessa’s mother.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Vanessa and Mara were half-sisters.”
The revelation silenced everyone.
Lucas thought of Vanessa entering his life through Voss. Her fascination with the Hale estate. Her questions about Mara. Her insistence on becoming involved in Ellie’s trust.
This had never begun as a romance.
It had begun as an operation.
Daniel took the page.
“This is useful, but it’s not enough. We need the rest of the letter and proof connecting Evelyn to Helena.”
Rebecca reached into her bag.
“I may know where Mara hid it.”
“Where?”
“The house in the photograph.”
Before she could provide the address, an officer approached.
The driver of the sedan had requested an attorney.
Graham Voss had arrived to represent her.
He stood beside his car at the edge of the road, watching Lucas hold Ellie.
Then Voss raised his phone.
May you like
A message appeared on Lucas’s screen.
Bring me the missing page, or Rebecca Shaw will not survive the night.
