Chapter 12 - Margaret Shaw)
Margaret Shaw had vanished from Adrian's life six months after Caroline's death.
At the time, Adrian had been thirteen.
Adults told him Margaret was moving to Vermont.
He remembered crying when she left.
She had helped raise him.
She had attended school plays.
She knew which books he liked.
She taught him to make pancakes on Sunday mornings.
After his mother died, Margaret had been the only adult Adrian trusted completely.
Now her voice appeared on a secret recording with Richard.
Caroline knew too much.
Palmer located Margaret within two hours.
She had not moved to Vermont.
Not permanently.
She currently lived under the name Margaret Hale in Maine.
Seventy one years old.
Retired.
No criminal history.
When police arrived at her address, the house was empty.
The refrigerator was stocked.
A kettle was still warm.
She had left recently.
Inside a bedroom closet investigators found one photograph.
Two women standing beside a lake.
Caroline Morrell.
Melissa Grant.
Grace saw the image when Palmer returned to the estate.
"So they knew each other."
Adrian nodded.
"Before Melissa disappeared."
Michael looked at the photograph for a long time.
"My sister never mentioned Caroline."
"Maybe she couldn't."
Vanessa sat across the room.
"What if Margaret helped Melissa?"
Michael looked at her.
"Helped her do what?"
"Disappear."
"Why?"
Vanessa's voice trembled.
"Maybe to protect me."
Grace considered it.
"If Charles Morrell arranged your adoption, Melissa may have been afraid."
Adrian looked toward Eleanor.
"And my mother discovered the truth."
Eleanor nodded slowly.
"That would explain the letters."
Michael began pacing.
"Melissa contacted Caroline. Caroline decided to expose what happened at St. Catherine's."
"And died before the meeting," Grace said.
Nobody said the obvious question.
Was the crash an accident?
Detective Palmer refused to speculate.
But he reopened the file.
By evening, another discovery arrived.
Caroline's vehicle had experienced brake failure.
The original investigation classified it as mechanical.
However, maintenance records showed the brakes had been replaced three days earlier.
Adrian sat completely still while Palmer explained.
"Could they still have failed?"
"Yes."
"But?"
"The mechanic who performed the replacement disappeared two weeks after the accident."
"Disappeared?"
"His family reported him missing."
Adrian looked toward the window.
The mystery had crossed another line.
This was no longer only about stolen babies or falsified documents.
Someone might have killed his mother.
Vanessa walked toward him.
"I'm sorry."
Adrian did not respond.
She stopped.
"I know you don't want anything from me."
"Then don't ask me to comfort you."
"I'm not."
Her voice broke.
"I want you to know that if Voss was involved..."
Adrian turned.
"What?"
She hesitated.
"He hated Caroline."
"Why?"
"Because Richard never stopped loving her."
Adrian frowned.
"What does that have to do with Voss?"
Vanessa lowered her voice.
"Voss believed Richard chose Caroline over the truth."
"What truth?"
"I don't know."
Adrian stared at her.
Vanessa continued.
"Whenever he spoke about your mother, he became angry. He said she ruined everything."
Grace looked up.
"Maybe Caroline discovered Voss wasn't Charles's son."
Vanessa nodded.
"That could be part of it."
Michael asked, "Where would Margaret go?"
Adrian suddenly remembered something.
A small cottage on the northern side of the Morrell estate.
Long abandoned.
His mother used to take him there during summers.
Margaret sometimes joined them.
The cottage had belonged to Caroline's family before her marriage.
Adrian stood.
"There's a place."
Palmer refused to let Adrian go alone.
They drove out near midnight.
Rain had stopped.
The cottage sat beside a dark lake.
Lights were on.
Palmer approached first.
No response.
The door was unlocked.
Inside, the fireplace burned.
Tea sat on a table.
And Margaret Shaw was waiting in a chair.
She looked older than Adrian remembered.
Much older.
But her eyes were the same.
"Hello, Adrian."
He stood frozen.
Margaret smiled sadly.
"You look like your mother."
His anger returned.
"You were with my father when he made that recording."
"Yes."
"You said Caroline knew too much."
"She did."
"Did you kill her?"
Margaret's face changed.
"No."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Did you know someone would?"
"No."
"Then tell me what happened."
Margaret looked toward Palmer.
"Some things should be spoken only to family."
Palmer shook his head.
"Not tonight."
Margaret accepted that.
She looked back at Adrian.
"Your brother is alive."
"I know."
"You don't know the rest."
"Then tell me."
Margaret closed her eyes.
"Your father found him eleven months before he died."
"Who is he?"
She opened her eyes.
"If I tell you now, Samuel will kill him."
"Voss already knows."
"No."
Margaret shook her head.
"Samuel knows where the boy was raised."
"He's thirty nine."
"To me he is still Caroline's baby."
Adrian's voice hardened.
"Name him."
Margaret hesitated.
Then headlights swept across the cottage windows.
Palmer turned.
A vehicle stopped outside.
Another followed.
Margaret stood in panic.
"How did they find me?"
Palmer drew his weapon and ordered everyone away from the windows.
Adrian looked through the side glass.
A man stepped from the first vehicle.
Samuel Voss.
From the second vehicle emerged Martin Kell.
May you like
Vanessa's missing attorney.
And between them, hands bound, was Michael Grant.
