Chapter 15 - The Call From Their Dead Mother
The coffin had been closed at Evelyn’s funeral.
Doctors had claimed her illness left visible damage.
Maya had accepted the explanation because grief made obedience easier.
The death certificate listed cardiac failure.
The attending physician worked for Vale Memorial.
He disappeared after Celeste’s arrest.
Police exhumed Evelyn’s grave under court order.
Maya stood beside Lena behind a line of trees as investigators opened the burial vault.
The coffin contained no body.
It contained bags of medical sand arranged to approximate a woman’s weight.
Lena gripped Maya’s hand.
“She’s alive.”
Maya could not speak.
Hope and betrayal collided inside her.
Evelyn had watched them mourn.
She had allowed Maya to carry her baby through months of danger believing her mother was dead.
Perhaps she had been forced.
Perhaps she had been hiding.
Perhaps the woman on the island was not Evelyn.
Every answer created more questions.
Federal agents planned surveillance rather than an immediate raid.
They believed the underground island facility might contain hostages or biological hazards.
Maya was ordered to remain away.
For once, she obeyed.
She had Elias to protect.
On October 13, the night before the date in Olivia’s letter, Maya sat in the nursery rocking her son.
Adrian entered carrying two cups of tea.
“Still awake?”
“He knows when I’m worried.”
“He’s six weeks old. He knows when he wants milk.”
Maya smiled faintly.
Adrian sat beside her.
“What will you do if it’s really Evelyn?”
“I’ll ask why.”
“And then?”
“I don’t know.”
“What if the answer hurts?”
“It already does.”
At midnight, every light in the house went out.
The backup system failed.
Adrian stood immediately.
Maya held Elias against her chest.
Security officers moved through the hallway.
A telephone began ringing downstairs.
Not a mobile phone.
The old landline in Evelyn’s former sitting room.
It had been disconnected for years.
The ringing continued.
Maya carried Elias downstairs despite Adrian’s protest.
The telephone sat on a small table beneath Evelyn’s portrait.
Its red indicator light flashed.
Maya lifted the receiver.
“Hello?”
Static filled the line.
Then a woman spoke.
“Maya.”
Her knees weakened.
She knew the voice.
“Mom?”
Adrian moved closer.
Lena, alerted by security, listened through Maya’s phone from her apartment.
Evelyn began crying.
“My beautiful girl.”
“Are you alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you leave us?”
“I did not have a choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
“Not after I discovered what Olivia planned.”
Maya looked toward the dark windows.
“Olivia says she’s your daughter.”
A long silence followed.
“She is.”
“Why did you hide her?”
“To keep her alive.”
“Where are you?”
“Do not come to the island.”
“The police already know.”
“That is what Olivia wanted.”
Maya’s skin turned cold.
“Why?”
“The island is not her base. It is a trap.”
Adrian signaled to security.
Officers began contacting federal agents.
Evelyn’s voice became urgent.
“Listen to me. Olivia stole the ledger because page fifty identifies every surviving Northstar child.”
“We only saw page forty-nine.”
“She removed the final page.”
“What does she want with them?”
“To finish Celeste’s work.”
A sound came through the line.
A door opening.
Evelyn lowered her voice.
“She believes Elias can activate the others.”
“Activate what?”
“I don’t have time.”
“Mom, tell me where you are.”
“The island.”
“You just said it was a trap.”
“It is a trap for the agents, not for me. I have been a prisoner here since before my funeral.”
Maya’s eyes filled with tears.
“We’ll get you out.”
“No. Protect Elias.”
A second voice entered the call.
Olivia.
“You always did choose Maya first.”
Evelyn gasped.
The line crackled.
Maya shouted into the receiver.
“Olivia!”
Olivia laughed softly.
“Hello, little sister.”
“What do you want?”
“The same thing all forgotten children want.”
“What?”
“To be remembered.”
A video appeared on the security monitor.
The feed showed the island from above.
Federal boats approached the shore.
Lights suddenly activated beneath the water.
A circular structure emerged around the island, trapping the boats inside a steel barrier.
Agents shouted over radios.
The transmission filled with interference.
Olivia continued speaking through the telephone.
“Celeste believed Elias was the final child.”
“She was wrong.”
“Yes.”
Maya held her son tighter.
“Stay away from him.”
“I don’t need to come near him.”
The lights in the Bennett estate returned.
Every television, phone, and security screen displayed the same image.
A live view of Elias sleeping in Maya’s arms.
The camera angle came from inside the nursery.
Adrian stared at the feed.
“We removed every camera.”
Olivia’s voice whispered through the house speakers.
“You removed the ones you could see.”
Security officers rushed upstairs.
Maya looked down at Elias.
A tiny red light blinked inside the silver moon music box beside his blanket.
The same music box in which Evelyn had hidden the key.
Maya opened its secret compartment.
The key was gone.
In its place lay a small glass vial containing a drop of blood.
A label was attached.
ELIAS BENNETT.
COLLECTION COMPLETE.
Maya stopped breathing.
Olivia spoke again.
“Do you remember the promise Mother used to sing?”
Maya looked toward Evelyn’s portrait.
I will find you in the darkness.
I will know you by your cry.
“I remember.”
“Good.”
On the security monitor, Evelyn appeared inside a glass room on the island.
Behind her stood twelve men and women of different ages.
Each wore a bracelet marked with the Northstar symbol.
One of them stepped toward the camera.
He looked directly at Maya.
His face was almost identical to Adrian’s.
Adrian moved closer to the screen.
“That’s impossible.”
The man lifted his wrist.
His bracelet read:
GABRIEL B.
Olivia’s voice filled the darkened house.
“Adrian was never Celeste’s only son.”
The island transmission began counting down from sixty seconds.
Maya stared at the blood vial in her hand.
“What happens when the timer reaches zero?”
Olivia answered with a smile in her voice.
“Then you will finally understand why your mother begged Diane to take you.”
The countdown reached ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Elias opened his eyes.
Every person on the island turned toward the camera at the exact same moment.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
The glass vial in Maya’s hand began to glow blue.
Four.
Three.
Two.
Evelyn slammed both palms against the glass and screamed one final warning.
“Maya, do not let Elias cry!”
One.
May you like
Elias opened his mouth.
And every light in Bellhaven went black.
