Chapter 12 - THE FALSE WINNER
Three days later, Audrey held a press conference on the steps of Vale Urban Holdings.
She admitted that parts of her memorial design resembled Rowan’s submission.
She blamed a former employee for mixing reference files.
She denied deliberate theft.
She apologized for “administrative confusion.”
The statement was carefully designed to enrage everyone.
Architects condemned her.
Reporters demanded her disqualification.
Public pressure forced the council to complete its review quickly.
Mayor Creed appeared on television that evening.
He announced that the memorial project would continue in the interest of healing.
Both Rowan’s and Audrey’s entries would be examined during a public ceremony.
The original construction schedule would remain unchanged.
The trap was working.
Conrad contacted Audrey within an hour.
She recorded the call.
“You made yourself look incompetent,” he said.
“That was the point.”
“You should have blamed Rowan.”
“No one would believe me.”
“Creed wants the ceremony.”
“I know.”
“Then he suspects something.”
“Or he wants the publicity.”
Conrad was silent.
“Where are you?” Audrey asked.
“Safe.”
“Is Elara with you?”
Another silence.
“She will remain alive as long as you recover the final page.”
“What page?”
“The design authorization.”
Rowan, Milo, Elias, and Celia listened from a secure room.
Audrey kept her voice steady.
“I have never seen it.”
“Elias has it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he signed it.”
Elias stiffened.
Audrey glanced at him but continued the call.
“Who else signed?”
Conrad disconnected.
Everyone turned toward Elias.
He walked to the window.
“There was an authorization page attached to Elara’s original design,” he said.
“You told me you recognized the concept from council archives,” Rowan said.
“I recognized it because Elara brought it to me before the fire.”
“You met her.”
“Yes.”
“What did you promise her?”
“That I would protect the evidence.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Elias opened a locked drawer and removed a black folder.
Inside was the original memorial plan.
The final page contained his signature.
The second signature had been covered with archival tape.
“Who signed beneath it?” Rowan asked.
Elias did not remove the tape.
“Elara insisted that the identity remain hidden until the memorial was completed.”
“Was it Creed?”
“No.”
“Conrad?”
“No.”
“Thomas Hale?”
“No.”
Rowan’s pulse quickened.
“Then who?”
Elias placed the document back in the folder.
“You will see at the ceremony.”
“That is not good enough.”
“It must be.”
“You have lied to me repeatedly.”
“Yes.”
“Why should I allow you to control this?”
“Because the person who signed that page is still alive.”
Rowan’s anger vanished.
“Elara.”
Elias said nothing.
Silence answered for him.
Rowan reached for the folder.
Elias pulled it away.
“If Conrad learns the signature is hers, he will know she survived long enough to authorize the design. If Creed learns, he will understand she created a legal mechanism that could expose him.”
“Where is she?”
“I do not know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because every message from her came through intermediaries.”
“Serena?”
“Sometimes.”
“Celia?”
“Sometimes.”
“Who placed the symbol in my sketchbook?”
Elias looked at Celia.
Celia shook her head.
“It was not me.”
Audrey whispered, “Someone was in Miriam’s house.”
Rowan remembered the figure escaping through the window.
The gray coat.
The familiar height.
The way Miriam collapsed when the letter was discovered.
Perhaps Miriam had not been hiding the room only from Rowan.
Perhaps she had been hiding someone inside it.
Rowan called her mother.
No answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
They drove to the townhouse.
The front door was open.
Inside, furniture had been overturned.
Elara’s room had been emptied.
Miriam was gone.
On the kitchen table sat a cup of hot chocolate, still warm.
May you like
Beside it was a note written in Miriam’s handwriting.
Rowan, do not trust the woman who comes to the ceremony wearing your sister’s face.
