Chapter 15 - The Envelope Richard Carter Never Sent)
The envelope had no return address.
It arrived by ordinary mail.
That was what made Maddie nervous.
Danger usually announced itself dramatically.
Subpoenas.
Security alerts.
Unknown phone calls.
Black SUVs.
This was different.
A plain cream envelope.
Her name written by hand.
MADDIE MADDOX CARTER.
She stared at it for several seconds before opening it.
Inside were three things.
A brass key.
A photograph.
And a letter.
Maddie examined the photograph first.
Richard Carter stood beside Samuel Maddox.
Her father.
Both men were young.
Smiling.
Behind them stood Victor Lang.
And one other person.
A woman Maddie did not recognize.
On the back was a date.
April 14, 1993.
Two years before Maddie was born.
Below the date were four words.
WE FOUND THE SECOND SITE.
Maddie's stomach tightened.
She opened the letter.
The handwriting matched Richard's letters to Helen Marsh.
Maddie,
If you are reading this, then Northstar survived longer than I deserved.
There are things I did that no confession can repair.
There are also things Edward never discovered.
Samuel and I found another disposal location.
It was larger than Briar Glen.
Much larger.
We believed Edward emptied it before investigators arrived.
We were wrong.
Victor knows part of this.
Barbara knows nothing.
Bradley must never be involved.
If Northstar Zero survives to adulthood, the key belongs to her.
Maddie stopped.
The letter continued.
Go to Union Station.
Locker 314.
Do not take police.
Do not take Victor.
And most importantly, do not trust the person who tells you Samuel died on the mountain road.
Maddie read the final sentence three times.
Her father had died on the mountain road.
Everyone agreed.
The police report.
Her mother.
Richard's recording.
Victor's confession.
Unless...
Someone had lied.
Her office door opened.
Ethan entered carrying two coffees.
"Morning."
Maddie quickly folded the letter.
He stopped.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
Ethan looked at the key in her hand.
"That doesn't look like nothing."
Maddie showed him the photograph.
His expression changed.
"That's Dad."
"I know."
"Who's the woman?"
"I don't know."
Ethan turned the photograph over.
Then froze.
"What?"
He pointed to the handwritten date.
"April 1993."
"So?"
"Maddie."
His voice became quiet.
"Dad didn't meet Mom until 1994."
Maddie stared at him.
That was true.
At least according to every story their mother ever told.
Ethan picked up the letter.
Maddie almost stopped him.
Then decided against it.
He read.
His face slowly lost color.
"Union Station."
Maddie nodded.
"We tell Lena."
"The letter specifically says not to take police."
"Which is exactly why we should."
Maddie looked at the brass key.
Richard had written the letter decades earlier.
He could not know who the police would be now.
Unless the warning was broader.
Maybe the secret involved law enforcement.
Maybe it involved people still alive.
At eleven fifteen, Maddie and Ethan arrived at Union Station with Daniel Harlow nearby but out of sight.
Locker 314 stood in an old lower-level corridor used mostly for long-term storage.
The brass key fit.
Maddie turned it.
The locker opened.
Inside was a small metal case.
No explosives.
No obvious trap.
Ethan lifted it out.
They opened the case on a nearby bench.
Inside were dozens of photographs.
Industrial buildings.
Barrels.
Underground pipes.
Medical reports.
Maps.
Then Maddie found a birth certificate.
Her hands went cold.
The name on it was not hers.
BABY GIRL MADDOX.
Mother: Elise Maddox.
Father: Samuel Maddox.
Date of birth: September 18, 1995.
Maddie's birthday.
But beside the document was another birth certificate.
Same parents.
Same date.
A second baby.
BABY GIRL MADDOX.
Ethan stared.
"What the hell?"
Maddie could barely breathe.
Twins.
She had been born a twin.
Nobody had ever told her.
Beneath the certificates was a photograph.
Elise lay in a hospital bed holding two newborn girls.
Maddie sat down.
"No."
Ethan looked terrified.
"Mom never said anything."
The second baby's file contained only one page.
TRANSFERRED UNDER NORTHSTAR PROTECTION.
DESTINATION SEALED.
Maddie's hands shook.
"She lived."
Ethan whispered, "Maybe."
Another document lay beneath it.
A list of Northstar medical codes.
N-ZERO-A.
N-ZERO-B.
Maddie had always believed she was Northstar Zero.
She was only half of it.
A phone began ringing.
Not Maddie's.
Not Ethan's.
The sound came from inside the metal case.
They stared.
Beneath the documents was an old black cellphone.
Its screen illuminated.
UNKNOWN CALLER.
Ethan whispered, "Don't."
Maddie answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then breathing.
A woman's voice.
Soft.
American.
Almost exactly Maddie's age.
"You opened Richard's locker."
Maddie's entire body went still.
"Who is this?"
The woman did not answer.
Maddie looked at the photograph of the twins.
"Who are you?"
A pause.
Then the woman said something that made Ethan grip the edge of the bench.
"My name isn't important."
Maddie's heartbeat thundered.
"Then what is?"
The woman's voice became colder.
"Edward Vale was never the person Richard was hiding us from."
Maddie stood.
"Us?"
Another pause.
Then the woman whispered.
"Hello, Maddie."
The connection crackled.
"I've been waiting thirty-one years to meet my sister."
The call ended.
Maddie stared at the silent phone.
Ethan looked at her.
Neither spoke.
Then Daniel Harlow appeared at the far end of the corridor.
His face was pale.
"Maddie."
She turned.
"What?"
"You need to see this."
He held up his phone.
Live security footage from outside Union Station.
A black sedan had stopped across the street.
The rear door opened.
An older man stepped out.
Tall.
Silver hair.
A scar along his left cheek.
Maddie dropped the photograph in her hand.
She knew that face.
She had seen it every day as a child.
In the framed picture her mother kept beside her bed.
Samuel Maddox.
Her father.
The man who had supposedly been dead for twenty-five years.
On Daniel's screen, Samuel slowly raised his head.
He looked directly toward the station camera.
May you like
Then he smiled.
And the video went black.
