Chapter 5 - the papers mara found)
Police searched Lydia Vale's mansion forty eight hours later.
The estate sat on twelve wooded acres north of Marrow County.
It was the same house where Mara had grown up.
Daniel had attended dinners there.
Christmas parties.
Lily's fifth birthday.
He had walked across the marble entrance hall dozens of times.
He had never known there was a basement.
The entrance had been concealed behind a paneled wall in Lydia's private study.
At the bottom of the stairs stood a red door.
Daniel felt physically ill when Ava sent him the photograph.
Inside the room were shelves filled with documents.
Old Vale Industries records.
Property transfers.
Trust agreements.
Medical files.
Insurance policies.
Most were decades old.
But one locked filing cabinet contained documents connected to Mara.
The first file was labeled MARA VALE REED.
Daniel opened it at the station.
Inside were psychiatric evaluations.
He recognized none of the doctors.
The reports described Mara as paranoid, emotionally unstable, potentially dangerous to herself and others.
One recommended involuntary hospitalization.
Daniel stared.
"This is false."
Ava sat across from him.
"How do you know?"
"Because I lived with her."
"People hide illness."
"Not this."
Daniel pointed at the date.
"Look."
The report claimed Mara had been examined in person on March 12.
Daniel remembered March 12.
They had spent the entire day at a beach resort celebrating their anniversary.
There were photographs.
Hotel records.
Restaurant receipts.
Mara had never met the doctor who signed the evaluation.
Ava examined another file.
"Dr. Silas Keene."
Daniel recognized the name.
"That's the doctor Lily described."
"You know him?"
"No."
"His medical license was suspended seven years ago."
"For what?"
"Unlawful prescribing and falsifying patient records."
Daniel looked through the papers.
Then he found something worse.
A petition requesting temporary guardianship over Lily.
Petitioner.
Lydia Vale.
Reason.
Parental incapacity.
Attached was another psychiatric report.
This one concerned Daniel.
"What the hell is this?"
The document described him as violent.
Unstable.
Dependent on prescription medication.
A danger to Lily.
None of it was true.
But the signature at the bottom looked like his.
Perfectly.
Daniel stared at it.
"I never signed this."
Ava leaned forward.
"You sure?"
"Absolutely."
"Someone forged your signature."
Daniel turned the page.
There was another signature.
Thomas Vane.
Witness.
Ava sat back.
"Now we know what Mara found."
Daniel understood.
Lydia had been preparing to remove Lily from both parents.
But why?
Ava continued searching.
She found a trust amendment.
If both Mara and Daniel were declared incapable, Lydia would become Lily's legal guardian.
And as guardian, she would control Lily's inheritance.
Vale Industries shares worth more than thirty million dollars.
Daniel felt anger rising.
"She was going to take our daughter."
"It looks that way."
"Then Mara found the papers."
"And confronted her mother."
Daniel looked at the psychiatric files.
"But this still doesn't explain why Mara was alive after the crash."
Ava opened another folder.
Inside were invoices.
Private medical transportation.
Security services.
A company called Northstar Residential Care.
Ava searched the address.
Nothing.
She searched the corporate registration.
The company had dissolved three years earlier.
But the payment records continued.
All approved by Thomas Vane.
Daniel pointed at an invoice dated one month after Mara disappeared.
Patient transport.
Female.
Age thirty four.
Destination listed only as NH.
"What's NH?"
Ava did not answer.
She had found another document.
A photograph.
It showed a large building surrounded by pine trees.
On the back someone had written two words.
NORTH HOUSE.
Daniel remembered Mara's voice on the recorder.
Do not let Lily remember the red door.
The red door had not been the destination.
It had only been the beginning.
Ava looked at Daniel.
"We need to find North House."
Before Daniel could answer, her phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression darkened.
"What happened?"
Ava ended the call.
"Thomas Vane is gone."
"What do you mean gone?"
"His office is empty. His phone is disconnected. His assistant says he left yesterday with two suitcases."
Daniel stood.
"He knows we're coming."
May you like
Ava nodded.
"And if Mara is still alive, he may know where she is."
