Chapter 29 - The Fourth Bracelet
The chamber had been designed without a visible emergency exit.
Mia examined the four circular scanners while Eva searched beneath the chairs.
“Jonathan knew the door would lock,” Eva said.
“So did Kyle.”
“They are probably working together.”
“No. Kyle wants us to believe everyone is working together so we stop trusting the evidence.”
Eva looked at Mia.
“That sounds like something Evelyn would say.”
“I barely remember what she would say.”
Eva stopped searching.
“I remember her voice. Rachel made me listen to it for years until I could reproduce every pause.”
Mia looked at her sister.
For the first time, she understood that Eva had not received the mother Mia lost.
She had received an assignment shaped like a mother.
The bracelet Kyle brought had fallen beside the glass plate.
Mia lifted it.
Celia’s name was engraved inside.
Beneath the engraving was a small recessed mark.
Mia pressed it.
The bracelet projected a narrow beam across the wall, revealing an emergency release symbol.
Eva placed her bracelet beside Celia’s.
The door opened.
Nora and Reed waited outside with federal officers. Reed had returned after another investigator cleared his involvement.
Jonathan had taken the glass Ownership Title.
Kyle had taken Celia’s bracelet case.
Neither man appeared on the security cameras.
A maintenance tunnel connected the dealership to the old loading dock several blocks away.
Mia’s phone rang.
Evelyn appeared.
This recording was live.
Her hair was disordered, but she was unrestrained.
“Mia, do not follow Jonathan.”
“Where are you?”
“At the loading dock.”
“Is Thomas with you?”
“Yes.”
“Is Rachel?”
Evelyn looked behind her.
“She is bringing Nora’s birth record.”
Nora moved closer.
“Was Celia my mother?”
Evelyn’s eyes filled with regret.
“Yes.”
Nora closed her eyes.
Mia held the phone tightly.
“Why does the signing room recognize four bracelets?”
“Because the archive was never meant to belong to one family.”
“How do we stop it?”
“You must bring every bracelet.”
“Kyle has one.”
“No,” Evelyn said. “Kyle has a copy.”
May you like
She raised her hand.
Celia Ward’s real bracelet rested in Evelyn’s palm.
