Chapter 4 - The Daughter Nobody Mentioned
We got off two stops later.
Ben took us to his father’s house.
Robert Carter lived above an old hardware store in a neighborhood where nobody cared what kind of car you drove or whose last name appeared on a skyscraper.
For the first time that night, I felt safer.
Robert opened the door, saw Evelyn Vale, and nearly shut it again.
“You’ve got nerve.”
Evelyn lowered her head.
“I know.”
“You took my pension.”
“I know.”
“You let your company call me a thief.”
“I know.”
Robert stared at her.
Then he noticed Ellie.
His expression changed.
“Come inside.”
We spread Adam’s files across his kitchen table.
Robert studied them without touching anything.
“Adam always said the problem wasn’t the stolen money.”
“What was it?” I asked.
“The stolen money was how somebody paid for the real problem.”
Evelyn frowned.
“What real problem?”
Robert disappeared into his bedroom.
He returned carrying an old envelope.
Inside was a photograph of a teenage girl.
She had dark hair.
A crooked smile.
And Adam’s eyes.
“Helen,” Evelyn whispered.
Robert nodded.
“How do you have this?”
“Adam gave it to me.”
Evelyn sat.
“He found her?”
“No.”
Robert looked at me.
“He found proof that somebody kept paying for her after she disappeared.”
I felt confused.
“Paying for what?”
“School. Rent. Medical bills. Different names. Different cities.”
Evelyn’s face changed.
“She was alive?”
“At least until nine years ago.”
Evelyn covered her mouth.
For decades, she had believed her daughter was dead.
Or had pretended to.
I couldn’t tell which.
“What happened twenty-nine years ago?” I asked.
Evelyn took a long breath.
“Helen was seventeen. Lucas was twenty-one. Adam was twelve.”
Her eyes went distant.
“Helen fought with her father constantly. Vincent wanted her to attend business school. She wanted to become a photographer.”
“Vincent was your husband?”
“Yes.”
Adam’s father.
A man I had met only twice before cancer killed him.
In family photographs he always looked severe.
“She disappeared after a party,” Evelyn continued. “Lucas said she left with friends. We found her car near the river.”
“No body?”
“No.”
“And you just assumed she died?”
“We searched for years.”
Robert shook his head.
“No. You paid people to search for six months.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“How would you know?”
“Because Adam found the invoices.”
Silence.
Robert pointed to the bank records.
“These same shell companies existed then.”
My pulse quickened.
“The ones Lucas is using now?”
“Earlier versions.”
Ben leaned over the table.
“So Dad’s death, Helen’s disappearance, and the stolen money are connected.”
Robert looked grim.
“Adam believed they were.”
Ellie had fallen asleep on the couch.
I covered her with a blanket.
Then my phone rang.
Lucas.
Everyone stared at the screen.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
His voice sounded calm.
Too calm.
“You tried to force your way into my house.”
“Nora, listen to me.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand what you found.”
“Then explain it.”
Silence.
“Did you kill Adam?”
Evelyn flinched.
Lucas breathed slowly.
“No.”
“Did you know his brakes were cut?”
Another silence.
“Lucas?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn stood.
I held up one hand.
“When?”
“Before he died.”
My stomach turned.
“You knew someone tried to kill your brother and said nothing?”
“I was trying to fix it.”
“Fix what?”
“Nora, Patrick Sloan is not who you think he is.”
Ben mouthed, Keep him talking.
Lucas continued.
“Adam thought I was stealing money. I wasn’t.”
“Your signature is on a twenty-million-dollar insurance policy.”
“That policy wasn’t for me.”
“It benefited the company you control.”
“Because Patrick told me Adam’s death would trigger debt protection.”
“Convenient.”
“You think I killed my brother for money?”
“You attacked a delivery driver for a box.”
Lucas raised his voice.
“Because that box can get you killed.”
The room went still.
“For once in your life,” he said, “stop assuming the worst of me.”
I almost laughed.
“You broke into my house.”
“I was trying to get the evidence before Patrick knew you had it.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Ask him about Helen,” she whispered.
I did.
The line went silent.
Not one second.
Not two.
Ten.
Then Lucas said, “Where did you hear that name?”
“Adam.”
“Impossible.”
“Who is she?”
“You already know.”
“I know she was your sister.”
His breath changed.
“Listen carefully. Do not show those documents to my mother.”
I looked directly at Evelyn.
“Why?”
“Because Helen didn’t run away.”
Evelyn gripped the table.
“What happened?”
Lucas spoke more quietly.
“Our father sent her away.”
“Why?”
“He found out she was pregnant.”
Evelyn made a sound.
Lucas continued.
“She wanted to keep the baby. Dad said it would humiliate the family.”
“Who was the father?”
Lucas hesitated.
Then answered.
“Patrick Sloan.”
Evelyn’s knees almost buckled.
Robert caught her chair.
Patrick.
The CFO.
The man standing between Adam and Lucas in the photograph.
“What happened to Helen?” I asked.
“I helped her escape.”
Evelyn grabbed the phone from my hand.
“Where is my daughter?”
Lucas heard her voice.
His tone changed.
“Mother?”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said you helped her!”
“I did.”
“Then where did she go?”
“She was supposed to contact me.”
“Did she?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Twenty-nine years ago.”
Evelyn started crying.
Not politely.
Not quietly.
Lucas whispered, “Mom, I’m sorry.”
Then a loud crash came through the phone.
A grunt.
Something falling.
“Lucas?”
No answer.
“Lucas!”
We heard another man’s voice.
Distant.
“Take the phone.”
The line went dead.
Ben grabbed his coat.
Evelyn stared at me.
“What just happened?”
I knew.
Whatever role Lucas had played, someone had reached him first.
My phone buzzed again.
A photograph appeared.
Lucas tied to a chair.
Blood on his lip.
Behind him stood Patrick Sloan.
May you like
The message beneath it contained six words.
BRING ADAM’S FILES OR HE DIES.
