Chapter 3 - Rachel's Last PhotographThe photograph had been hanging in Avery's room for nearly two years.
It showed Rachel sitting in a garden.
Avery stood beside her wearing a yellow dress.
Jordan was behind them, smiling.
At first glance, nothing was wrong.
Nora took the frame down.
Avery watched.
“Mommy told me never to let Daddy see behind it.”
Nora carefully opened the back.
Nothing.
Just cardboard.
She looked at Avery.
“Are you sure?”
Avery nodded.
“Mommy said there was a secret.”
Nora examined the frame.
Then she noticed a tiny scratch.
Near the bottom.
She pressed it.
A panel popped open.
Inside was a folded sheet of paper.
Nora unfolded it.
Rachel's handwriting.
Her hands began shaking.
Nora, if you're reading this, I didn't tell Samuel because I was afraid someone was watching him.
Nora looked at Avery.
The little girl watched her silently.
Nora continued.
Do not trust Jordan. Do not trust Madeline. And do not believe what they tell you about the accident.
Her breath caught.
There was more.
The accident was not the beginning. It was the last step.
Nora read the next line.
Then stopped.
“What's wrong?” Avery asked.
Nora couldn't answer.
At the bottom of the page Rachel had written:
Find the blue ledger.
Avery stared.
“I saw it.”
“Where?”
“In Daddy's office.”
Nora's pulse quickened.
“When?”
“Mommy showed me.”
“When did she show you?”
“The night she cried.”
Nora crouched.
“Rachel cried in front of you?”
Avery nodded.
“She said Daddy was hurting people.”
Nora felt cold.
“Did she tell you who?”
Avery shook her head.
“She said names were inside the blue book.”
Nora unfolded the paper again.
There was one last line.
Samuel must not confront Jordan until he knows what is in the ledger.
Nora immediately called Samuel.
He answered on the first ring.
“Where are you?”
“Your house.”
“What happened?”
“Rachel left a note.”
A long silence.
“Read it.”
Nora did.
When she finished, Samuel said:
“Don't leave the house.”
“Why?”
“Because someone knows we're looking.”
The lights went out.
Avery screamed.
Nora grabbed her.
“Stay with me.”
A sound came from downstairs.
A door opening.
Samuel heard it through the phone.
“Nora.”
“I know.”
“Lock yourself in the room.”
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Someone was walking through the house.
Nora moved Avery behind her.
“Avery, don't make a sound.”
The footsteps stopped.
Then came a knock.
Three times.
Nora froze.
A man's voice came through the door.
“Samuel?”
Nora looked at her phone.
Samuel was still connected.
“That isn't me,” he whispered.
The voice came again.
“I know you're in there.”
Avery covered her mouth.
Nora looked toward the balcony.
Third floor.
No escape.
The door handle began turning.
Then a second sound came from downstairs.
Glass breaking.
The intruder turned.
Footsteps rushed away.
A car engine roared outside.
Nora pulled open the curtains.
Headlights disappeared through the gates.
Samuel shouted through the phone.
“Are you both safe?”
Nora nodded.
Then she noticed something on the floor.
A small object.
Blue.
She picked it up.
It was an elastic hair tie.
Identical to the one Rachel used on Avery.
But this one had a tiny silver tag attached.
Nora turned it over.
Engraved on the metal were two letters.
R.V.
Rachel Vale.
The next morning, Daniel arrived.
He examined the note, the forged guardianship document, and the blue elastic.
“This isn't random.”
Samuel stood by the window.
“No.”
Daniel tapped the metal tag.
“Rachel had a habit of marking important objects.”
“Why would she put her initials on a child's hair tie?”
“Maybe it wasn't a hair tie.”
Daniel held it up.
Inside the elastic was a microscopic clasp.
He pulled.
The braid-like loop unfolded into a narrow strip of flexible material.
A data chip.
Samuel stared.
“That was inside her hair?”
“No.”
Daniel smiled grimly.
“It was hidden in the elastic.”
They connected the chip to a laptop.
A single encrypted file appeared.
Filename:
MARCH_17
Samuel's hands clenched.
“Rachel died on March 18.”
Daniel nodded.
“Which means this was created one day before her death.”
They opened it.
A video appeared.
Rachel was sitting in her kitchen.
Her face was pale.
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“If you're watching this, something happened to me.”
Samuel stopped breathing.
Rachel continued.
“Jordan thinks he has won.”
She looked toward the camera.
“He hasn't.”
Then she leaned closer.
“There is a man named Elias Mercer.”
Daniel's expression changed.
Samuel noticed.
“You know him?”
Daniel shook his head slowly.
“No.”
On the video, Rachel said:
“He knows what Jordan did.”
The screen went black.
A second file appeared.
A list of payments.
Dates.
Amounts.
Offshore accounts.
Then one final line:
PAYMENT TO M. CROSS
Samuel looked at Daniel.
“Madeline.”
Daniel nodded.
“That's what it appears to be.”
Suddenly Avery entered the room.
She looked at the screen.
Then she went completely white.
“That's him.”
Samuel turned.
“Who?”
Avery pointed to the first photograph in the payment file.
A man stood beside a black sedan.
“That's the man Mommy said followed us.”
Samuel stared at the image.
He knew that face.
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It belonged to the driver listed in Rachel's accident report.
The driver police said had been nowhere near the scene.
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