Chapter 2 - The Empty BedroomAvery's house was twenty-seven minutes from the ranch.
I drove in fourteen.
Robert sat beside me, calling contacts I didn't know existed.
Margaret followed in the second SUV with Daniel Cross.
Nobody spoke much.
My mind kept returning to the same sentence.
Your daughter is missing.
Avery had been married less than twelve hours.
Her wedding dress was probably still hanging somewhere in that house.
The thought nearly destroyed me.
When we arrived, the front door stood open.
The porch light was on.
The kitchen window was broken.
I ran inside.
“Avery!”
Nothing.
I searched every room.
Bedroom.
Bathroom.
Guest room.
Closet.
Nothing.
Her wedding shoes were beside the bed.
Her phone was on the dresser.
I picked it up.
The screen was cracked.
Robert entered behind me.
“Don't touch anything else.”
I turned toward him.
“They took her.”
Robert looked at the bed.
“No.”
“What?”
“They left her.”
I stared at him.
“How can you know that?”
He pointed to the sheets.
“There's no struggle.”
Then he pointed to the nightstand.
A cup of coffee sat there.
Still half full.
“She had coffee after the reception.”
I looked at the clock.
6:18 a.m.
“She came home.”
Robert nodded.
“She wasn't abducted from here.”
“Then where?”
Margaret entered the bedroom.
Her eyes went immediately to the closet.
She walked toward it.
Opened the door.
Then she stopped.
“There.”
Inside the closet, taped to the wall, was a small envelope.
My name was written across it.
Dad.
My hands shook as I opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Avery and Alan standing together.
Taken at the ranch.
But the photograph wasn't the frightening part.
Written across the back in red ink were four words.
ASK HIM ABOUT ELEANOR.
I looked at Margaret.
“Who is Eleanor?”
She didn't answer.
Instead, she looked at Robert.
He closed his eyes.
“You didn't tell him?”
Margaret shook her head.
“I hoped we wouldn't have to.”
I slammed the photo down.
“Tell me.”
Robert spoke quietly.
“Eleanor Vale was Margaret's daughter.”
I looked at Margaret.
She nodded.
“She died twenty-one years ago.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
I stared at her.
“What does that have to do with Alan?”
Margaret looked toward the doorway.
“Because Alan was there.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“What?”
“He was sixteen.”
I could barely breathe.
“He was the boy who caused the crash.”
Margaret's voice cracked.
“He was never charged.”
Robert added, “Because his family paid off the witnesses.”
I felt a coldness spread through me.
“And you knew?”
“I discovered it years later.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because by the time I discovered the truth, Alan had disappeared.”
“Until he married my daughter.”
Margaret nodded.
“That was not coincidence.”
I stared at the envelope again.
Another paper was hidden inside.
A bank receipt.
Alan had transferred $480,000 to an account under the name Eleanor Vale.
Date:
Three days before the wedding.
I looked up.
“Why would a dead woman have a bank account?”
Robert's phone rang.
He listened.
His face changed.
“What?”
I knew something was wrong.
He ended the call.
“It's the county hospital.”
“What happened?”
“They found a woman unconscious near Highway 290.”
My heart stopped.
“Is it Avery?”
“They don't know.”
Robert grabbed his coat.
“We're going.”
At the hospital, two officers met us.
The woman had been found behind an abandoned roadside motel.
She was alive.
Barely.
We were led into an emergency room.
I saw the face.
It wasn't Avery.
It was someone I'd never seen before.
But when Margaret entered behind me, she stopped dead.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
“My God.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed at the woman's wrist.
There was a small tattoo.
A black rose.
Margaret whispered.
“That's Eleanor's.”
I stared at her.
“Eleanor is dead.”
“Yes.”
The woman on the bed suddenly opened her eyes.
They fixed on me.
She whispered one word.
“Clifford.”
I stepped forward.
“How do you know my name?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because Alan told me to find you.”
“Who are you?”
Her lips trembled.
“My name is Eleanor.”
Margaret collapsed into a chair.
“No.”
The woman looked at her.
“Mom?”
Margaret screamed.
The room exploded into chaos.
Doctors rushed in.
I grabbed Robert.
“How?”
He stared at the woman.
“I don't know.”
Then the heart monitor began to scream.
Eleanor's pulse dropped.
As nurses pushed us out, I caught one last glimpse of her.
Her eyes met mine.
May you like
And she mouthed three words.
He has Avery.
