Chapter 3 - EleanorMargaret refused to leave the hospital.
For three hours she sat beside Eleanor's bed while police guarded the door.
I stood outside with Robert.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Robert looked exhausted.
“More than I should have.”
“Start talking.”
He looked through the glass.
“Twenty-one years ago, Eleanor died in a car accident.”
“So this woman cannot be her.”
“She might be.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“DNA.”
My stomach dropped.
“You think it's really her?”
“We are waiting for confirmation.”
“And Alan?”
Robert's jaw tightened.
“Alan knew about Eleanor.”
“How?”
“Because she didn't die in that accident.”
Silence.
“What?”
Robert spoke slowly.
“Your daughter's wedding wasn't the beginning of this.”
He pointed toward the hallway.
“It wasn't even the middle.”
He took out an old file.
“Twenty-one years ago, Eleanor survived the crash.”
I stared at the photographs inside.
Wrecked car.
Broken windshield.
Bloodstained road.
Then an ambulance report.
One line had been blacked out.
Robert handed me the original.
Female survivor transported under unidentified identity.
My hands went numb.
“Why was she listed as dead?”
“Because someone paid the hospital to declare her dead.”
“Who?”
Robert looked me directly in the eye.
“The same family Alan came from.”
My thoughts raced.
“Then where was Eleanor all these years?”
Robert pulled out another photograph.
Eleanor in a rehabilitation facility.
Then another.
Eleanor working under a different name.
Then another.
Eleanor meeting Alan six months ago.
I looked at the photograph.
Alan was smiling.
Eleanor wasn't.
“She came back.”
Robert nodded.
“To expose him.”
“Then why did she disappear?”
“Because Alan found her.”
I stared at the hospital door.
“Why didn't she come to me?”
Robert hesitated.
“She tried.”
“Before today?”
“Three times.”
He showed me emails.
Messages Eleanor had sent to me.
I had never seen them.
Every message had been intercepted.
By someone using an account connected to my daughter's email.
My blood ran cold.
“Alan.”
Robert nodded.
“He had access to Avery's passwords.”
I looked at Margaret through the glass.
She was holding Eleanor's hand.
Then the monitor beeped.
Eleanor opened her eyes again.
A nurse allowed us inside.
Margaret bent over her.
“Baby?”
Eleanor looked at her.
“I'm sorry.”
Margaret began crying.
“You're alive.”
“I know.”
“Why didn't you come home?”
“I tried.”
She turned toward me.
Her expression became serious.
“Clifford.”
“Yes?”
“Avery is alive.”
I stepped closer.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Alan?”
“He didn't take her.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Eleanor swallowed.
“Alan wasn't working alone.”
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“He said there was someone above him.”
Robert leaned forward.
“Who?”
Eleanor's breathing became shallow.
“He called her—”
She stopped.
“Called her what?”
“The Benefactor.”
Robert and I exchanged a look.
“Who is the Benefactor?”
Eleanor whispered.
“Someone inside your family.”
Margaret froze.
“What family?”
Eleanor looked at her.
“Vale.”
Then she turned toward me.
“Clifford, your daughter wasn't the target.”
I felt every muscle in my body tighten.
“Then who was?”
Eleanor reached under her pillow and pulled out a tiny flash drive.
“Your ranch.”
“What about it?”
“There's something buried beneath the east pasture.”
Robert frowned.
“What?”
Eleanor looked terrified.
“Money.”
“Cash?”
She shook her head.
“Names.”
“Whose names?”
“Everyone who was paid.”
I stared at the flash drive.
“Paid for what?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“The people they killed.”
The room went silent.
Then the hospital lights went out.
A gunshot exploded somewhere in the corridor.
Margaret screamed.
Robert shoved me to the floor.
Another shot.
Then footsteps.
The emergency lights turned red.
I crawled toward the doorway.
A masked man ran past.
In his hand was a bloodstained envelope.
I grabbed his ankle.
He kicked free.
As he disappeared down the hall, one thing fell from his pocket.
A hotel keycard.
I picked it up.
Room 314.
The Marlowe Hotel.
May you like
And beneath the room number was a handwritten name.
Avery.
