Chapter 8 - The Sister Nobody Put in the Family Bible
Elizabeth Mercer arrived with two attorneys.
She was sixty-two and looked enough like Jonathan’s late brother to make denial pointless.
“I am Edward’s daughter,” she said.
“Why were you hidden?”
“Because my mother was married to someone else.”
Jonathan was tired of family secrets involving adults deciding children were inconvenient.
“Did you approve payments to Cole?”
“No.”
She placed documents on the table.
“My initials were copied.”
Santos examined them.
Elizabeth had spent years investigating Peter because she believed he was siphoning money from the family trust.
“Why not come to me?”
“Because I thought you were involved.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Reasonable, apparently.”
Elizabeth had met Lucy once without introducing herself.
Rebecca stiffened.
“When?”
“At a library Christmas craft day.”
“You approached my child?”
“I watched from across the room.”
“That isn’t better.”
Elizabeth accepted the rebuke.
She had learned Cole was living with Rebecca and suspected his identity. She hired a private investigator.
“Why didn’t you warn me?” Rebecca demanded.
“I didn’t have proof.”
Rebecca’s voice rose.
“You people keep worshipping proof while children live inside the consequences.”
The room went quiet.
Jonathan looked at his daughter with pride and sorrow.
Elizabeth handed over her investigator’s files.
They proved Peter had transferred money to North Candle.
But they also showed something unexpected.
Peter had tried to cancel Cole’s final payment.
Two weeks before Christmas, he sent:
THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR. NO CHILD LEAVES THE COUNTRY.
Cole replied:
TOO LATE.
Jonathan called Peter again.
This time Peter agreed to meet.
He arrived looking exhausted.
“I wanted Rebecca to disclaim the shares,” he admitted. “I thought it was business pressure.”
“You hired a man who married her.”
“I didn’t tell him to marry her.”
“You paid him after he did.”
Peter looked down.
“Yes.”
Rebecca asked, “Did you know he was frightening Lucy?”
“No.”
“Did you ask?”
Peter could not answer.
That was answer enough.
Peter had attempted to stop the scheme only when he realized Cole intended to take Lucy abroad.
“Why didn’t you call police?”
“I would have exposed myself.”
Jonathan stared.
“And there it is.”
Peter began crying.
Jonathan felt no satisfaction.
Cowardice rarely looked dramatic in real life. Sometimes it wore a good coat and explained itself politely.
Santos received another update.
Cole had offered information in exchange for consideration.
He claimed the person who forged E.M. was Rebecca.
Rebecca laughed in disbelief.
Then Santos showed her the document.
The handwriting did resemble hers.
Rebecca went pale.
“I didn’t write that.”
Jonathan believed her.
But belief was no longer enough.
A forensic examiner found the signature had been traced from one of Rebecca’s Christmas cards.
Which card?
The answer led back to the boxes in Arthur Vale’s basement.
Someone with access to those stolen letters had forged it.
Arthur.
Cole.
Caroline.
Or someone else who had handled the archive.
Gordon Pike.
They returned to the assisted-living center.
Gordon’s room was empty.
A nurse said his granddaughter had picked him up for a family Christmas dinner.
“He doesn’t have a granddaughter,” Jonathan said.
The nurse checked the log.
The visitor signed her name.
Emily Pike.
Jonathan had never heard of her.
Santos ran the license plate.
The vehicle belonged to a company registered to the same address as North Candle Holdings.
Peter stared.
“That’s my office.”
“Who has access?”
“My assistant.”
“Name?”
“Emily Pike.”
Gordon’s granddaughter had worked beside Peter for eleven years.
Peter sat down.
“She handled every transfer.”
The conspiracy had not needed a ghost.
It needed an accountant with passwords.
Emily Pike was found at a roadside motel with Gordon.
Gordon was unharmed.
Emily surrendered.
She admitted forging documents and moving money.
But she denied knowing about Molly or Lucy.
“I wanted the trust,” she said. “I never wanted a child hurt.”
Jonathan replied, “You financed people who treated children as obstacles.”
Emily looked away.
Santos asked where the missing trust records were.
Emily smiled bitterly.
“Ask Lucy.”
Rebecca stood.
“What?”
Emily explained Cole had hidden a micro-storage key inside one of Lucy’s Christmas ornaments because he believed nobody searched a child’s decorations.
Lucy’s small wooden angel.
Rebecca remembered it immediately.
Cole had insisted Lucy hang it every year.
May you like
They returned home.
The angel was gone.
