I couldn't move.<\/p>\n
Julian looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she write?\u201d<\/p>\n
I folded the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He knew I was lying.<\/p>\n
Evelyn stepped closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaura.\u201d<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian looked hurt.<\/p>\n
Or perhaps frightened.<\/p>\n
I couldn't tell anymore.<\/p>\n
The name in my mother's handwriting remained burned into my mind.<\/p>\n
Julian Reed.<\/p>\n
My manager.<\/p>\n
The man who had called me back to Bellamy's after the walkout.<\/p>\n
The man who had shown me my mother's ring.<\/p>\n
The man who had driven me to the hospital.<\/p>\n
The man who had helped me find the storage unit.<\/p>\n
The man who had known my mother was alive.<\/p>\n
Or had known something.<\/p>\n
I closed the safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm taking this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian stepped toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaura, please.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon't.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust tell me one thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid my mother trust you?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did she write your name?\u201d<\/p>\n
His face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wanted to believe him.<\/p>\n
But the letter had been written by my mother.<\/p>\n
She had known something.<\/p>\n
She had feared someone.<\/p>\n
And she had left the truth inside a locked room beneath the restaurant.<\/p>\n
I turned toward Evelyn.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is the ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Where is the original?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I opened the ledger.<\/p>\n
The pages were filled with dates, account numbers, company names, and handwritten initials.<\/p>\n
At first, it looked like ordinary financial records.<\/p>\n
Then I noticed something.<\/p>\n
Several transfers had been made on the same dates my mother had disappeared from work.<\/p>\n
I traced one entry.<\/p>\n
The receiving company was registered to an address across town.<\/p>\n
Another transfer went to a different company.<\/p>\n
Same address.<\/p>\n
I looked at Evelyn.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is this?\u201d<\/p>\n
She leaned closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat address belonged to Daniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned another page.<\/p>\n
The same address appeared repeatedly.<\/p>\n
But beneath each transaction was a handwritten initial.<\/p>\n
J.R.<\/p>\n
Julian Reed.<\/p>\n
My hands went cold.<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
He stared at the ledger.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't write those.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew the accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew some of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stepped back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen explain the initials.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can't.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn't good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
He closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were payments.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen to whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
Everyone suddenly knew everything except the part that mattered.<\/p>\n
I turned the page.<\/p>\n
A list of phone numbers.<\/p>\n
One belonged to Evelyn.<\/p>\n
One belonged to Margaret.<\/p>\n
One belonged to Arthur.<\/p>\n
And one belonged to my mother.<\/p>\n
Beside my mother's number was a date.<\/p>\n
The date she disappeared.<\/p>\n
Underneath it was a note.<\/p>\n
Call from J.R. \u2014 10:42 p.m.<\/p>\n
I looked at Julian.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou called her.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn't answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night she disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
His silence was enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked her to come to Bellamy's.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo warn her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat someone had discovered the ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou expect me to believe that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should have told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause your mother told me not to.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told you to keep silent?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she believed your phone was being monitored.\u201d<\/p>\n
That stopped me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy phone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how did she know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had proof.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat proof?\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian looked toward Evelyn.<\/p>\n
Evelyn shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told me she had discovered a device in her house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA tracker?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mind returned to my mother's disappearance.<\/p>\n
Her phone.<\/p>\n
Her purse.<\/p>\n
Her wallet.<\/p>\n
The ring.<\/p>\n
Everything had been found except the ring.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she do with the device?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe gave it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian reached into his jacket.<\/p>\n
He pulled out a small evidence bag.<\/p>\n
Inside was a black electronic device no larger than a coin.<\/p>\n
My stomach turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's what was tracking her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn't you give it to police?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf Arthur?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who?\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian looked directly at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered.<\/p>\n
Daniel was dead.<\/p>\n
Six weeks.<\/p>\n
But my mother had disappeared four months ago.<\/p>\n
That meant Daniel had been alive when she vanished.<\/p>\n
I looked at Evelyn.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said he died six weeks ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen my mother disappeared while he was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn't you tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Arthur told me not to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would Arthur hide that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian interrupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Daniel wasn't working alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho else?\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn't answer.<\/p>\n
A sound came from the hallway.<\/p>\n
Someone was outside.<\/p>\n
Evelyn turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is that?\u201d<\/p>\n
The handle moved.<\/p>\n
Julian stepped toward the door.<\/p>\n
I grabbed his arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'll check.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The door opened.<\/p>\n
Arthur entered.<\/p>\n
His face was grim.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told you to get away from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don't get to order her around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're the last person who should talk about trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian's jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen tell her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will.\u201d<\/p>\n
He held out a folder.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis came from Daniel's office.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn't take it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMedical records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel had my mother's medical records?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he was responsible for arranging her treatment after the accident.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat accident?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat accident?\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur looked at Julian.<\/p>\n
Julian closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night your mother disappeared,\u201d he said, \u201cshe was hit by a car.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt as though the room had suddenly lost all oxygen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho hit her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how did Daniel have her medical records?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he took her.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mouth went dry.<\/p>\n
\u201cTook her where?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo a private clinic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo keep her out of the official system.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she was afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf Daniel?\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf the person who ordered the accident.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Arthur.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know who.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur looked at the ledger.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother's evidence points to someone inside the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn't an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stepped closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe person who arranged the accident wasn't trying to kill your mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what were they trying to do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMake her disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words landed heavily.<\/p>\n
I looked at the hospital photograph on my phone.<\/p>\n
My mother had survived.<\/p>\n
Someone had hidden her.<\/p>\n
Someone had kept her unidentified.<\/p>\n
Someone had watched her.<\/p>\n
And someone had been trying to control what happened to her.<\/p>\n
I opened the folder.<\/p>\n
The first medical report showed an admission date four months earlier.<\/p>\n
The diagnosis matched what the nurse had told me.<\/p>\n
Head trauma.<\/p>\n
Memory impairment.<\/p>\n
Unknown identity.<\/p>\n
Then I saw the final page.<\/p>\n
A handwritten authorization.<\/p>\n
Patient transferred under private instruction.<\/p>\n
Authorized by:<\/p>\n
Julian Reed.<\/p>\n
I looked up.<\/p>\n
Julian was staring at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaura.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou transferred my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout telling me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she begged me to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was unconscious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot when I found her.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian's voice broke.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was awake when I found her.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward the hospital beyond the walls.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew exactly who she was.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart pounded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why didn't she come home?\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian looked at the ledger.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she told me someone was waiting for her at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
He swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
My blood ran cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cChloe?\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother believed the person hunting her would use Chloe to get to the ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
I couldn't breathe.<\/p>\n
My phone rang.<\/p>\n
Chloe.<\/p>\n
I answered immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cChloe?\u201d<\/p>\n
There was silence.<\/p>\n
Then a man's voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour sister is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is this?\u201d<\/p>\n
The voice continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if you want her to stay that way, bring the second ledger to the old Vance estate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
I stared at the phone.<\/p>\n
Arthur stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
Then at Julian.<\/p>\n
Then at the ledger.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone has Chloe.\u201d<\/p>\n
I couldn't move. Julian looked at me. \u201cWhat did she write?\u201d I folded the letter. \u201cNothing.\u201d He knew I was lying. Evelyn stepped closer. \u201cLaura.\u201d I shook my head. \u201cNot … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sharestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4169,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4157\/revisions\/4169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}