Chapter 8 - The Girl Who Vanished from the RecordsThe caller hung up before Ethan could speak.
He immediately saved the call information and contacted Detective Ortiz.
She listened carefully.
"Did you recognize the voice?"
"No."
"Any background sounds?"
"A little traffic. Maybe a public street."
"Did she say Elena was dead?"
"No. She said she disappeared."
Ortiz made a note.
"Don't assume the worst yet. People use that word for a lot of things."
Ethan stood by the window.
"But you think it's important?"
"Yes."
He glanced toward the children's bedroom.
"How does this connect to Lily?"
"We don't know that it does."
"Everything seems connected."
"That's precisely when we need to be careful," Ortiz replied. "A frightening pattern can make unrelated details look like proof."
Ethan appreciated that she wasn't feeding his anger.
He also hated it.
The following morning, Naomi obtained Elena Ward's last known address through lawful professional inquiries.
It was a modest townhouse outside Poughkeepsie.
Ortiz pursued the anonymous call as part of her investigation.
Ethan wanted to drive there himself.
Naomi refused to encourage it.
"Someone has already sent you threatening messages," she said. "We don't need you alarming a potential witness or creating a confrontation."
He paced her office.
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Help me review documents. Let the detective locate witnesses."
"Claire was trying to find Elena."
"And now we can."
Ethan stopped.
On the desk lay the forged-or-disputed trust amendment.
He picked it up.
"Why would Elena's resignation matter?"
Naomi opened another folder.
"Elena was responsible for checking whether corporate expenditures had proper supporting invoices."
"Meaning?"
"If the company paid for work that never occurred, she was supposed to flag it."
Ethan looked at the list.
Stonebridge Environmental Review.
Meridian Preliminary Planning.
Heritage Preservation Consulting.
Several payments exceeded half a million dollars.
"What are these?"
"Potentially legitimate project costs," Naomi said. "But they need corresponding contracts and deliverables."
Ethan examined the dates.
One payment had been authorized two days before Claire's death.
$740,000.
Recipient: Hawthorn Advisory Group.
"Who owns Hawthorn?"
"That's one of the questions."
Ethan stared at the signature.
Adrian Vale.
He had approved the invoice.
Meanwhile, Lily attended her forensic interview.
Ethan drove her to the child advocacy center, a bright building decorated with paintings and colorful paper butterflies.
Rebecca Sloan met them at the entrance.
Lily held Ethan's hand tightly.
"Will Daddy stay?"
"He'll be nearby," Rebecca assured her.
"Can June come?"
"June can wait with Mara."
Lily considered that.
Then she looked up at Ethan.
"Will you believe me?"
He crouched.
"Always. And you don't have to say anything you're not ready to say."
Rebecca gently corrected the implication.
"The important thing is that Lily tells us what she remembers, even if some things are different from what other people think."
Ethan nodded.
He understood.
He wanted the truth.
Not a story shaped by his own fear.
Lily entered the interview room with a trained specialist named Sarah Bennett.
Ethan waited in another area.
Forty-five minutes passed.
Then an hour.
He stared at a vending machine without seeing it.
At one point, he heard a child's laughter from another room.
It made him think of the kitchen.
Please, don't stop.
He wondered whether he'd ever hear his daughters laugh without immediately feeling afraid.
At last, Ortiz came to speak with him.
"Lily did well," she said.
"Did she tell you who it was?"
"She described some things she remembers. I'm not going to interpret them as an identification."
"What things?"
Ortiz sat opposite him.
"She remembers hearing Claire arguing with a man near the back staircase. She remembers her mother saying someone was stealing from the family."
Ethan closed his eyes.
"She saw Claire fall?"
"She remembers seeing Claire near the bottom of the stairs afterward. The interviewer explored what Lily actually saw and what she later heard from adults."
Ethan opened his eyes.
"Did she see anyone touch her mother?"
"She described a man's arm moving toward Claire. She couldn't say clearly what contact occurred."
He clenched his hands.
"Anything else?"
"Lily remembered a dark sleeve with a damaged cuff. And she said the man used a phrase she recognized."
"What phrase?"
Ortiz looked at her notes.
"'Keep the doors closed.'"
Ethan stared.
Victor used that phrase constantly when discussing the household security procedures.
But so did several members of the staff.
Ortiz seemed to anticipate his thoughts.
"Do you know someone who says that?"
"Victor."
"Anyone else?"
"Probably."
She nodded.
"Then it's a lead, not an identification."
Ethan looked at the interview-room door.
His daughter had carried this alone for seventy-three days.
He could barely carry it for one afternoon.
That evening, Elena Ward was located.
She wasn't dead.
She hadn't been kidnapped.
She was living under her married name in a small apartment in Albany.
Ortiz contacted her through official channels.
At first, Elena refused to discuss Whitcomb Land Holdings.
Then Ortiz mentioned Claire.
The woman became silent.
Finally, she agreed to meet.
But she insisted on one condition.
Ethan could not attend.
The next morning, Adrian received a telephone call while sitting in the Ashcroft library.
A lawyer from his own firm spoke quietly.
"Elena Ward has contacted the authorities."
Adrian slowly closed the book in his lap.
"Are you certain?"
"She's been interviewed."
"What did she give them?"
"We don't know."
Adrian looked toward the garden.
A gardener pushed a wheelbarrow along the gravel path.
The estate appeared peaceful.
"What about the child?"
"Which child?"
"The older girl."
"The police interviewed her."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"And?"
"We don't have access to that interview."
"Find out what she said."
The lawyer paused.
"Adrian, I'm not going to interfere with a child witness."
Adrian stared at the phone.
The lawyer continued.
"I need to make something clear. If there are undisclosed financial transactions or inaccurate trust documents, you must tell me before we file anything else."
Adrian's voice turned cold.
"You're paid to protect my interests."
"I'm paid to represent you lawfully."
The call ended.
Adrian sat motionless.
Then he opened a drawer.
Inside was a photograph of Claire.
She stood at Stonebridge Point, holding June in one arm and Lily's hand in the other.
May you like
He stared at the photograph.
"All you had to do," he whispered, "was sign."
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