Chapter 8
Police found Melissa’s rental car abandoned beneath an overpass.
Driver’s door open.
Engine running.
Her purse on the passenger seat.
Phone smashed on the pavement.
No Melissa.
Ryan nearly lost control when Detective Morgan told us.
“You promised she’d be protected!”
Morgan remained calm.
“She refused a police escort from the airport.”
“Then you should have forced one!”
“We cannot force protection on an adult.”
Ryan punched the wall.
His attorney grabbed his shoulder.
“Stop.”
Ryan turned toward Nathan.
“She said check my lake house.”
Nathan nodded.
“Police are already going.”
“I’m going too.”
“No.”
“That is my property.”
“Which makes you a potential suspect.”
Ryan froze.
I watched the accusation hit him.
“You think I kidnapped my sister?”
“I think we know almost nothing.”
“I haven’t seen her in twelve years!”
Nathan’s expression didn’t change.
“And within hours of her announcing she had evidence, she disappeared on the way to meet you.”
Ryan stared at him.
Then at me.
“Claire.”
“Don’t look at me to save you.”
“I didn’t do this.”
“I hope not.”
“That’s all you can say?”
“Yes.”
He looked destroyed.
But my sympathy had boundaries now.
Police reached the lake house just before eight.
Nobody was there.
No signs of forced entry.
No Melissa.
But inside a locked basement cabinet they found old files belonging to Thomas.
Boxes of them.
Ryan claimed he had never seen them.
Nathan believed him.
Morgan didn’t.
At 9:15, police found blood on the basement floor.
Not much.
A few drops.
Fresh.
Ryan was detained again.
This time he screamed.
“My sister could be hurt and you’re wasting time on me!”
Morgan pushed him into a chair.
“We’re checking every possibility.”
“Check my mother!”
“We are.”
“Where is she?”
“In county custody.”
“Then she couldn’t have taken Melissa.”
“No.”
The answer frightened everyone.
Because Diane being locked up meant somebody else was working for her.
Or somebody else had a reason to stop Melissa.
Nathan opened one of Thomas’s boxes.
Inside were payroll records going back twenty years.
Contractors.
Security employees.
Drivers.
Private investigators.
Then Dad found a familiar name.
Victor Shaw.
“Who is that?” I asked.
Ryan stopped struggling.
His face changed.
Morgan noticed.
“You know him?”
Ryan stared at the paper.
“He used to work security for my mother.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“How many?”
“Maybe fifteen.”
“Why did he leave?”
Ryan hesitated.
“Dad fired him.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
Morgan looked at Nathan.
Nathan searched his files.
“Victor Shaw appears in a payment record tied to Beller Strategic.”
“How recent?”
“Last week.”
My stomach tightened.
“How much?”
“Twenty-five thousand dollars.”
Morgan immediately issued a search.
Within minutes they had an address.
A cabin forty miles north.
Property owner?
A limited liability company.
Managing member?
Victor Shaw.
Police teams moved.
We waited.
Waiting was torture.
Ryan sat handcuffed at the station.
I sat with Dad in a separate room.
Lily was with a police-approved babysitter at Nathan’s home.
I hated being away from her.
But I needed answers.
At 10:47, Morgan’s radio came alive.
Movement at the cabin.
One suspect.
Female victim located.
Alive.
Ryan heard through the wall.
“Melissa!”
Morgan left the room.
I closed my eyes.
Alive.
That was enough for one second.
Then shouting erupted in the hallway.
An officer opened the door.
“Stay inside.”
Dad stood.
“What’s happening?”
“Stay inside.”
A gunshot sounded outside the building.
I dropped behind the table.
Dad pulled me down.
More shouting.
Then silence.
Several minutes passed.
The officer returned.
“Situation contained.”
“What happened?”
“A man tried to breach the rear entrance.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know yet.”
My hands shook.
Someone had come to the police station.
Why?
To get to Ryan?
To me?
To Nathan?
Morgan returned twenty minutes later.
His expression was grim.
“Victor Shaw was arrested at the cabin.”
“Melissa?”
“Conscious. Injured, but stable.”
Ryan was brought into the room.
His wrists were still cuffed.
“Can I see her?”
“When doctors clear it.”
“What happened?”
“Shaw ran her car off the road, forced her into his vehicle, and took her to the cabin.”
“Why?”
“He isn’t talking.”
“What about the blood at my lake house?”
Morgan looked at him.
“Melissa’s.”
Ryan went pale.
“She was there?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before coming to the city. She stopped at the lake house.”
“Why?”
“To retrieve something.”
“What?”
Morgan looked at me.
“The recording.”
So Melissa had hidden Evelyn’s recording on Ryan’s property.
Perhaps because no one would search there.
Morgan continued.
“She retrieved it and cut her hand opening the old cabinet.”
Ryan exhaled.
“So the blood means nothing.”
“It means she was there.”
“And the man who came to the station?”
Morgan’s expression darkened.
“Former Harrington Development employee.”
“Name?”
“Carl Webb.”
Ryan frowned.
“I know him.”
“How?”
“He drove for my mother.”
“Recently?”
“Until last year.”
Morgan nodded.
“He was carrying a gun.”
The room went quiet.
“Who was he after?” I asked.
“He hasn’t said.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes. An officer shot him in the leg.”
Nathan entered carrying a tablet.
“Melissa’s recording survived.”
Everyone looked at him.
“How?”
“She had it taped beneath her clothing.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
“Play it.”
Morgan shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Evidence.”
“It’s my family.”
“It’s evidence.”
Ryan leaned across the table.
“My sister was kidnapped. My father may have been murdered. My wife’s brakes were cut. My daughter is being targeted. Stop treating me like a child and tell me what is happening.”
Morgan stared at him.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“We are investigating your mother for conspiracy, fraud, witness intimidation, unlawful access to medical information, and possible involvement in Thomas Harrington’s death.”
Ryan swallowed.
Morgan continued.
“We are also investigating whether she directed Victor Shaw to abduct Melissa.”
“From jail?”
“The payment was made before her arrest.”
Ryan’s shoulders dropped.
Morgan wasn’t finished.
“And Carl Webb may have been sent here before her arrest as well.”
“To do what?”
Morgan looked toward me.
“We found a photograph in his pocket.”
My pulse jumped.
“Of who?”
Morgan placed a clear evidence bag on the table.
Inside was a photograph of me leaving Dr. Patel’s office.
A red circle had been drawn around my stomach.
Across the bottom were two handwritten words.
NO BABY.
Ryan made a sound I had never heard from him.
Half sob.
Half rage.
He lunged to his feet.
“Get these cuffs off me!”
Officers grabbed him.
Morgan remained calm.
“Sit down.”
“She ordered somebody to kill my wife?”
“We do not know what the note means.”
“You know exactly what it means!”
Ryan fought the cuffs.
“Sit down!”
I stood.
“Ryan!”
He stopped.
He looked at me.
Tears covered his face.
“I did this.”
I shook my head.
“You didn’t write that.”
“I let her get this close.”
“That part is true.”
He looked like my words cut him.
Good.
Some wounds taught lessons.
He sat.
Nathan received a call from the hospital.
Melissa was stable enough to give a statement.
One hour later, Morgan allowed us to see her through a video connection.
Her face was bruised.
A bandage covered her forehead.
Ryan stared at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Melissa looked at him.
“For what?”
“Everything.”
“That’s broad.”
“For believing Mom.”
“Better.”
“For not looking for you.”
Her expression softened slightly.
“I told you not to.”
“I should have anyway.”
“Yes.”
Ryan started crying.
Melissa did not rescue him from the emotion.
She let him sit in it.
Then she looked at me.
“You must be Claire.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry we’re meeting like this.”
“Me too.”
“You have Thomas’s eyes when you’re angry.”
I laughed softly.
“That’s what Dad used to say.”
She glanced toward Ryan.
“Has he told you everything?”
“No.”
Ryan looked confused.
“What else is there?”
Melissa’s face hardened.
“The trust.”
Nathan leaned toward the screen.
“What about it?”
“Dad changed more than the ownership structure.”
Nathan frowned.
“I have the amendments.”
“Not the final one.”
Silence.
Nathan stared.
“What final amendment?”
“The one he signed the morning he died.”
“That document was never filed.”
“No.”
“Then it’s invalid unless witnessed and executed properly.”
“It was.”
Nathan stood.
“Where is it?”
Melissa looked at Ryan.
“The original is hidden inside the wall of the lake house.”
Ryan laughed once in disbelief.
“Of course it is.”
“What does it say?” I asked.
Melissa took a breath.
“It removes Diane completely from every family trust.”
Nathan nodded.
“That makes sense.”
“And Ryan.”
Ryan froze.
“What?”
Melissa continued.
“Thomas removed you too.”
Ryan stared at her.
“No.”
“He decided you were too compromised.”
“My own father cut me out?”
“Yes.”
Ryan looked physically ill.
“What happens to my shares?”
“You never had shares.”
“My inheritance.”
“Transferred.”
“To who?”
Melissa looked at me.
“To Lily.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
“All of it?”
“No.”
He looked up.
Melissa’s gaze moved to my stomach.
“Half to Lily.”
Then she said, “Half to Claire’s next daughter.”
I stopped breathing.
Nathan whispered, “Thomas amended the trust to include unborn descendants?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew Diane was trying to create a male-heir crisis.”
My hands moved over my stomach.
My unborn baby already had a place in a document written by a man who died before she existed.
Melissa’s eyes filled.
“Dad wanted both girls protected.”
Ryan whispered, “He knew Claire would have another daughter?”
“No.”
“He created the clause for any future granddaughter.”
I stared at Ryan.
The irony was almost cruel.
The daughter Diane wanted gone did not threaten the inheritance.
She owned it.
Ryan leaned back.
“Mom wanted a grandson to restructure the company.”
“Yes.”
“And Dad made sure another granddaughter would strengthen Lily’s position.”
“Yes.”
Nathan smiled for the first time in days.
“Thomas was always three moves ahead.”
Melissa’s face darkened.
“Not always.”
“What do you mean?”
“He underestimated one thing.”
“Diane?”
“No.”
Melissa looked toward Ryan.
“He underestimated how much she had already stolen.”
Nathan’s smile vanished.
“How much?”
Melissa answered.
“More than forty million dollars.”
Nobody spoke.
“Where is it?” Morgan asked.
“Offshore accounts. Real estate. Shell companies.”
“Can you prove it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Thomas gave me access credentials.”
Ryan stared at her.
“So all this time you were helping Dad investigate Mom?”
“Yes.”
“And he trusted you.”
“Yes.”
“But not me.”
Melissa didn’t soften.
“You gave him no reason to.”
Ryan looked down.
Then an officer entered the room.
“Detective.”
Morgan stepped aside.
The officer whispered something.
Morgan’s face tightened.
“What?” I asked.
He turned toward Ryan.
“Your mother has requested a meeting.”
Ryan laughed bitterly.
“With who?”
Morgan looked at me.
“Claire.”
“No.”
Ryan immediately said it.
“No. She does not go near my mother.”
I looked at him.
It was the first time he had protected me before being asked.
Morgan continued.
“Diane says she will confess to what happened to Thomas.”
May you like
The room went silent.
“But only if Claire comes alone.”
