Chapter 12 - THE TRAP
Sarah did not scream.
She did not threaten Samuel.
She simply kept him talking.
“What do you want Michael to sign?”
“A renunciation.”
“Grace's claim to Jonathan's trust disappears.”
“And then?”
“You take your child and leave Virginia.”
Sarah looked at Detective Ortiz, who had entered while the call was still connected.
Ortiz motioned for her to continue.
Sarah asked.
“How do I know you'll leave us alone?”
“You don't.”
“At least you're honest.”
Samuel laughed.
“You sound more like Jonathan than Rebecca.”
“You didn't know me.”
“I knew enough.”
“You killed my father.”
“He made a choice.”
“You made one too.”
Samuel's breathing changed.
Sarah had hit something.
“You think you're brave because police are listening.”
Ortiz froze.
Sarah's heart jumped.
Samuel knew.
He continued.
“Tell Detective Ortiz the burner phone will be at the bottom of the river in thirty seconds.”
The line died.
Ortiz cursed quietly.
Sarah looked toward Grace's NICU room.
“He knows we're here.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Ortiz immediately ordered hospital surveillance reviewed.
Within an hour, security found the answer.
A maintenance contractor had accessed restricted corridors twice.
His badge was fake.
The man's face was caught on camera.
Thomas recognized him.
“Carl Dwyer.”
Michael turned.
“Who?”
“Samuel's old driver.”
Ortiz issued an alert.
Dwyer was arrested that evening at a gas station.
Inside his car, police found a hospital map.
A photograph of Grace's incubator.
And a loaded syringe containing a powerful sedative.
Sarah stared at the evidence.
Michael put both hands on the table.
“My mother knew men like this were watching us.”
Ortiz nodded.
“Maybe.”
“She still pushed Sarah rather than tell us.”
“Yes.”
Michael's face hardened.
“There is no version of this where she's innocent.”
“No.”
Ortiz didn't soften it.
“But there may be a version where helping us now saves lives.”
Eleanor agreed to cooperate fully.
She provided account numbers Samuel used.
Old aliases.
Properties.
Names of former employees.
One location stood out.
A warehouse belonging to a shell company near Chesapeake Bay.
Police prepared a raid.
Michael wanted to go.
Ortiz refused.
“This is not a movie.”
“He killed my biological aunt's father.”
“He threatened my daughter.”
“And that is exactly why you're staying here.”
Michael looked furious.
Sarah touched his arm.
“Stay.”
He looked at her.
“I need you here.”
That stopped him.
The raid occurred at 2:17 a.m.
Samuel wasn't there.
But police found documents proving he had been blackmailing Eleanor for more than two decades.
They also found something unexpected.
A recent photograph of Sarah leaving her obstetrician's office.
Another of Michael outside Vance Industries.
Another of Grace's ultrasound image.
Sarah recognized it instantly.
It was the original hospital scan before Eleanor tore Sarah's copy.
Someone had accessed her medical records.
Ortiz traced the breach.
The login belonged to a Vance Foundation employee.
Daniel Vance.
Michael's cousin.
The man who had benefited when Michael's birth date was changed.
The current second-largest family shareholder.
Michael stared at the report.
“Daniel is helping Samuel.”
Ortiz said.
“We don't know that yet.”
Michael laughed bitterly.
“He accessed my wife's medical records.”
“He knew Grace was Jonathan's grandchild.”
“He knew the trust would activate.”
“And if Grace disappeared?”
“Daniel keeps control.”
Sarah looked at Michael.
“Where is Daniel now?”
Michael immediately called his assistant.
Daniel had not been seen at headquarters since yesterday.
His phone was off.
His home was empty.
Then Sarah remembered something.
“Michael.”
“What?”
“The day I went to the mansion.”
“Yes?”
“I didn't tell Eleanor I was going.”
Michael's expression changed.
“Who knew?”
“You.”
“My sister.”
“And your office.”
Michael's eyes narrowed.
“I told Daniel that morning.”
Sarah whispered.
“What if Eleanor didn't just happen to walk into that bedroom?”
Michael called Ortiz.
Ten minutes later, police reviewed Eleanor's phone records.
A call had been placed to her eleven minutes before Sarah arrived.
Daniel Vance.
The call lasted forty-three seconds.
Eleanor had told police she was surprised to see Sarah.
She had lied again.
Michael demanded another interview.
This time Eleanor looked terrified when Daniel's name was mentioned.
“Where is he?”
Ortiz answered.
“Missing.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“Then Samuel already has him.”
Michael frowned.
“You think Daniel is a victim?”
Eleanor looked at her son.
“Daniel isn't working with Samuel.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Daniel called me that morning to warn me.”
“Warn you about what?”
Eleanor swallowed.
“That Samuel knew Sarah was going to the mansion.”
Michael stared.
“Samuel knew before Sarah arrived?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel told me Samuel had ordered someone to follow her.”
“I thought if I got Sarah out of the house quickly, I could keep her safe.”
Sarah's voice came through the monitor from the adjacent observation room.
“So you pushed me down the stairs?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“No.”
“That happened because you reached for Michael's call.”
“I panicked.”
Sarah's expression was stone.
“And now Daniel is missing because he warned you.”
Eleanor nodded.
“Yes.”
Then the interview room phone rang.
Ortiz answered.
Her face changed instantly.
She looked at Michael.
“They found Daniel's car.”
“Where?”
“Near the old Vance marina.”
“Was he inside?”
Ortiz shook her head.
May you like
“No.”
But there was blood on the driver's seat.
