Chapter 14 - Sophie’s Choice
At first, everyone assumed Jason had kidnapped her.
Then police reviewed the hotel footage.
Sophie left her room alone.
She used the rear stairs.
She carried a bag.
She entered Jason’s car willingly.
My anger was immediate.
“She betrayed us again.”
Laura did not answer.
“She gave him the key.”
“She gave him the box.”
“She gave him everything.”
“We do not know that.”
“We know she walked into his car.”
Marcus traced Sophie’s phone.
It was moving east along the interstate.
Then it stopped.
A voice message arrived on my secure phone.
Sophie.
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
“Emily, I know you hate me.”
“I deserve it.”
“Jason contacted me yesterday.”
“He said he would surrender if I brought him the letter.”
“I knew the police would never allow it.”
“So I went alone.”
Laura grabbed the phone.
The message continued.
“I didn’t give him the real letter.”
“I gave him a copy.”
“I have the original.”
“I am trying to get him to say where he hid the rest of the evidence.”
Then her voice changed.
“He knows.”
A man’s voice sounded in the background.
Jason.
“Who are you talking to?”
The message ended.
Police found Sophie’s abandoned phone at a rest stop.
A few drops of blood marked the pavement.
No body.
No vehicle.
A truck driver had seen a dark sedan leave at high speed.
A traffic camera picked it up near an industrial district.
Then the car entered an underground parking structure.
The structure belonged to an abandoned shopping center.
Police surrounded it.
Laura insisted I stay behind.
I refused.
“You are not going inside,” she said.
“He took Sophie because of me.”
“He took Sophie because of himself.”
“I need to know she is alive.”
“You will wait in the command vehicle.”
Inside the parking structure, officers found Jason’s sedan.
The driver’s door was open.
Blood stained the passenger seat.
A trail led toward the old shopping center.
Jason’s voice suddenly came through the building speakers.
“Emily.”
Laura looked toward the ceiling.
“He can see us.”
Security cameras rotated above the entrances.
Jason had connected to the old system.
“Emily, I know you’re outside.”
I grabbed Laura’s radio.
“I’m here.”
She tried to stop me.
I spoke anyway.
“Where is Sophie?”
Jason laughed softly.
“Still protecting her?”
“She has spent her whole life helping you.”
“She has spent her whole life disappointing us.”
“Us?”
“You were never part of this family.”
“Good.”
Silence.
Then Jason’s tone changed.
“You ruined everything.”
“You tried to kill me.”
“You were supposed to sleep.”
“You removed my medication.”
“You made me sick.”
“You think you understand what happened?”
“I understand enough.”
“No.”
His voice came closer through the speakers.
“You still don’t know what your father did.”
“My father exposed your family.”
“Your father stole from us.”
“He copied evidence.”
“He took something else.”
“What?”
Jason laughed again.
“The reason Margaret hated you before she ever met you.”
Laura whispered.
“Keep him talking.”
“What did my father take?”
“Our company.”
“No.”
“Our name.”
“You sound insane.”
“Ask Robert who Jason Carter really is.”
The speakers went silent.
Laura contacted the station.
Robert was brought back into questioning.
At first, he denied understanding.
Then police showed him a recording of Jason’s words.
Robert began trembling.
“What is he talking about?” Laura demanded.
Robert looked at me.
“Jason is not my biological son.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Margaret was pregnant before we married.”
“Who was his father?”
Robert looked down.
“Daniel Harper.”
The room went silent.
Daniel was not only the witness.
May you like
He was Jason’s father.
And Margaret had spent decades making sure no one learned the truth.
