Chapter 9 - THE TRAP
The document vanished beneath the train.
Ethan ran toward the crossing, but Detective Ruiz pulled him back before he stepped onto the tracks.
Victoria climbed into the SUV.
“Stop!” Ethan yelled.
The vehicle sped away.
Lily’s face disappeared behind the tinted window.
Ruiz spoke into her radio, calling for units to block the road.
Ethan stood frozen.
“She threw the papers away.”
“No,” Ruiz said. “She wanted you to think she did.”
“What?”
Ruiz pointed toward the station platform.
A security camera was mounted above the old ticket booth.
“She dropped something else.”
They reviewed the footage.
When Victoria raised the document, her other hand placed a small envelope beneath the bench.
Ruiz found it.
Inside was a photocopy of the trust agreement.
Someone had already altered the pages.
The signatures were forged.
But the most frightening part was the final paragraph.
If Ethan were declared mentally incompetent, the trust would be controlled by a temporary guardian.
The guardian named in the altered document was Victoria.
Ethan felt sick.
“She doesn’t just want custody,” he said.
“She wants the money.”
“And Richard helped her.”
Ruiz nodded.
“We have enough for warrants, but we still need the children alive and somewhere we can reach them.”
Ethan studied the footage.
Victoria had looked toward the camera before leaving.
She wanted them to find the envelope.
It was another trap.
His phone rang again.
This time, it was Lily.
Ethan answered.
“Lily?”
Her voice shook.
“Dad, I’m sorry.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know. It’s dark.”
“Listen to me. You did nothing wrong.”
Victoria’s voice came through the phone.
“Tell him what happens if he refuses.”
Lily began to cry.
“Dad, she said she’ll leave the baby outside.”
Ethan’s body went cold.
Victoria took the phone.
“You have one hour. Come to the old cannery alone.”
“Where is that?”
“Follow the river.”
“I need proof the children are safe.”
“You’ll get proof when you arrive.”
The call ended.
Ruiz looked at Ethan.
“The old cannery burned down ten years ago.”
Ethan shook his head.
“There’s another one.”
“Where?”
“Behind my company’s storage yard.”
Ruiz stared at him.
“Why would Victoria take them there?”
Ethan looked at the trust papers.
May you like
Because the storage yard held something he had forgotten.
Something Victoria had been searching for since the day she moved into his house.
