Chapter 11 - THE SISTER WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Maya read the name three times.
“That has to be a mistake.”
Ryan did not answer.
Elena was at the hospital with Oliver.
She had access to his room.
She knew the officers guarding him.
Maya grabbed Ryan’s phone.
“Call the hospital.”
The call did not connect.
Detective Reeves tried his radio.
Only static answered.
The snowstorm had disrupted the signal.
Maya ran outside.
“We have to get back.”
Ryan followed.
Evelyn attempted to stand.
An officer stopped her.
“You’re under arrest.”
Ryan looked at his mother.
She did not resist.
“Go to Oliver.”
Her voice was weak.
“I’ll tell the police everything.”
Maya and Ryan climbed into Reeves’s car.
The drive back took nearly two hours.
Maya called Elena repeatedly.
No answer.
She called the nurses’ station.
No answer.
When they reached the hospital, the emergency entrance was crowded.
A fire alarm had forced the evacuation of three floors.
Smoke filled the main lobby.
Ryan found one of the officers assigned to Oliver.
The officer was unconscious near a stairwell.
His weapon was gone.
Maya screamed Oliver’s name.
They ran upstairs.
The intensive care room was empty.
The bed sheets had been pulled away.
Oliver’s stuffed bear lay on the floor.
Beside it was Elena’s phone.
Maya picked it up.
The screen was cracked.
A video was still recording.
Elena appeared in the final seconds.
She was fighting with a man dressed as a hospital technician.
She shouted toward someone outside the frame.
“Take Oliver through the service elevator!”
A woman answered.
“Where do we go?”
Maya recognized the voice.
It belonged to Denise.
Elena had not taken Oliver.
She had tried to protect him.
The technician struck Elena.
The video ended.
Detective Reeves studied the background.
“There’s a number painted on the wall.”
“B-17.”
“That’s a basement service corridor.”
They ran downstairs.
The corridor was dark.
A maintenance cart blocked the elevator.
Blood marked the floor.
Maya followed the trail.
It ended at a laundry room.
Inside, Elena lay behind a row of machines.
She was alive.
Maya dropped beside her.
“Where is Oliver?”
Elena opened her eyes.
“Denise took him.”
“Why?”
“Because someone inside the police department sent Charles updates.”
“Denise said the hospital wasn’t safe.”
Ryan crouched beside her.
“Why was your name in my father’s letter?”
Elena stared at him.
“You found the case.”
“You knew about it?”
“I knew part of it.”
Maya pulled away.
“How long?”
Elena tried to sit.
“Before I became a teacher, I worked as a junior accountant at Whitmore Holdings.”
“I found payments to Dr. Mercer’s clinic.”
“I reported them to Ryan’s father.”
Maya’s eyes widened.
“You knew his father?”
“He asked me to copy the records.”
“Charles found out.”
“He threatened our family.”
“I changed my name and left the city.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you fell in love with Ryan.”
Elena began to cry.
“I thought the danger was over.”
“Then Oliver became sick.”
She reached for Maya’s hand.
“I came back because Denise contacted me.”
“She said Charles had restarted the operation.”
Ryan looked down the corridor.
“Where would Denise take Oliver?”
Elena swallowed.
“To the only person Charles believes is dead.”
“Who?”
“Peter Lawson.”
The missing accountant from twenty-two years earlier.
Detective Reeves stared at her.
“Lawson is alive?”
Elena nodded.
“He has been hiding evidence for decades.”
“He lives near the old Whitmore textile mill.”
Ryan helped Elena onto a stretcher when paramedics arrived.
Before they left, Maya leaned close to her sister.
“You should have trusted me.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“I know.”
Ryan, Maya, and Reeves drove toward the abandoned mill.
They reached it after midnight.
The building looked empty.
One upstairs window glowed faintly.
Inside, they found Denise holding Oliver.
He was frightened but unharmed.
Maya ran to him.
“Mommy!”
Oliver threw his arms around her neck.
Ryan held them both.
For several seconds, none of them spoke.
Then an elderly man stepped out of the shadows.
His hair was white.
A deep scar crossed his forehead.
“Ryan.”
Ryan turned.
Peter Lawson looked at him with grief.
“You have your father’s eyes.”
Ryan stared at the man believed to have vanished twenty-two years earlier.
“You knew my father.”
“He saved my life.”
“Then help me finish what he started.”
Peter looked toward the dark windows.
“We may not have time.”
Headlights appeared outside.
May you like
Dozens of them.
The mill was surrounded.
