Chapter 11 - The Letters in the Wall
A second judge authorized Maisie’s surgery.
Conrad’s injunction was suspended.
Judge Vale disappeared before federal agents reached his home.
The search for him spread across the state.
Dr. Shah prepared Maisie for the operating room.
Evelyn stood beside the bed.
She smoothed wet curls from her daughter’s forehead.
“You are going to wake up.”
Maisie’s eyes opened slightly.
“Will he be here?”
Evelyn looked at Jace.
Jace stepped closer.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Maisie held out the silver moon.
Jace placed the star beside it.
Together, the two pieces formed a complete circle.
“Keep it safe.”
Her voice was weak.
“You keep it.”
Jace closed the pendant around his neck.
“I’ll give it back when you wake up.”
The surgical team wheeled her away.
The doors closed.
Evelyn remained still.
Then all the strength left her.
Jace caught her before she fell.
For six hours, they waited.
Detective Ortiz arrived with new evidence from Conrad’s mansion.
Federal agents had opened a hidden room behind the library wall.
Inside were forty-three unopened letters addressed to Jace.
Every letter Evelyn had sent.
Jace opened the first.
The handwriting shook across the page.
Jace, I am pregnant.
Your father says you know.
He says you want the child but not me.
Please tell me he is lying.
Jace opened the next.
Maisie was born this morning.
She has your eyes.
I do not know where to go.
He read until the words blurred.
One letter contained a photograph of newborn Maisie.
Another contained a tiny hospital bracelet.
The final letter had been written two months earlier.
She is getting worse.
I know you may hate me.
I know you may have another life.
But if there is any part of you that once loved me, please help our daughter.
Jace pressed the letter against his mouth.
“I should have known.”
Evelyn sat beside him.
“How?”
“My father hated anything he could not control.”
“So did I.”
She looked toward the operating room.
“I should have found another way to reach you.”
“You sent forty-three letters.”
“I stopped believing you would answer.”
Jace turned toward her.
“I never stopped loving you.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“Love did not save us.”
“No.”
Jace lowered his voice.
“But the truth might.”
Ortiz placed another item on the table.
It was a sealed envelope addressed in Eleanor Mercer’s handwriting.
Jace recognized his mother’s careful script.
The envelope had been found inside the hidden room.
On the front, she had written one sentence.
FOR MY SON, WHEN HE FINALLY STOPS BELIEVING HIS FATHER.
Jace opened it.
Inside was a property deed.
A photograph of Conrad standing beside Judge Vale.
And a death certificate.
The name on the certificate was Eleanor Mercer.
The cause of death was listed as natural.
But beneath it was a second document.
May you like
A toxicology report.
Eleanor’s blood contained the same drug that had been used on Maisie.
