Chapter 3 - THE TRUST
By sunrise, Emma had been moved to a secured pediatric room.
Two uniformed officers guarded the hallway.
Caroline had disappeared.
Marcus obtained an emergency warrant for her arrest on suspicion of fraud, obstruction, and attempted custodial interference.
But Ruth barely cared where Caroline was.
She wanted answers.
Thomas’s memory card provided them.
Or at least the beginning.
Daniel Bennett had created the Bennett Family Trust nine years earlier.
Daniel had inherited a chain of commercial properties from his father.
Chicago.
Milwaukee.
Indianapolis.
St. Louis.
At the time of his death, the trust had been valued at forty-two million dollars.
Ruth stared at the number.
“Forty-two million?”
Marcus nodded.
“Current estimated value is closer to sixty-eight.”
Ruth sat down.
Emma was sleeping.
Bunny remained beneath her arm.
“Daniel never lived like that.”
“Apparently he didn’t want anyone knowing.”
“Who controls the trust?”
“That’s where it gets interesting.”
Daniel’s will stated that his children would become primary beneficiaries at age eighteen.
Until then, a trustee controlled the assets.
The original trustee had been Thomas.
After Thomas died, control was supposed to pass to Ruth.
But a revised document had appeared three weeks earlier.
It named Caroline.
Ruth looked at Marcus.
“Forged?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“I never signed anything.”
“Your signature appears on two documents.”
“I didn’t sign them.”
Marcus slid photographs across the table.
Ruth saw her own name.
Her own signature.
Perfect.
Almost.
Then she noticed something.
“I make the R differently.”
Marcus smiled.
“So does our handwriting analyst.”
Ruth looked toward Emma.
“Caroline wanted control of the trust.”
“Possibly.”
“Then Lucy changes everything.”
Marcus nodded.
“If Lucy is Daniel’s daughter, she owns the same beneficiary rights Emma does.”
Ruth’s stomach tightened.
“Where is she?”
Marcus opened another file.
A photograph appeared.
A seven-year-old girl stood outside a school.
Dark hair.
Brown eyes.
A small scar above her left eyebrow.
Ruth stopped breathing.
She looked exactly like Emma.
Marcus whispered,
“Thomas found her.”
Under the photograph was an address.
Evanston, Illinois.
Ruth stood.
“We’re going.”
Marcus blocked her.
“No.”
“That’s my niece.”
“And somebody set a fire inside a hospital to reach your other niece.”
“I’m not sitting here.”
“You’re also Emma’s legal guardian.”
Ruth looked toward the bed.
He was right.
She hated that he was right.
Marcus sent officers instead.
Forty-five minutes later, his phone rang.
He listened.
His expression changed.
“When?”
Ruth knew before he spoke.
“What happened?”
Marcus ended the call.
“The house is empty.”
“Lucy?”
“Gone.”
“Her guardian?”
“Gone.”
“When?”
Marcus looked at Ruth.
“Neighbors say they left last night.”
Ruth’s skin went cold.
Before Caroline had entered Emma’s hospital room.
Someone had already moved Lucy.
Then Marcus’s phone buzzed again.
A photograph had been sent from an unknown number.
It showed Lucy sitting in the back seat of a car.
Alive.
Terrified.
May you like
Holding a handwritten sign.
STOP LOOKING OR EMMA IS NEXT.
