Chapter 5 - THE MAN ON THE RECORDING
By sunrise, Sabrina was gone.
She had left through the side entrance while officers were processing the west room.
Hale was furious.
“She wasn’t under arrest yet.”
Ethan stood near the gates.
“Find her.”
“We will.”
“No.”
Ethan looked him directly in the eyes.
“Find my sister.”
Hale nodded.
“We’re trying.”
Ethan returned inside.
Lily was awake.
She sat at the kitchen table eating toast while Maria stayed beside her.
“Did you find Mommy?”
Ethan hated the answer.
“Not yet.”
Lily looked down.
“But we’re getting closer.”
She nodded.
Then she reached into her pocket.
“I forgot this.”
She handed Ethan a small key.
“What does it open?”
“Mommy’s box.”
“What box?”
“She told me not to tell anybody unless I found you.”
Ethan crouched.
“Where is it?”
“At the bus station.”
An hour later, Ethan and Hale stood in front of locker 318 at Central Station.
The key turned.
Inside was a backpack.
Nothing else.
Hale opened it carefully.
Clothes.
Cash.
A second phone.
A passport.
And a sealed envelope.
ETHAN.
His name was written across the front.
His hands shook as he opened it.
The letter was from Claire.
Ethan,
If Lily gives you this, something has gone wrong.
I need you to understand that I never wanted to disappear from you.
I was forced to.
Eight years ago, Sabrina came to me with documents showing that you had accused me of stealing from Dad’s company.
She said you were going to have me arrested.
I believed her.
I was scared.
I ran.
Months later, I discovered the documents were fake.
By then, Sabrina had already declared me dead.
I tried to contact you twice.
Both times, someone found me within days.
I stopped trying because I had Lily.
I couldn’t risk her life.
Ethan stopped reading.
His eyes burned.
Hale waited silently.
Ethan continued.
There is a man helping Sabrina.
His name is Victor Dane.
He worked for Dad before he died.
He knows how the trust was created.
He knows what Sabrina did.
And he knows why Dad changed his will three days before his death.
Ethan looked up.
“Victor Dane.”
Hale’s expression hardened.
“You know him?”
“He was my father’s financial manager.”
Hale immediately called his department.
Ethan continued reading.
If you find Victor, don’t trust him.
He helped Sabrina steal the money.
But there is something Sabrina doesn’t know.
Dad left a second document.
I have it.
And it changes everything.
The letter ended with an address.
An abandoned lakeside cabin forty miles north.
Ethan folded the paper.
“We’re going.”
Hale shook his head.
“You’re staying here.”
“That’s my sister.”
“And if this is a trap, Lily needs at least one member of her family alive.”
Ethan hated him for saying it.
Because Hale was right.
Then Hale’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked at Ethan.
“Victor Dane was found twenty minutes ago.”
“Where?”
“At the airport.”
“Trying to leave?”
“No.”
Hale lowered the phone.
“He walked into airport security voluntarily.”
Ethan frowned.
“Why?”
“He says Sabrina is planning to leave the country tonight.”
May you like
Hale paused.
“And he says Claire is still alive.”
