Chapter 9 - THE FATHER’S WARNING
The cabin seemed to shrink around them.
Claire took the letter back.
Her eyes moved rapidly across the page.
Her father had written it two days before the staged crash.
He claimed Elizabeth was becoming frightened.
He believed Jonathan Vale had convinced her that disappearing was the only way to protect Claire.
But Daniel Bennett did not trust Vale.
He believed Vale had manipulated Elizabeth.
More disturbing was the final paragraph.
If something happens to me, look at Vivian last.
Look first at the person everyone believes is protecting you.
Claire lowered the letter.
“What does that mean?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Ethan studied the documents.
“What person was supposed to protect her?”
Ortiz said it first.
“Her mother.”
Claire stared at her.
“No.”
“I’m not saying Elizabeth caused this.”
“You’re thinking it.”
“I’m investigating possibilities.”
“My mother recorded that tape.”
“Yes.”
“She said she tried to come back.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would my father warn me about her?”
Ortiz did not soften the answer.
“Because one of your parents was lying.”
Claire turned away.
Ethan stepped toward the attic window.
Something outside caught his attention.
A vehicle.
Black sedan.
Parked beyond the trees.
No police markings.
“Marcus.”
Marcus followed his gaze.
The sedan began moving.
Fast.
“Get Claire downstairs.”
Marcus ran.
Ethan grabbed Claire’s arm.
“Someone was watching the cabin.”
They reached the first floor.
An engine roared outside.
Police shouted.
Then gunfire cracked through the trees.
Claire dropped.
Ethan covered her with his body.
Windows exploded.
Ortiz returned fire from behind the stone fireplace.
Marcus’s team moved toward the porch.
The attack lasted less than thirty seconds.
Then silence.
A police SUV had crashed into a snowbank.
One officer was wounded.
The black sedan vanished.
Marcus rushed inside.
“They weren’t trying to enter.”
“What were they doing?”
“Buying time.”
Ethan looked upward.
Smoke.
The attic.
“They lit the cabin.”
Flames climbed behind the wall.
Ortiz cursed.
“Documents.”
Claire ran toward the stairs.
Ethan caught her.
“No.”
“My father’s files!”
Marcus and two officers raced up instead.
They returned carrying the metal box.
The attic ceiling collapsed seconds later.
Everyone evacuated.
Claire stood in the snow watching her childhood cabin burn.
Her face looked empty.
Ethan expected tears.
Instead she said one sentence.
“They’re still scared of me.”
Ortiz looked at her.
“Yes.”
Claire watched the flames.
“Good.”
Inside the rescued box, investigators found one photograph that had escaped initial examination.
It showed Elizabeth Bennett at a private airfield in 2011.
Five years after Claire’s disappearance.
She was older.
Alive.
And standing beside Jonathan Vale.
On Elizabeth’s left hand was a wedding ring.
The man beside her wore a matching band.
Claire stared at the image.
“My mother married him.”
Ortiz checked the timestamp.
The photograph was genuine.
Five years after Claire had been locked away, Elizabeth Bennett had apparently been alive.
Free.
And married to the man accused of stealing her fortune.
Claire whispered.
“She knew I was still in that house.”
Ethan did not answer.
Then Marcus pointed toward the photograph’s background.
May you like
A third person stood near the aircraft.
Vivian Ashford.
