Chapter 4 - The Woman Called Avery
Sarah did not go home. She drove to the hospital and sat in her office beneath a framed certificate recognizing her for twenty years of service. The title beneath her name read Director of Nursing Administration. It had always made her feel steady.That afternoon, it looked like a label on someone else’s desk.Priya entered carrying two folders. “I spoke to my brother again.”“Tell me.”“Claire Vale was a forensic accountant.”Sarah looked up.“She audited charitable trusts and corporate foundations,” Priya said. “In 2006, she was hired to review a Whitaker family fund. She claimed millions were missing.”“How much?”“Three-point-eight million, adjusted for inflation.”Sarah stared at the rain on the window.“The fund supported nurses’ housing and medical scholarships,” Priya continued. “Claire alleged the money was routed through shell companies, including Blue Lantern Properties.”“And then?”“The lawsuit was dismissed. Claire disappeared from professional records. Avery Vale was fourteen.”“Disappeared how?”“No body. No death certificate until years later.”Sarah’s phone rang. Mark.She let it ring twice before answering. “What?”“Where are you?”“At work.”“You can’t keep moving Leo around without telling me.”“You can’t keep lying about where you go.”Silence stretched between them.“Avery Vale is looking for documents,” Mark said.“You said that yesterday.”“She believes my family destroyed her mother.”“Did they?”“I don’t know.”“Did you meet her last Tuesday?”“Yes.”Sarah’s breath caught despite herself.“Where?”“At the old Bellwether carriage house.”“The one attached to Blue Lantern?”“Yes.”“Why were you there?”“Because she contacted me.”“And the necklace?”Mark said nothing.Sarah closed her eyes. “You gave it to her.”“I borrowed it.”“From the hidden compartment.”“I was trying to verify something.”“You took my anniversary gift without telling me.”“I was going to return it.”“You let another woman wear it.”“It wasn’t like that.”“You keep saying that.”His voice broke. “Sarah, I didn’t know she would come to the house.”Sarah opened her eyes. “She came to the house?”“Once.”“When?”“Last Tuesday.”“While I was at work.”“I brought her there because she said the house contained a passage her mother had described.”“You brought her into our bedroom?”“I didn’t know she would open the wall.”“But you knew about the compartment.”“My father showed it to me when I was a boy.”The office seemed to contract around Sarah.“What is behind our wall?”“Nothing that matters now.”“Then why is Avery looking for it?”“Because she thinks there’s a ledger.”Priya watched Sarah with growing alarm. Sarah put Mark on speaker.“What ledger?” she asked.“A record of the money taken from the trust.”“And you believe her?”“I believe the records exist.”“How did the necklace prove anything?”“The sapphire was my grandmother’s. Claire Vale had photographs of it. She said my grandmother gave it to her before she vanished.”Sarah looked down at the bottle of muddy grit.“You told me you bought it in an antique shop.”“I lied.”The admission was quiet, but it struck harder than shouting.“Why?”“Because my father said the necklace was worthless. He told me never to ask about it.”“Your father is dead.”“Hal isn’t.”There it was. The name neither of them had said plainly.Mark continued. “Hal controls the old records. He controls the properties, the company, and most of the people who could testify.”“Why work for him?”“I thought I could find out what happened to Claire.”“You’ve worked for him for nine years.”“I needed access.”Sarah laughed once, without humor. “You needed access, so you built a second life.”“I built a way to keep you and Leo out of it.”“You brought Avery to our bedroom.”He had no answer.Sarah ended the call.Priya came around the desk. “Do you believe him?”“I believe he lied.”“That wasn’t my question.”Sarah looked at the folders. “I don’t know what I believe.”A new message appeared on her phone from an unknown number.Ask him what happened at the river house. Ask him why Claire left the music box behind.Below the words was a photograph.It showed the sapphire necklace lying inside an open wooden music box.Sarah recognized the bedroom wall in the background.The picture had been taken inside her house.
