Chapter 13 - The Woman in Milwaukee
The body was not Evelyn’s.
It belonged to a nurse who had worked at the private clinic. She had been killed recently and left in the house as a warning. On the wall, someone had written in red paint: STOP LOOKING.
Alexander’s men searched every room. Lena found a photograph tucked beneath a loose floorboard. It showed Evelyn standing beside a lake, older but unmistakable, holding a newspaper with the date visible.
The photograph was only three weeks old.
“She’s alive,” Lena said.
Margaret studied the background. “That’s Lake Geneva. The old summer house.”
Peter’s men had used the Milwaukee address to draw them away. The real location was less than an hour from Chicago.
They drove through the night. At the lake house, the front door stood open. A kettle was still warm on the stove. Someone had left a blanket folded on the couch.
Alexander found a small wooden music box on the mantel. When he opened it, the waltz played.
He sat down hard.
“I gave her this when I was seven.”
Lena found a note beneath it.
ALEXANDER, IF YOU ARE HERE, THEN YOU HAVE FINALLY STOPPED LISTENING TO YOUR FATHER.
A second line was addressed to Lena.
MY DARLING GIRL, I HAVE SOMETHING YOUR MOTHER MUST HEAR.
Margaret took the note with shaking hands.
Behind the music box was a small key. It opened a drawer containing an old passport, a medical file, and a letter from Evelyn.
The letter explained that she had survived the clinic and lived under a false name. She had kept away because Peter threatened to kill Alexander if she returned. She had recently learned Peter planned to use Lena’s inheritance to take control of the remaining Blake businesses.
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Alexander raised his weapon. “Come down slowly.”
A woman appeared at the top of the stairs.
Her hair was silver now. Her face was lined. But when she looked at Alexander, her eyes softened.
“Hello, my boy.”
He lowered the gun.
“Mom?”
May you like
Evelyn started down the stairs.
Then a shot rang out from the lake.
