Chapter 8 - The Voice on the Phone
The call lasted twenty-three seconds.
Alexander asked where she was. The woman refused to answer. She said she had watched him grow into a man she barely recognized, and that she had one chance to stop the family from destroying another innocent life.
Then the line went dead.
“Could it be a recording?” Marcus asked.
“No,” Alexander said. “She called me by the name she used when I was little.”
Margaret looked shaken. “If Evelyn is alive, then I was wrong about the clinic.”
Lena studied her mother’s face. “You said she died.”
“I was told she did. I saw a death certificate. I never saw the body.”
Alexander grabbed his coat. “We’re going to Milwaukee.”
“Not without a plan,” Marcus said.
Alexander turned on him. “I’m not leaving her out there.”
“Then don’t run straight into the trap.”
Lena opened the old score. “The second piece is with my father. The third is in the estate. We need all three before we can understand what your mother wants.”
Alexander stared at her. “You’re right.”
The admission surprised everyone.
They drove to Richard Carter’s apartment with two cars and no uniforms. Richard opened the door, saw Margaret, and nearly collapsed.
“You’re alive.”
Margaret didn’t hug him. “You knew.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“You knew enough to keep Lena away from me.”
Richard looked at his daughter. “I was scared.”
“You let me mourn her.”
“I thought it was the only way to keep you safe.”
Lena placed the brass key on the table. “Give me the second piece.”
Richard went pale. He reached into a hollow space beneath the kitchen cabinet and pulled out a small envelope. Inside was a strip of musical notation and a photograph of a young Victoria standing beside Frank Blake.
On the back, Richard had written: SHE WAS THERE BEFORE THE FIRE.
Margaret examined the photograph. “Victoria was a child.”
“Her father brought her to the studio,” Richard said. “She saw the accounts. She knew what her family was doing.”
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Lena looked closer. A second figure stood behind Victoria, partly hidden by a doorway.
It was a woman wearing Evelyn Blake’s silver ring.
