We ran outside.<\/p>\n
The sedan disappeared around the bend.<\/p>\n
Detective Cole radioed for patrol cars.<\/p>\n
Arthur stood beside the road, staring after it.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe shouldn't be driving that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe may not be,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
I pointed toward the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no driver visible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur frowned.<\/p>\n
The detective returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost the vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the house.<\/p>\n
The note still bothered me.<\/p>\n
You are looking in the wrong place.<\/p>\n
Maybe Jonah had written it.<\/p>\n
Maybe someone wanted us to think he had.<\/p>\n
We searched the River House again.<\/p>\n
This time we found a trapdoor beneath the staircase.<\/p>\n
It opened into a cellar.<\/p>\n
The air was cold.<\/p>\n
There were shelves along the walls.<\/p>\n
At the center stood a wooden desk.<\/p>\n
On it lay a ledger.<\/p>\n
Not a copy.<\/p>\n
The original.<\/p>\n
Arthur approached slowly.<\/p>\n
His hand hovered over the cover.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Cole photographed it before anyone touched it.<\/p>\n
The ledger contained names.<\/p>\n
Payments.<\/p>\n
Dates.<\/p>\n
Addresses.<\/p>\n
But the final pages were different.<\/p>\n
They listed children.<\/p>\n
Each entry had two names.<\/p>\n
Birth name.<\/p>\n
Assigned name.<\/p>\n
Then there was a third column.<\/p>\n
Reason for transfer.<\/p>\n
Some said financial arrangement.<\/p>\n
Others said family request.<\/p>\n
One simply said leverage.<\/p>\n
I felt sick.<\/p>\n
Then I found my own name.<\/p>\n
Julian Vega.<\/p>\n
Beside it:<\/p>\n
Retained by Beatrice Vega.<\/p>\n
I turned the page.<\/p>\n
Clara Ellis.<\/p>\n
Transferred to Vega household.<\/p>\n
Reason: concealment.<\/p>\n
Arthur stared at the words.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wasn't supposed to be your wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was supposed to disappear into the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
The meaning was horrible.<\/p>\n
My mother had never intended for Clara and me to meet as adults.<\/p>\n
But circumstances had brought us together anyway.<\/p>\n
Then I found Jonah's entry.<\/p>\n
Jonah Ellis.<\/p>\n
Transferred to private institution.<\/p>\n
Reason: witness.<\/p>\n
I looked at Detective Cole.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe saw something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
We turned the page.<\/p>\n
There was a note.<\/p>\n
Witness observed Evelyn being taken from property.<\/p>\n
The name of the person responsible had been scratched out.<\/p>\n
But underneath was another sentence.<\/p>\n
The child was too young to understand the name.<\/p>\n
Arthur sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe saw the person.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut didn't know who it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
I kept reading.<\/p>\n
At the very bottom was another name.<\/p>\n
Beatrice Vega.<\/p>\n
Beside it:<\/p>\n
Ordered transfer.<\/p>\n
Not responsible for removal.<\/p>\n
I looked at Arthur.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone else took Evelyn.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who?\u201d<\/p>\n
The ledger's final page was missing.<\/p>\n
Detective Cole swore under her breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
A noise came from upstairs.<\/p>\n
We froze.<\/p>\n
Someone was walking across the floorboards.<\/p>\n
The footsteps stopped above us.<\/p>\n
Detective Cole signaled for silence.<\/p>\n
Then the trapdoor opened.<\/p>\n
A man looked down.<\/p>\n
Jonah.<\/p>\n
He was taller than I expected.<\/p>\n
Late twenties.<\/p>\n
Dark hair.<\/p>\n
Thin face.<\/p>\n
His eyes moved from Arthur to me.<\/p>\n
Then to Clara's name on the ledger.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wondered when you'd find this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cJonah.\u201d<\/p>\n
The young man stepped into the cellar.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know who I am?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI've been looking for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah laughed softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou've been looking for the wrong person.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou've been looking for the person who took my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know who it was?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm not sure you want to hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo do you.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained that he had spent years trying to recover his memories.<\/p>\n
He remembered a man carrying Evelyn out of the house.<\/p>\n
He remembered Beatrice arguing with him.<\/p>\n
But the man who took Evelyn wasn't a stranger.<\/p>\n
It was someone from the family.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah looked at Arthur.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur's face went blank.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn't kill her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe took her somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah pointed toward the ledger.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe place where the fourth ledger was hidden.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Cole asked, \u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Evelyn told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe survived?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was alive when I last saw her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSix years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur nearly fell.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrison.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn was imprisoned?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder another name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah reached into his backpack.<\/p>\n
He removed a photograph.<\/p>\n
It showed Evelyn behind a glass partition.<\/p>\n
Older.<\/p>\n
Thinner.<\/p>\n
But alive.<\/p>\n
Arthur took the photograph.<\/p>\n
His hands shook.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is she now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe's gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe escaped.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThree days ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
Three days.<\/p>\n
The same time Jonah left the institution.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou helped her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah didn't deny it.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told me to find Clara.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Clara had something she needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah reached into his backpack again.<\/p>\n
This time he pulled out a small brass key.<\/p>\n
It was stamped 4.<\/p>\n
My heart sank.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fourth ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother doesn't want you to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward the ceiling.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe old house?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already searched it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou searched the rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did we miss?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe well.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered the courtyard.<\/p>\n
The old stone well my mother had forbidden me to approach as a child.<\/p>\n
I had always assumed it was unsafe.<\/p>\n
Now I understood.<\/p>\n
We left the River House immediately.<\/p>\n
Clara was still at the hospital, but Detective Cole insisted she remain there until the investigation was complete.<\/p>\n
When we reached the old house, dawn was breaking.<\/p>\n
The courtyard was wet.<\/p>\n
The well stood beneath an overgrown tree.<\/p>\n
Arthur stared at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father told me never to open it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took the key.<\/p>\n
The lock was hidden beneath a stone.<\/p>\n
It opened easily.<\/p>\n
Inside was a narrow metal ladder.<\/p>\n
We descended.<\/p>\n
At the bottom was a concrete chamber.<\/p>\n
There was a metal box.<\/p>\n
And beside it, carved into the wall, were three names.<\/p>\n
Ella.<\/p>\n
Jonah.<\/p>\n
Clara.<\/p>\n
Below them was another.<\/p>\n
Julian.<\/p>\n
Then one final sentence.<\/p>\n
We were never lost.<\/p>\n
We were hidden.<\/p>\n
I opened the metal box.<\/p>\n
Inside was the fourth ledger.<\/p>\n
But there was something else.<\/p>\n
A letter addressed to Arthur.<\/p>\n
He opened it.<\/p>\n
His face changed as he read.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
He handed it to me.<\/p>\n
My grandfather had written:<\/p>\n
If Beatrice has convinced you I am the villain, then she has succeeded. But if you are reading this, understand one thing: I did not take Evelyn to destroy her. I took her because someone inside this family had already decided she must die.<\/p>\n
I looked at Arthur.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed to the last line.<\/p>\n
I read it aloud.<\/p>\n
The person who ordered her death was not Beatrice.<\/p>\n
We ran outside. The sedan disappeared around the bend. Detective Cole radioed for patrol cars. Arthur stood beside the road, staring after it. \u201cShe shouldn't be driving that.\u201d \u201cShe may … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16061,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16027\/revisions\/16061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}