Hernandez grabbed the phone before I answered Peter.<\/p>\n
He put it on speaker.<\/p>\n
"Dr. Mallory."<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Then Peter laughed.<\/p>\n
"Police already, Diane?"<\/p>\n
I looked at Carol.<\/p>\n
Her face had gone gray.<\/p>\n
"Where is Lily?" she demanded.<\/p>\n
Peter ignored her.<\/p>\n
Hernandez said, "Is Lily Reynolds with you?"<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
"Reynolds?"<\/p>\n
Peter sounded amused.<\/p>\n
"Interesting choice of name."<\/p>\n
Carol flinched.<\/p>\n
He knew.<\/p>\n
Of course he knew.<\/p>\n
He had known every secret surrounding Arthur.<\/p>\n
"Let her go," Carol said.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"She has nothing to do with this."<\/p>\n
Peter's tone changed.<\/p>\n
"That's what you said about Eleanor."<\/p>\n
Carol recoiled.<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
"What does that mean?"<\/p>\n
Peter answered for her.<\/p>\n
"Ask Mommy."<\/p>\n
The line went dead.<\/p>\n
Hernandez immediately handed the phone to a technician.<\/p>\n
"Trace whatever you can."<\/p>\n
I turned on Carol.<\/p>\n
"What did he mean?"<\/p>\n
"Not now."<\/p>\n
"Now."<\/p>\n
Susan stepped between us.<\/p>\n
"Diane."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
Carol looked toward the police cars.<\/p>\n
"Peter likes to make people feel responsible."<\/p>\n
"That isn't an answer."<\/p>\n
"I was pregnant."<\/p>\n
The words came out so quietly that for a second I thought I had misheard.<\/p>\n
"When Eleanor died, I had just learned I was pregnant."<\/p>\n
"With Lily."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Did Mom know?"<\/p>\n
"I told you, I don't think so."<\/p>\n
"Then what did you say about her?"<\/p>\n
Carol's face tightened.<\/p>\n
"Arthur called me that night."<\/p>\n
My pulse accelerated.<\/p>\n
"Before Mom died?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"He was panicking."<\/p>\n
"About what?"<\/p>\n
"Eleanor had found financial records. Marianne had left. Peter was angry. Arthur wanted me to talk him through it."<\/p>\n
"You were his accountant too?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Then why you?"<\/p>\n
Carol looked at me.<\/p>\n
"Because I already knew about the debt to Victor."<\/p>\n
"And because you were carrying his child."<\/p>\n
"He didn't know yet."<\/p>\n
That surprised me.<\/p>\n
"When did you tell him?"<\/p>\n
"Two weeks after Eleanor's funeral."<\/p>\n
I didn't know whether that made anything better.<\/p>\n
It didn't.<\/p>\n
"What did Arthur say on the call?"<\/p>\n
"That Eleanor had refused medication and was threatening to call Daniel in the morning."<\/p>\n
"What did you tell him?"<\/p>\n
"To stop trying to get documents signed."<\/p>\n
That sounded helpful.<\/p>\n
Then Carol looked away.<\/p>\n
"What else?"<\/p>\n
"I told him if she died without changing anything, he'd still be Diane's father and guardian. He'd have years to solve the financial problem later."<\/p>\n
My skin went cold.<\/p>\n
"You told him to wait until Mom died."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"That's what Peter meant."<\/p>\n
"I said she was terminal. Everyone knew she was dying."<\/p>\n
"You made her death sound like a strategy."<\/p>\n
Carol's voice cracked.<\/p>\n
"I was twenty-nine and terrified."<\/p>\n
"You were an adult."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"Mom was dying."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"And Dad was stealing from her."<\/p>\n
"I didn't know the extent."<\/p>\n
"Stop saying that."<\/p>\n
She went silent.<\/p>\n
Hernandez returned.<\/p>\n
"We have movement."<\/p>\n
The SUV being chased had been abandoned behind an industrial park.<\/p>\n
No Lily.<\/p>\n
No Peter.<\/p>\n
The driver was a twenty-two-year-old man paid cash to pick up the vehicle and follow a route.<\/p>\n
Peter had created a decoy.<\/p>\n
"He planned this," I said.<\/p>\n
Hernandez nodded.<\/p>\n
"Likely."<\/p>\n
"Then he knew we were coming before Carol met me."<\/p>\n
Carol stared at her phone.<\/p>\n
"He must've accessed my messages."<\/p>\n
"How?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
Susan looked at her.<\/p>\n
"Arthur?"<\/p>\n
Carol shook her head.<\/p>\n
"He doesn't know this phone."<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
Everyone in this family had secret phones, secret accounts, secret children, secret safes.<\/p>\n
No wonder nobody knew what truth looked like.<\/p>\n
Then Lily's phone pinged.<\/p>\n
It had been left on the floor of Susan's car.<\/p>\n
Susan picked it up.<\/p>\n
A notification from cloud storage.<\/p>\n
One file uploaded.<\/p>\n
Timestamp: two minutes earlier.<\/p>\n
"Open it," Hernandez said.<\/p>\n
Susan handed me the phone.<\/p>\n
The upload was a video.<\/p>\n
I pressed play.<\/p>\n
The screen shook wildly.<\/p>\n
Darkness.<\/p>\n
Breathing.<\/p>\n
Then Lily's face appeared.<\/p>\n
She was whispering.<\/p>\n
"If anyone gets this, Peter took me."<\/p>\n
Carol made a choking sound.<\/p>\n
Lily continued.<\/p>\n
"I don't think he knows my phone uploads automatically."<\/p>\n
The image shifted.<\/p>\n
She appeared to be inside a vehicle.<\/p>\n
"I got out because someone waved from the alley and looked like Mom from behind. Then Peter grabbed me."<\/p>\n
Her voice trembled, but she remained remarkably controlled.<\/p>\n
"I think we're going east."<\/p>\n
Hernandez snapped instructions to another officer.<\/p>\n
Lily continued.<\/p>\n
"He keeps saying Arthur owes him."<\/p>\n
Then she looked over her shoulder.<\/p>\n
"I found something in Dad's notebook before I gave it to Diane."<\/p>\n
Everyone froze.<\/p>\n
"A folded page."<\/p>\n
Carol whispered, "The red mark."<\/p>\n
Lily heard something off-camera and lowered her voice further.<\/p>\n
"I took a photo because Mom asked about a red mark and I remembered seeing one."<\/p>\n
The video ended.<\/p>\n
Another file uploaded.<\/p>\n
A photograph of a notebook page.<\/p>\n
At the top, written in Arthur's hand:<\/p>\n
P.M. RELEASE TERMS \u2014 IF NEEDED.<\/p>\n
Below were several numbered items.<\/p>\n
1. Mallory assumes document work.<\/p>\n
2. R. identity work attributed to Mallory alone.<\/p>\n
3. Eleanor medication characterized as independent clinical decision.<\/p>\n
4. V.R. historical files transferred.<\/p>\n
5. Payment upon completion: 250k.<\/p>\n
And beneath that, circled in red:<\/p>\n
ORIGINAL TAPE MUST BE DESTROYED.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
"What original tape?"<\/p>\n
Susan answered.<\/p>\n
"Not the ones Rachel stored."<\/p>\n
Hernandez zoomed in.<\/p>\n
A handwritten note appeared beside the circled line.<\/p>\n
P says Arthur never heard side C.<\/p>\n
Side C.<\/p>\n
There were only two sides to a cassette.<\/p>\n
Unless "C" meant something else.<\/p>\n
Mr. Sanders, who had arrived minutes earlier, looked at the photograph.<\/p>\n
"Could mean copy C."<\/p>\n
Carol shook her head.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
Everyone looked at her.<\/p>\n
She stared at the note.<\/p>\n
"Peter recorded people."<\/p>\n
"We know."<\/p>\n
"No. Secretly."<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
"Who?"<\/p>\n
"Everyone."<\/p>\n
"Arthur?"<\/p>\n
"Especially Arthur."<\/p>\n
She pointed toward the red circle.<\/p>\n
"That isn't Eleanor's tape. It's Peter's."<\/p>\n
Hernandez immediately asked, "What would be on it?"<\/p>\n
Carol looked sick.<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
"Think."<\/p>\n
"He used recordings for protection."<\/p>\n
"Blackmail."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Where would he keep the original?"<\/p>\n
"If Arthur didn't destroy it\u2014"<\/p>\n
The sentence stopped.<\/p>\n
She suddenly remembered something.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
Carol looked at Lily's uploaded image again.<\/p>\n
"Victor had safety-deposit boxes."<\/p>\n
"Where?"<\/p>\n
"Three banks."<\/p>\n
Hernandez began making calls.<\/p>\n
Carol said, "Peter had access to one."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"Years ago."<\/p>\n
"Which bank?"<\/p>\n
"First Pacific."<\/p>\n
Lily's phone uploaded another file.<\/p>\n
Audio only this time.<\/p>\n
Peter's voice.<\/p>\n
"…not your problem."<\/p>\n
Then Lily.<\/p>\n
"My mom will pay you."<\/p>\n
Peter laughed.<\/p>\n
"Your mother has nothing I need."<\/p>\n
"Then why take me?"<\/p>\n
"Because Arthur still thinks you're his."<\/p>\n
Carol covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
Peter knew the biological truth, but apparently he didn't know whether Arthur valued Lily enough to trade for her.<\/p>\n
Lily asked, "What do you want from him?"<\/p>\n
"The key."<\/p>\n
"What key?"<\/p>\n
"Victor's box."<\/p>\n
The recording ended.<\/p>\n
Carol whispered, "First Pacific."<\/p>\n
Hernandez was already calling the bank.<\/p>\n
The box had been registered to Victor Ramsey.<\/p>\n
After his death, it transferred under estate instructions to Carol.<\/p>\n
She had never accessed it.<\/p>\n
"Do you have the key?" Hernandez asked.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Who does?"<\/p>\n
"My mother might."<\/p>\n
Patricia.<\/p>\n
Another call.<\/p>\n
Patricia answered Lily's grandmother line almost immediately when told Lily had been taken.<\/p>\n
"Yes," she said. "Victor left a brass key."<\/p>\n
"Where?"<\/p>\n
"My safe."<\/p>\n
"Can police collect it?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
For the first time, Patricia didn't argue.<\/p>\n
The investigation moved faster after that.<\/p>\n
Within forty minutes, First Pacific confirmed the box.<\/p>\n
Police obtained emergency authorization based on the kidnapping.<\/p>\n
Patricia's key opened it.<\/p>\n
I watched through a secure video link from the station.<\/p>\n
Inside were documents, two flash drives, a handgun that made everyone tense, and three small cassette tapes.<\/p>\n
One was labeled:<\/p>\n
P.M. \u2014 INSURANCE.<\/p>\n
Another:<\/p>\n
V.R. \/ A.R.<\/p>\n
And the third:<\/p>\n
E.R. FINAL \u2014 MASTER.<\/p>\n
My mother's initials.<\/p>\n
My heart began pounding.<\/p>\n
"That's it," Carol whispered.<\/p>\n
Hernandez ordered the tapes transferred under guard.<\/p>\n
Then Lily's phone uploaded another image.<\/p>\n
A blurred photograph through a car window.<\/p>\n
A freeway sign.<\/p>\n
CA-126 EAST.<\/p>\n
Hernandez shouted coordinates.<\/p>\n
Units moved.<\/p>\n
Peter was heading toward Santa Clarita.<\/p>\n
The next audio upload arrived eleven minutes later.<\/p>\n
Lily breathing.<\/p>\n
Then Peter:<\/p>\n
"You shouldn't have taken pictures of Arthur's notebook."<\/p>\n
"I didn't."<\/p>\n
"You always were a terrible liar."<\/p>\n
Lily answered, "Diane's better."<\/p>\n
Despite everything, I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
Peter didn't.<\/p>\n
"You two have become inconvenient."<\/p>\n
"She isn't my sister."<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
Then Peter said, "You really don't know."<\/p>\n
Carol closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
Lily's voice changed.<\/p>\n
"Know what?"<\/p>\n
Peter sounded delighted.<\/p>\n
"Arthur Reynolds isn't your stepfather."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Ask Carol."<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Long enough that we could hear road noise.<\/p>\n
Then Lily said, very softly, "He's my father."<\/p>\n
Not a question.<\/p>\n
A realization.<\/p>\n
Carol began crying.<\/p>\n
The recording continued.<\/p>\n
Peter said, "There you are."<\/p>\n
Lily didn't speak for several seconds.<\/p>\n
Then:<\/p>\n
"So he stole Diane's money to pay for me."<\/p>\n
Peter laughed.<\/p>\n
"That part wasn't sentiment. Arthur needed Carol obedient."<\/p>\n
Carol whispered, "What?"<\/p>\n
Peter continued.<\/p>\n
"He told her Victor paid your expenses because it kept her from asking questions."<\/p>\n
Lily asked, "Did my mom know he used Diane's money?"<\/p>\n
"Not initially."<\/p>\n
The word mattered.<\/p>\n
"When did she know?"<\/p>\n
Peter answered.<\/p>\n
"Years ago."<\/p>\n
Carol shook her head violently.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
The recording stopped.<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
"He's lying."<\/p>\n
"Maybe."<\/p>\n
"I found out this week."<\/p>\n
"Maybe."<\/p>\n
"Diane."<\/p>\n
"I don't know anymore."<\/p>\n
Her face crumpled.<\/p>\n
The next location ping came from Lily's phone automatically connecting briefly to a roadside Wi-Fi network.<\/p>\n
A service station near Piru.<\/p>\n
Police converged.<\/p>\n
Ten minutes later, Hernandez received the call.<\/p>\n
"They found the vehicle."<\/p>\n
"Is Lily there?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
"Peter?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
The van was empty.<\/p>\n
But there were footprints leading behind the station toward an old access road.<\/p>\n
And on the passenger seat sat Lily's shoe.<\/p>\n
Carol swayed.<\/p>\n
Susan caught her before she fell.<\/p>\n
Hernandez put on his jacket.<\/p>\n
"I'm going."<\/p>\n
"So am I."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Hernandez\u2014"<\/p>\n
"You stay here."<\/p>\n
"My sister is out there."<\/p>\n
The word came out before I thought about it.<\/p>\n
Sister.<\/p>\n
Carol looked at me.<\/p>\n
Susan did too.<\/p>\n
I didn't take it back.<\/p>\n
Hernandez held my gaze for several seconds.<\/p>\n
Then he said, "We bring her back. You do not help by becoming another person Peter can use."<\/p>\n
I hated it.<\/p>\n
But I stayed.<\/p>\n
Twenty minutes later, the evidence courier arrived with Victor Ramsey's cassettes.<\/p>\n
The master tape of my mother's final night sat inside a clear evidence bag.<\/p>\n
And somewhere between Piru and the dark hills beyond it, Lily was with the man who had spent ten years protecting whatever that recording contained.<\/p>\n
Hernandez grabbed the phone before I answered Peter. He put it on speaker. "Dr. Mallory." Silence. Then Peter laughed. "Police already, Diane?" I looked at Carol. Her face had gone … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapter-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5784,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5764\/revisions\/5784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}