CHAPTER 10 — The Witness They Thought Was Dead
CHAPTER 10 — The Witness They Thought Was Dead
Charlotte did not sleep.
By sunrise, the recorder from her mother's last night had been played nineteen times.
Each time, the same words cut deeper.
She's the last witness.
Your daughter is not the heir.
She doesn't even know what she is.
And finally—
Your mother wasn't killed because she tried to save Solmere. She was killed because she discovered something about you.
Charlotte sat beside the window of Marcus's apartment, staring at the city.
For years, she had believed she knew who she was.
Victoria Vale's daughter.
Adrian Vale's daughter.
The only heir to Solmere.
Now every certainty had become a question.
Marcus placed a cup of coffee beside her.
"You should rest."
Charlotte didn't look away.
"I can't."
"You've been awake all night."
"I spent years mourning my mother."
She turned toward him.
"And now I don't even know what I was mourning."
Marcus sat across from her.
"Her death was real."
"Her death was planned."
"Yes."
"And my father was alive when it happened."
"Yes."
"Arthur knew."
"Apparently."
"Cross knew."
"Yes."
Charlotte's voice became quieter.
"And someone else knew."
Marcus looked at her.
"The witness."
Charlotte nodded.
"The person my mother trusted enough to leave evidence with."
Before Marcus could answer, his phone rang.
He checked the screen.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He listened.
Then stood.
"Where?"
A pause.
"Are you certain?"
Another pause.
"Don't let him leave."
He ended the call.
Charlotte immediately stood.
"Who?"
Marcus looked at her.
"They found someone."
"Who?"
"The witness."
Charlotte's heart began pounding.
"Where?"
Marcus grabbed his coat.
"St. Agnes Hospital."
"Is he alive?"
Marcus hesitated.
"Apparently."
Charlotte stared at him.
"Who is he?"
Marcus answered:
"Samuel Price's former partner."
The hospital corridor smelled of antiseptic and rain.
Charlotte walked quickly beside Marcus.
"Why didn't Samuel mention him?"
"He thought he was dead."
"Who?"
Marcus looked at the file.
"Detective Elias Ward."
Charlotte frowned.
"How does he connect to my mother's death?"
"He was the original investigator."
"What?"
"Before Samuel."
Charlotte stopped.
"Then why wasn't his name in the report?"
Marcus turned.
"Because according to official records, Elias Ward died six months before your mother's accident."
Charlotte's eyes widened.
"Then who's in that hospital room?"
Marcus opened the door.
An old man sat beside the window.
Thin.
Pale.
One side of his face scarred.
A breathing tube ran beneath his nose.
His left hand trembled.
But his eyes were sharp.
The moment Charlotte entered, he looked directly at her.
And whispered:
"Victoria's daughter."
Charlotte stepped closer.
"You knew my mother."
Elias nodded.
"I knew what they did to her."
Charlotte's heart tightened.
"Who?"
Elias looked toward the closed door.
"Lock it."
Marcus did.
Elias waited.
Then whispered:
"Nobody can know I'm alive."
Charlotte stared.
"Why?"
"Because the people who killed your mother thought they killed me too."
Elias reached beneath his pillow.
He pulled out a small black notebook.
Charlotte recognized the symbol on the cover.
The black crescent.
Her mother's symbol.
She took it.
"What's inside?"
"The original investigation."
Marcus frowned.
"Where did you get it?"
"From Victoria."
Charlotte stared.
"When?"
"Three days before she died."
"Why did she give it to you?"
"Because she knew someone inside the department was corrupt."
Charlotte opened the notebook.
The first page contained dates.
Times.
Vehicle registrations.
Bank transfers.
Names.
She turned another page.
Her mother's name appeared.
Then:
DANIEL CROSS
ARTHUR VALE
VICTOR LANG
EVELYN HART
Charlotte's breathing quickened.
"These people were all connected."
Elias nodded.
"They were part of the same operation."
"What operation?"
He looked at her.
"Erasing you."
Charlotte turned the pages faster.
There were photographs.
Documents.
Phone numbers.
Payment records.
Then one page was marked in red.
ORDER
Beneath it:
SUBJECT: VICTORIA VALE
STATUS: TERMINATE
Charlotte froze.
"Who wrote this?"
Elias didn't answer.
She looked up.
"Who ordered it?"
His eyes filled with something close to fear.
"That's why they tried to kill me."
"Tell me."
"I can't."
"You survived."
"Barely."
"You hid for four years."
"Yes."
"Then don't waste it."
Elias looked at her.
Charlotte's voice broke.
"My mother deserves the truth."
The old detective closed his eyes.
Then whispered:
"Arthur Vale."
Charlotte stopped breathing.
"My grandfather."
Elias nodded.
"He gave the order."
Marcus stepped forward.
"You're certain?"
"I heard him."
"When?"
"At Solmere."
"Who else was there?"
"Cross."
"Victor?"
"Yes."
"Evelyn?"
"No."
Charlotte stared.
"Why?"
"Because Evelyn wasn't trusted with the final decision."
"What decision?"
Elias looked directly at Charlotte.
"The decision to kill Victoria."
Charlotte's hands trembled.
"How did they do it?"
"Her brakes were sabotaged."
"I know."
"No."
Elias shook his head.
"You don't know everything."
He opened another section of the notebook.
"Your mother wasn't supposed to die in the crash."
Charlotte frowned.
"What?"
"The plan was to scare her."
"Then what changed?"
Elias whispered:
"She fought back."
He showed her a photograph.
Victoria's car.
The driver's door was open.
A second vehicle was parked behind it.
A man stood beside the wreck.
Charlotte recognized him.
Victor Lang.
But there was something else.
A woman.
Standing behind Victor.
Charlotte stared.
"Who is that?"
Elias looked at her.
"You don't recognize her?"
"No."
"Look closer."
Charlotte zoomed in.
The woman was partially hidden by darkness.
But her face was visible.
Charlotte's heart stopped.
She had seen that face before.
In photographs.
At charity events.
In old family albums.
Her mother's sister.
Margaret Vale.
Charlotte whispered:
"My aunt."
Elias nodded.
"She was there."
"Why?"
"Because she was supposed to convince Victoria to leave the city."
Charlotte's eyes narrowed.
"And when my mother refused?"
"Margaret called Arthur."
Charlotte looked at the photograph again.
Her aunt was standing beside the car.
Watching.
Not helping.
Not calling for assistance.
Watching.
"She knew."
"Yes."
"She knew my mother was going to die."
Elias nodded.
Charlotte's phone suddenly vibrated.
Unknown number.
A message appeared.
STOP ASKING QUESTIONS.
Then another.
ELIAS WARD ISN'T THE ONLY SURVIVOR.
Charlotte looked at Marcus.
He had received the same message.
His face darkened.
"Elias."
The old detective looked frightened.
"What?"
Charlotte showed him the phone.
He stared.
Then whispered:
"They found me."
Marcus moved toward the door.
"We need to get you out."
Elias shook his head.
"It's too late."
"What?"
"They know."
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Approaching.
Marcus reached for his weapon.
Charlotte stepped behind him.
The footsteps stopped outside.
Nobody breathed.
Then the door opened.
A nurse entered.
She smiled.
"Mr. Ward?"
Elias stared.
"Who are you?"
The nurse's smile disappeared.
She reached inside her uniform.
Marcus moved faster.
He grabbed her wrist.
A syringe fell to the floor.
The woman struggled.
"You don't understand."
Marcus restrained her.
Charlotte stared at the syringe.
"What is that?"
Elias whispered:
"Potassium."
Charlotte's blood went cold.
"She came to kill you."
Elias nodded.
"And she wasn't supposed to be the one."
Police arrived minutes later.
The nurse was arrested.
But Elias refused to leave the hospital.
"I have one more thing to show you."
He reached beneath the bed.
There was a metal box.
Inside was a cassette recorder.
Charlotte frowned.
"Why a cassette?"
"Because digital files can be erased."
He pressed play.
Static.
Then voices.
Charlotte recognized them immediately.
Arthur.
Cross.
Victor.
Margaret.
They were meeting the night before Victoria's death.
Arthur spoke first.
"She knows too much."
Cross answered:
"Then remove the evidence."
Victor:
"What about Charlotte?"
Margaret:
"She doesn't know anything."
Arthur:
"That's why she must remain innocent."
Charlotte stared.
Then Cross spoke.
"What if Victoria tells her?"
Arthur's voice became cold.
"Then Victoria doesn't live long enough to tell her."
Silence.
Charlotte covered her mouth.
Her mother's fate had been decided before the accident.
But then another voice spoke.
A voice Charlotte didn't recognize.
A woman's voice.
Young.
Confident.
"You're making a mistake."
Everyone became silent.
Arthur said:
"Who invited her?"
Cross answered:
"She has a right to know."
The woman spoke again.
"If you kill Victoria, you create a martyr."
Arthur:
"Then what do you suggest?"
The woman replied:
"Don't kill her."
Charlotte leaned closer.
"Who is she?"
Elias stopped the recording.
"I don't know."
Charlotte stared.
"You said this was the original investigation."
"It is."
"Then who is that woman?"
Elias shook his head.
"She was the only person in the room whose identity I couldn't uncover."
Marcus looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because every record of her had been erased."
Charlotte frowned.
"Did she save my mother?"
Elias looked at her.
"No."
"What did she do?"
"She gave them another option."
"What option?"
Elias whispered:
"Take Victoria alive."
Charlotte's blood froze.
"My mother wasn't killed immediately."
"No."
"She was kidnapped."
Elias nodded.
"For six hours."
"Where?"
"We don't know."
"Then how did she die?"
Elias looked toward the floor.
"She escaped."
Charlotte's eyes widened.
"She escaped?"
"Yes."
"Then she drove away?"
"Yes."
"That's when the brakes failed."
Charlotte suddenly understood.
The crash wasn't the beginning.
It was the end.
Her mother had escaped from whoever had taken her.
And someone had been waiting on the road.
Elias opened the notebook again.
A final page contained coordinates.
Charlotte looked at them.
"What's this?"
"The place your mother was held."
Marcus entered the coordinates.
A location appeared.
Charlotte recognized it.
Her heart stopped.
"The old Solmere rehabilitation center."
Elias nodded.
"Closed eighteen years ago."
Charlotte looked at Marcus.
"Why there?"
Elias answered:
"Because that's where your father was first taken."
Charlotte stared.
"My father was there too?"
"Yes."
"Before my mother died?"
"Yes."
"Did she go there to find him?"
Elias nodded.
"She went there to rescue him."
Charlotte felt tears on her cheeks.
"And she found something else."
Elias looked at her.
"She found the reason they were so desperate to erase you."
Charlotte wiped her eyes.
"What?"
The old detective reached into the metal box.
He pulled out one final photograph.
It showed Victoria standing in the rehabilitation center.
Beside her was Adrian.
And in Victoria's arms—
a newborn baby.
Charlotte stared.
The photograph was dated twenty-six years earlier.
The day she was born.
Her mother had been smiling.
Her father was crying.
But written across the bottom in red ink were three words:
BABY WAS REPLACED.
Charlotte couldn't breathe.
"What does that mean?"
Elias looked at her.
"That's what your mother discovered."
Charlotte shook her head.
"No."
"Your birth records were altered."
"By whom?"
Elias stared at her.
"Your grandfather."
Charlotte stepped backward.
"Why?"
"Because the child born that night..."
He stopped.
Charlotte whispered:
"What?"
Elias looked toward the locked hospital door.
"The child your mother gave birth to was not the child they registered."
Charlotte's world tilted.
"Then who am I?"
Elias didn't answer.
A shadow moved beneath the door.
Everyone froze.
Then a voice came from the hallway.
Calm.
Familiar.
Terrifying.
"She's my daughter."
Charlotte turned toward the door.
Her grandfather's voice.
Arthur.
The door handle slowly moved.
And Elias whispered:
"Now you know why they thought the witness was dead."
The door opened.
Arthur Vale stood there.
May you like
And behind him stood Daniel Cross.
TO BE CONTINUED.
