Chapter 3: The Warning Inside the Envelope
Mr.
Bennett lowered the photograph.
“Put the woman on speaker,” he said.
Principal Harris led us into his office while the audience whispered behind us.
Brielle followed, but the principal blocked the doorway.
“This is a private family matter.”
“My mother is on the school board,” Brielle said.
“You can’t shut me out.”
“You humiliated Amara in my hall.
I can do exactly that.”
He closed the door.
His secretary placed the telephone on the desk and pressed a button.
A woman’s frightened breathing filled the room.
“Amara?” she whispered.
My fingers closed around the patched sleeve.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Elena Bennett.”
Mr.
Bennett gripped the back of a chair.
“Elena?”
“Daniel, don’t take her anywhere.”
“You vanished with our daughter.”
“No.
Your sister took her.”
The office door flew open before anyone could answer.
A tall woman in a cream-colored suit strode inside, with Brielle directly behind her.
The woman snatched the receiver and ended the call.
“That woman has spent years telling lies,” she said.
Mr.
Bennett stared at her.
“Vivian, what did Elena mean?”
Vivian Bennett Mercer placed one hand on Brielle’s shoulder.
“It means Elena has learned you’re wealthy enough to exploit again.”
I looked from Vivian to Brielle.
“She’s your mother?”
Brielle lifted her chin.
“And Mr.
Bennett is my uncle.”
Principal Harris held out his hand.
“You entered without permission.
Step away from my student.”
“Your student may be involved in an attempt to defraud my family.”
Mr.
Bennett moved between us.
“She has Elena’s dress.”
“A dress proves nothing.”
“It has stitching Elena hid beneath the cuff.”
Vivian’s smile faltered for less than a second.
Then she pointed at the envelope.
“What is that?”
“It was delivered to Amara,” the secretary said.
“Give it to me.”
“No,” I replied.
Vivian’s eyes settled on mine.
“You have no idea what kind of people you’re dealing with.”
“Then let me find out.”
I opened the envelope.
A silver half-locket slipped onto the desk, followed by a handwritten note and a small brass key.
Mr.
Bennett picked up the locket.
His own chain appeared above his collar as he drew out the matching half.
“Elena kept it,” he whispered.
I unfolded the note.
Amara, do not leave the school until I arrive.
Ask Vivian what happened at St.
Anne’s Hospital on October 14.
The key opens the place where I kept what she could not destroy.
Vivian reached for the note.
Principal Harris caught her wrist before her fingers touched it.
“What happened at St.
Anne’s?” I asked.
“Nothing involving you.”
Mr.
Bennett stepped closer to his sister.
“October 14 was the night Amara disappeared.”
Vivian pulled free.
“Daniel, you were grieving.
Your memory cannot be trusted.”
“My memory is clear enough to remember you collected Amara from the nursery while I searched for Elena.”
Brielle’s face tightened.
“Mom?”
“Stay out of this.”
“You said Uncle Daniel never had a daughter.”
Vivian’s telephone lit up in her hand.
I saw the message before she turned the screen away.
BOARD COUNSEL: If the girl is found before her eighteenth birthday, the trust transfers automatically.
“My birthday is Friday,” I said.
Mr.
Bennett looked at Vivian.
“What trust?”
She slipped the telephone into her purse.
“There is no trust.”
Principal Harris picked up his desk phone.
“Then you won’t mind if we ask the family attorney.”
Vivian’s hand shot across the desk and disconnected the call.
Mr.
Bennett’s voice dropped.
“You have until Friday to keep Amara from being legally identified.”
Vivian backed toward the door.
“You’re mistaken.”
May you like
But Brielle was no longer looking at me.
She was staring at her mother as if she had never seen her before.
