Chapter 14: The Edited Video
The video showed Daniel entering the foster home.
It appeared to show him carrying Ethan away.
The timestamp matched the kidnapping.
Daniel stared at the screen.
“That isn’t me.”
The man wore Daniel’s coat and moved like him, but his face remained turned from the camera.
Victoria looked heartbroken for the police.
“My nephew is desperate to keep control of Ethan’s money.”
“We didn’t know about the trust until yesterday,” Claire said.
Victoria’s eyes flickered.
She had just revealed too much.
The officer noticed.
“What trust?”
Victoria quickly changed the subject.
Daniel was detained for questioning.
Claire was allowed to remain with Ethan until child services arrived.
Before Daniel entered the police car, he whispered, “Go to the clinic.”
Claire wanted to stay.
But Daniel’s attorney promised he would be released once the footage was examined.
Claire drove north with Ethan before dawn.
The private clinic stood beyond a locked iron gate.
A sign on the fence read:
CLOSED DUE TO FIRE DAMAGE.
The main building had burned six months earlier.
Claire walked around the property until she found a small cottage behind the ruins.
An elderly nurse answered the door.
When Claire showed her Lily’s photograph, the nurse began to cry.
“She called herself Jane.”
“Was she here?”
“For seven weeks.”
“What happened to her?”
“Men came at night. They said they were family.”
“Was Victoria with them?”
The nurse nodded.
“She gave me money to forget.”
“Where did they take Lily?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Did my mommy leave me something?”
The nurse stared at him.
Then she removed a silver pendant from beneath her blouse.
“She said a little boy with her eyes would come someday.”
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Inside the pendant was a set of coordinates.
And a recent photograph of Lily standing beside a cabin.
