Chapter 4 - The Silver Horse Pin
Harrison crossed the hallway before Evelyn noticed him.
The nurse quickly stepped away.
“What were you asking her?” Harrison demanded.
Evelyn’s expression remained calm.
“I wanted to know whether Mara was conscious.”
“Why?”
“Because I am concerned about her.”
Lucy appeared at the doorway.
“She is lying.”
Evelyn turned.
“You should be with your brother.”
“My mother said you always smile before you lie.”
Harrison looked at the silver horse pin.
“Take it off.”
Evelyn frowned.
“What?”
“The brooch.”
She removed it slowly.
Harrison examined the back.
A tiny symbol had been engraved beneath the clasp.
SC.
Silver Crown.
“Where did you get this?”
“It was a gift.”
“From whom?”
“I don’t remember.”
Lucy pointed toward the pin.
“The men at the white house wore that mark.”
Evelyn’s composure finally cracked.
“She is a child.”
“She could have seen a similar symbol anywhere.”
Harrison called his security chief.
“Escort Evelyn from the building.”
“You cannot be serious.”
“You will not come near Mara or the children until I know what Silver Crown is.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“You are allowing guilt to control you.”
“Guilt for what?”
“For choosing the ranch over your daughter.”
The accusation struck him.
Harrison had argued with Mara the night before she disappeared.
She wanted him to investigate missing money from the employee pension fund.
He dismissed her concerns because Evelyn had already shown him records claiming everything was balanced.
Mara called him blind.
Harrison told her to leave if she could not trust the family.
She vanished hours later.
Evelyn had spent nine years reminding him of those words.
Now he wondered whether she had used his guilt to keep him from asking the right questions.
Security escorted her away.
Lucy watched until the elevator doors closed.
Then she handed Harrison a small brass key.
“Mom told me to give you this if she stopped talking.”
“What does it open?”
“She said it opens the place where Grandpa hid the truth.”
Harrison’s father had been dead for fifteen years.
Before Harrison could ask another question, alarms sounded inside Mara’s room.
A nurse ran toward them.
Mara’s heart rate had suddenly dropped.
Dr. Keller examined the IV bag.
May you like
A fresh puncture mark was visible near the top.
Someone had injected something into it.
