Chapter 5 - The Missing Body
The body had disappeared while we searched the basement.
The coffin remained in the parlor.
Its white satin lining had been cut open.
A narrow service hatch beneath the coffin stand led into an old heating tunnel.
Someone had moved the woman through the floor.
Sheriff Crane insisted his deputies had watched every exterior exit.
Elena looked at him.
“Then either your deputies are incompetent, or you helped remove her.”
Crane’s face darkened.
“You are standing in my county.”
“And you are standing beside a missing corpse.”
A search team entered the tunnel.
They found drag marks, strands of dark hair, and an empty syringe.
The tunnel ended inside the estate’s detached chapel.
Behind the altar, a rear door stood open.
Fresh tire tracks crossed the wet grass.
The body was gone.
Elena ordered Crane’s deputies away from the main house.
He refused.
She called the United States Attorney’s Office.
Ten minutes later, Crane received a phone call.
Whatever he heard erased his resistance.
He left without looking at me.
Noah began fussing.
I carried him into the morning room and sat beside the window.
For a few minutes, the investigation disappeared.
There was only my son’s breathing against my chest.
He had Emily’s small chin.
He had my father’s dark eyes.
I touched his cheek.
“I’m going to find her.”
I did not know whether I was making a promise or begging the universe.
Elena entered quietly.
“We ran the passport information.”
I looked up.
“Where was it used?”
“Dulles International Airport.”
“A woman traveling as Emily boarded a flight to Lisbon yesterday.”
“Was it her?”
“The security image is unclear.”
“Height and build are close.”
“Who purchased the ticket?”
“A company called Meridian Family Holdings.”
I recognized the name.
It managed several accounts connected to my father’s estate.
Mother had told me the company dissolved years ago.
Elena sat across from me.
“There is more.”
“The dead woman’s fingerprints came back.”
“You found the body?”
“No.”
“But an agent lifted prints from the coffin lining.”
“Her name was Lila Hart.”
“She was twenty-nine.”
“She worked as a records clerk at St. Matthew’s before the maternity ward closed.”
“Why would she be dressed as Emily?”
“We don’t know yet.”
An agent entered carrying an evidence bag.
Inside was the object Caleb had hidden behind his back.
A small silver flash drive.
They had found it inside the fireplace ash.
The casing was scorched but intact.
Caleb claimed he had never seen it.
A technician connected it to an isolated laptop.
The drive contained one video file.
Emily appeared on the screen.
She was visibly pregnant.
A bruise darkened one cheek.
“If Daniel is watching this,” she said, “then they failed to convince him I died.”
My heart stopped.
Emily looked directly into the camera.
“I am alive.”
“Do not search the airports.”
May you like
“The woman using my passport is not me.”
“And Daniel, whatever your mother tells you, do not allow them to test Noah’s blood.”
