Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Knew
Nora's apartment had not been broken into.
The lock was clean.
Nothing else was missing.
Someone had taken only her mother's keepsake box.
Dominic checked building footage.
A woman entered three hours earlier using Nora's own access code.
Nora stared at the screen.
"That's impossible."
The woman wore a hood, but when she turned toward the elevator camera, her face was clear.
Evelyn Hart.
Claire Bennett's younger sister.
Nora's aunt.
The woman who had raised Nora after Claire died.
Nora called her.
No answer.
They drove to Evelyn's house in Cambridge.
Front door open.
Kitchen light on.
Tea still warm.
Evelyn was gone.
On the table sat Nora's keepsake box.
Untouched.
Inside, beneath old birthday cards and photographs, Adrian found a narrow false panel.
A brass key.
And a letter from Claire.
Nora,
Your father asked me to keep this until the day someone from the Vale family came looking for you.
Nora looked up.
"She knew I would meet you."
Adrian said nothing.
The letter continued.
Daniel survived the night he disappeared. I knew that much. I helped him leave Boston. I did not know where he went after that because he believed knowing would put us in danger.
Nora pressed a hand to her mouth.
Her mother had known he was alive.
For years.
Anger and grief collided so fast she had to sit down.
Claire's final lines were worse.
If Evelyn ever asks for the key, do not give it to her. She loved your father once. She never forgave him for choosing me.
Nora stared at the empty house.
Her aunt had lied to her for most of her life.
Then Dominic found blood near the back door.
Beside it lay Evelyn's phone.
One unsent message was open.
NORA - PIKE IS ALIVE.
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Adrian spun.
May you like
A gun appeared in the doorway.
The man holding it was old, scarred, and wearing a silver Saint Christopher medal.
