Chapter 11 - THE FIVE-MILLION-DOLLAR CHECK
Eleanor stared at the check.
“I never sent that.”
The date was two years earlier.
Pay to the order of Cynthia Vale.
Memo:
FOR M.W. MATTER.
Alexander’s face went empty.
“What is M.W.?”
Eleanor said nothing.
Samuel pressed.
“Margaret Whitmore?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Eleanor’s hands trembled.
“Medical withdrawal.”
Nobody believed that.
Eleanor finally told the truth.
Two years earlier, Cynthia came to her claiming she had new information about Margaret’s disappearance.
She wanted five million dollars to reveal it.
Eleanor wrote the check.
Then Cynthia changed her demand.
She wanted Eleanor to convince Alexander to marry Vanessa instead.
“If I did that,” Eleanor said, “she promised to stop bringing Margaret into his life.”
Alexander stood.
“You paid a woman to bury information about my wife?”
“I thought she was extorting us with lies.”
“You did not tell me.”
“You were finally functioning again.”
Eleanor had not known Margaret was alive.
But she had chosen not to investigate because the truth threatened stability.
Alexander looked physically ill.
Then Samuel asked:
“Why is the check still in Cynthia’s lockbox?”
Eleanor answered:
“Because I never gave it to her.”
Cynthia had photographed it during a meeting.
Maybe to use later.
Maybe as leverage.
Police seized her devices.
Meanwhile, Margaret’s medical exam confirmed she and the baby were physically stable.
She asked for privacy.
No press.
No family statement.
Alexander honored it.
Vanessa did not.
From custody, her attorney released a statement claiming Margaret was mentally unwell and had participated voluntarily.
The wording made Margaret panic.
“She’s going to make people think I agreed.”
I watched the fear take over her face.
Then Lily, sitting nearby with crayons, said:
“But the camera shows you tried to leave.”
Margaret looked at her.
Lily shrugged.
“I saw it.”
Simple.
Then Samuel’s phone rang.
The fertility lab had completed a preliminary genetic check from stored samples.
The embryo was genetically linked to Margaret.
And Alexander.
But the lab director added one strange fact.
May you like
The embryo number did not match the one Haven claimed to transfer.
Somebody had switched the records.
