Chapter 13 - THE EMPTY CLASSROOM
I don't remember driving.
I remember Clara screaming.
I remember Victoria beside her.
I remember Marcus making six calls at once.
When we reached Nathaniel's preschool, police were already there.
His classroom was empty.
His backpack was gone.
But his jacket remained on the chair.
Clara collapsed against me.
"He was here."
"I know."
"He was supposed to be safe."
I held her.
"We'll find him."
A teacher approached.
"We're so sorry."
"Who picked him up?"
She shook her head.
"A woman."
"What woman?"
"She said she was from your foundation."
My blood froze.
"What did she look like?"
"Blonde. Elegant. Maybe forty."
Victoria whispered:
"That's impossible."
I turned.
"Why?"
"Because I've seen her."
"Who is she?"
Victoria's face hardened.
"Her name is Helena Cross."
Marcus immediately searched the database.
Nothing.
Then one detective approached.
"Mr. Vance."
"What?"
"We found security footage."
He showed us the screen.
A woman entered the school.
She walked directly to Nathaniel.
He didn't resist.
Instead, he ran into her arms.
Clara stared.
"Why would he trust her?"
I didn't answer.
Then I noticed something.
The woman wore the same silver watch.
The same watch from my father's photograph.
Marcus zoomed in.
The woman's face became clearer.
Victoria whispered:
"That's her."
"Who?"
"My father's nurse."
I looked at the detective.
"She's seventy-nine."
Victoria shook her head.
"No."
She pointed at the screen.
"That's not the nurse."
"Then who?"
Victoria's voice trembled.
"Her daughter."
The woman who had given us the cassette had lied.
She wasn't protecting us.
She had led us directly to the truth.
We searched every camera.
The woman drove Nathaniel to an underground parking garage.
Then the footage stopped.
Marcus found the car.
Abandoned.
No child.
No woman.
No trace.
Clara was crying silently.
Then my phone rang.
The same blocked number.
I answered.
"Where is my son?"
"Safe."
"Give him back."
"Not yet."
"Who are you?"
"You really want to know?"
"Yes."
"Then open your father's second safe."
I froze.
"What safe?"
The man laughed.
"The one beneath your dining room."
The line ended.
I looked at Clara.
The dining room.
The same room where everything had started.
We returned home.
Marcus brought a demolition team.
They removed the wooden floor beneath the table.
Nothing.
Then one worker struck something metallic.
A hidden steel compartment appeared.
Inside was a single black box.
And a photograph.
My father.
Eleanor.
Arthur.
And another woman.
A woman holding a baby.
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On the back:
THE ORIGINAL VANCE HEIR.
