Chapter 6 - THE KEY IN THE NECKLACE
Union Station opened at five in the morning.
Detective Reyes met us there with a warrant and two transit officers.
The key number matched a private locker leased twenty-four years earlier under Claire Harrington's name.
The rent had been paid automatically from a small account no one had noticed.
Daniel stood beside me as the station manager turned the lock.
The door opened with a groan.
Inside sat a weathered suitcase.
The first thing I saw was a baby blanket embroidered with the letter E.
The second was a video camera wrapped in plastic.
There were also copies of trust documents, a list of shell companies, and a sealed envelope addressed to Margaret.
Margaret opened it with shaking hands.
Claire had written the letter the day before she disappeared.
Mom, if Charles tells you I ran away, he is lying.
Victor helped him move the pension money.
I am taking Emily somewhere safe.
I will come back when I know how to stop them.
If I fail, the necklace contains the key to everything.
Margaret sat on a station bench and wept.
I wanted to comfort her, but I still did not know whether she deserved it.
Reyes connected the old camera to a portable reader.
The screen flickered.
Claire appeared in a small motel room holding me as an infant.
She spoke directly to the camera.
“My name is Claire Harrington.”
“My father has threatened my child.”
“He says he will take her unless I sign away the trust.”
“I have arranged for a nurse named Ruth Carter to hide Emily.”
My breath caught.
Ruth Carter was the woman who raised me.
Claire continued.
“If you are watching this, Emily survived.”
“Tell her I did not leave because I did not love her.”
“I left because staying would have killed the only chance she had.”
The recording skipped.
A man shouted outside Claire's motel door.
She hid the camera.
The image went dark, but the audio continued.
Victor's voice ordered her to open the door.
Claire refused.
A struggle followed.
Then Charles said, “Take her to Silver Pines.”
The video ended.
Reyes searched the suitcase and found a newer envelope beneath the lining.
The paper was clean.
The postmark was only six months old.
Inside was a photograph of a silver-haired woman sitting beside a window.
She held the same baby blanket from the locker.
On the back, someone had written a date and five words.
May you like
Claire is alive.
Victor knows where.
