“Is she alive?”
A pause.
“I don’t know.”
That was not the answer I expected.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Evan believed she was alive when he recorded the video. But he also believed someone else was using her identity.”
I
turned away from the house.
The maple branches moved lightly in the wind.
“What?”
“There are travel records, medical forms, signed releases. Some appear genuine. Some don’t. The recovered fragment shows Evan saying Anna may not be the only person involved.”
“Who else?”
Elise exhaled. “There’s a name we need to verify.”
“Tell me.”
Another pause.
Then she said, “Marisol Vale.”
I searched my memory. Nothing.
“Anna’s sister?”
“That’s the problem,” Elise said. “Officially, Anna Vale was an only child.”
Before I could respond, Lily called from the car.
“Ryker! Captain found a secret button!”
I turned.
She was holding up the bear, laughing, but my body went still.
Captain’s green ribbon had slipped loose in her hand.
Underneath it, pressed into the fabric near the seam we had already opened, was something we had missed.
A second zipper.
Smaller.
Hidden deeper.
Almost invisible unless the ribbon fell exactly the
right way.
Owen leaned forward, eyes wide.
“I didn’t know Captain had another pocket,” he whispered.
Nathan stepped closer, all color draining from his face.
Elise was still speaking in my ear.
“Ryker? What happened?”
I looked at the children, at Nathan, at the bear Evan had trusted with more than one secret.
Then Lily opened the second pocket.
Inside was a tiny folded note.
Not in Evan’s handwriting.
In a woman’s.
Lily unfolded it before anyone could stop her, and her face changed as she read the first line aloud.
“My sweet Lily and Owen… if you find this, please know Mommy never left you by choice.”
