Caroline agreed to one more meeting.
This time, she wanted Dad there.
She also wanted Elena.
I asked to attend.
The investigators initially said no.
I argued.
“I know more about my life now than I did a week ago.”
Elena looked at me.
“That isn't necessarily a reason to hear more.”
“I need to know who is watching me.”
She considered it.
Finally, she agreed.
The meeting took place in a small conference room.
Caroline entered first.
She looked older than the photograph.
Her hair was silver.
Her hands shook slightly.
When she saw me, she stopped.
“You look like Elena.”
I didn't know how to respond.
“You knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“Did she love me?”
Caroline's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
That was the first thing she said.
Not about money.
Not about paperwork.
Not about fear.
About love.
“She wanted you back.”
“Why didn't she take me?”
“Because she believed you were safer with Valerie.”
I looked at Dad.
“Was Mom protecting me?”
Caroline nodded.
“From whom?”
“Your grandfather.”
“But he's dead.”
“He was dangerous before he died.”
“What did he want?”
“Control.”
“Of me?”
“Of the money attached to you.”
I thought of the $300,000 inheritance.
The trust.
The missing funds.
The secret accounts.
Caroline continued.
“Richard had debts.”
“Gambling?”
“No.”
“Business?”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“Private financial schemes.”
“Was Martin involved?”
“Yes.”
“Was Mom involved?”
“Eventually.”
“How?”
“She agreed to the adoption.”
“Why?”
“To keep you out of Richard's reach.”
I looked at Mom's empty chair.
She wasn't in the room.
That mattered.
Caroline could speak without worrying about her reaction.
“Why did Mom spend my money?”
Caroline lowered her eyes.
“She became desperate.”
“That doesn't answer me.”
“No.”
“Then answer it.”
Caroline took a breath.
“She was paying people who claimed they could keep Richard away.”
“After he died?”
“No.”
“Before.”
“Yes.”
“So the money was protection?”
“Some of it.”
“Not Hawaii.”
Caroline shook her head.
“No.”
“The travel wasn't protection?”
“Not the Hawaii trip I know about.”
My stomach tightened.
“What do you mean?”
Caroline looked at Dad.
“She was preparing to disappear.”
Dad stiffened.
“With Maya?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because someone had begun looking for her again.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You don't know?”
“I disappeared before I could learn.”
I asked, “Why did you come back now?”
Caroline looked directly at me.
“Because your mother made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“She used the old account.”
“The trust?”
“No.”
“The account that belonged to Richard.”
I stared.
“What account?”
Caroline explained that Richard had maintained a hidden account connected to the family trust.
It had been dormant for years.
Mom knew about it.
So did Martin.
So did Caroline.
The account had been untouched since Richard's death.
Until three months ago.
Mom had accessed it.
“Why?”
“To pay for the travel arrangements.”
“Hawaii?”
“Yes.”
“So that's why she went.”
Caroline nodded.
“She was checking whether the old arrangements still worked.”
I thought about the second passport.
The storage locker.
The photographs.
The one-way tickets.
“She was planning to leave with me.”
“Yes.”
“But why leave me alone first?”
Caroline looked uncomfortable.
“She needed to confirm the route without drawing attention.”
“She could have taken me.”
“She was afraid someone was watching.”
“Who?”
Caroline shook her head.
“I don't know.”
I remembered the dark vehicle outside the house.
The unknown messages.
The warning.
Then I asked the question that had been bothering me.
“Who sent the messages?”
Caroline went still.
“What messages?”
I showed her the screenshots.
Her face changed.
“I don't know.”
“Do you recognize the number?”
“No.”
“Do you recognize the words?”
She read them.
Then looked at Dad.
“This is not good.”
“Why?”
“Because the person who wrote this knows details that were never public.”
“What details?”
“The phrase about the night she was born.”
Caroline looked at me.
“Only a few people knew the full story.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
“Martin?”
“Yes.”
“Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Grandma?”
“Yes.”
“Dad?”
“I told him some.”
“What about Richard?”
“He knew.”
I swallowed.
“Richard is dead.”
“Yes.”
“So who sent the message?”
Caroline looked down.
“I don't know.”
The investigators asked her about the private investigator's report.
She confirmed it.
The report had been commissioned by Richard.
But there was a final page.
It had never been included in the original case file.
Caroline had kept a copy.
She handed it to Elena.
The page showed a photograph of a car.
The same dark vehicle I had seen outside the house.
My stomach dropped.
“When was this taken?”
Caroline looked at the date.
“Seven years ago.”
Seven years.
I was four.
The vehicle had been following Mom then.
The investigator's notes said the person inside had followed Mom to a pediatric clinic.
Then to a daycare.
Then home.
“Who was driving?”
The license plate was visible.
Deputy Collins ran it.
The vehicle had been registered to a company.
The company no longer existed.
But one former owner appeared in the records.
Martin Hale.
I stared.
“Martin was following us?”
“Apparently.”
“But he said he was helping Mom.”
Caroline shook her head.
“He may have been doing both.”
That possibility frightened me.
Martin might have been protecting me.
He might also have been watching me.
Or he might have been protecting someone else.
The investigators brought Martin back for questioning.
This time, he admitted following Mom.
“Why?”
“Because Richard paid me.”
“After the adoption?”
“Yes.”
“To watch Maya?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was supposed to make sure she was safe.”
“From whom?”
Martin looked at the investigator.
“Richard.”
“Then why did you continue after Richard died?”
Martin went silent.
“Why?”
“I had another employer.”
“Who?”
He refused to answer.
The investigators pressed him.
Finally, he said:
“Caroline.”
I stared at the recording later.
Caroline had hired Martin after Richard died.
To protect me.
That explained the photographs.
But not the recent ones.
The investigators checked the metadata.
Some photographs had been taken only weeks earlier.
Martin admitted he had taken them.
“Why?”
“Because I received instructions.”
“From whom?”
He wouldn't say.
Then he finally admitted that the instructions came through an intermediary.
“Who?”
“I don't know his name.”
“Did you meet him?”
“No.”
“Then how did you communicate?”
“Encrypted email.”
I didn't understand what that meant.
But the investigators did.
They traced the account.
It had been created six months earlier.
The account holder used a false name.
The recovery address belonged to a storage facility.
Not the airport.
Not Mom's storage unit.
Another facility.
The same one where Caroline had once stored documents.
I looked at Caroline.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Then someone has access to your old records.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“We need to find out.”
The investigators obtained the storage records.
A person had accessed the unit twice in the last six months.
The name on the entry log was false.
But security footage showed a man.
Not Martin.
Not Dad.
Not Derek.
Not anyone I recognized.
Then he turned toward the camera.
His face was partially visible.
Caroline stared at the image.
Her expression changed.
“I know him.”
“Who?”
She whispered the name.
“Richard Voss's attorney.”
Dad stood.
“That man died.”
Caroline shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at the photograph again.
“He wasn't Richard's attorney.”
“Then who was he?”
Caroline's voice trembled.
“He was Richard's son.”
Everyone went silent.
I stared at her.
“Richard had another son?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Caroline looked at me.
“Daniel.”
The name meant nothing to me.
But it meant something to Dad.
He went pale.
“Daniel Voss?”
“You know him?”
Dad nodded slowly.
“Your mother mentioned him once.”
“What did she say?”
“She said he was dangerous.”
Caroline closed her eyes.
“He was the reason Elena was afraid.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel believed the money belonged to him.”
“What money?”
“The inheritance.”
I understood then.
The old trust.
The hidden account.
The missing funds.
The reason Mom had prepared passports.
The reason someone had followed us.
The reason messages had started.
But one question remained.
“Where is Daniel now?”
Caroline looked at the investigators.
Nobody answered.
Then Deputy Collins' phone rang.
He listened.
His face became serious.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“Daniel Voss has just been located.”
My heart stopped.
“Where?”
Deputy Collins ended the call.
“He's in the same city.”
Then another call came through.
This time, he listened longer.
When he hung up, he looked at Dad.
“Daniel isn't alone.”
“Who is with him?”
Deputy Collins looked toward me.
“Your mother.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 13: My Mother Was Standing Beside Daniel, and the Question She Asked Me Changed Everything
She Said I Was Staying With Friends, But By the Third Night I Realized I Was Completely Alone
Part 12 of 20
