CHAPTER 10: THE LAST HEIR
Emily ran toward the sound.
Cole caught her arm.
“Wait.”
“That’s my daughter.”
“It may be a recording.”
The crying stopped.
Then began again from farther inside the tunnel.
Elena removed her phone and activated the flashlight.
The passage behind the crypt had been constructed decades earlier. Dust covered the stone floor, but fresh footprints led into the darkness.
One set belonged to a man.
Another came from a woman wearing narrow shoes.
Cole called for additional officers.
Emily refused to remain behind.
The tunnel ended beneath an abandoned caretaker’s house beyond the cemetery.
Inside, a portable speaker sat on the floor.
The sound of a crying baby played through it.
Emily’s knees nearly gave way.
Cole stopped the recording.
Beside the speaker lay Elizabeth Elena’s white blanket.
A note had been pinned to it.
BRING THE BLACK HARBOR KEYS TO PIER NINETEEN.
COME ALONE.
Elena read the message.
“They don’t only want the Covenant.”
“They want the records,” Emily said.
The two keys together could lock or unlock the underground Black Harbor vault.
Vincent had known that evidence inside the vault could destroy everyone connected to his network.
Judge Reed had stolen the Covenant.
Someone else had killed him and taken Emily’s daughter.
Cole studied the note.
“Vincent is in federal custody.”
“He had partners.”
Thomas arrived from the crypt carrying the metal case.
Agents had cut it from Judge Reed’s wrist.
Inside, they found the Covenant certificates.
They also found a photograph of Margaret Whitmore standing beside a much younger woman.
Emily recognized her from public records.
Catherine Reed.
Judge Reed’s wife.
Catherine had served as an administrator at Black Harbor.
She disappeared shortly after Margaret’s death and was presumed to have moved overseas.
Sofia had mentioned her during questioning.
Catherine recruited frightened women.
She convinced them their babies had died.
Then she arranged private transfers to wealthy families.
Judge Reed had protected his wife for decades.
Now he was dead.
“Catherine took the baby,” Emily said.
Cole did not disagree.
At ten that night, Emily arrived at Pier Nineteen wearing a hidden microphone.
The brass and black keys were inside her coat.
Cole’s team waited in unmarked vehicles several blocks away.
Elena remained with them.
She had argued until Emily made one thing clear.
Catherine had ordered her to come alone.
A warehouse stood beside the dark river.
Emily entered.
Elizabeth Elena sat inside a portable crib beneath a hanging light.
She was awake.
Unharmed.
Catherine Reed stood behind her.
She was nearly seventy, dressed in a gray coat with white gloves.
“You have Elizabeth’s eyes,” Catherine said.
“Step away from my daughter.”
“Your daughter has a beautiful name.”
“Don’t say her name.”
Catherine smiled faintly.
“I knew Elizabeth Whitmore. She came to Black Harbor many times after adopting you. She was desperate to believe she had rescued a child.”
“She loved me.”
“I never said she didn’t.”
Catherine placed one hand on the crib.
“But love does not erase a crime.”
“Neither does pretending babies were dead.”
Catherine’s expression changed.
“I gave children homes.”
“You sold them.”
“I gave desperate couples what nature denied them.”
“And what did you give the mothers?”
“Freedom from shame.”
Emily looked at her daughter.
“Where is Judge Reed?”
“My husband became weak.”
“You killed him.”
“He wanted to confess.”
Catherine stepped forward.
“The keys.”
Emily removed them from her pocket.
“Give me my daughter first.”
“You are not negotiating.”
“You need both keys. I can throw them into the river before you reach me.”
Catherine’s hand moved inside her coat.
Emily heard Cole’s warning through the hidden earpiece.
Gun.
She held the keys over a broken window facing the water.
“Move away from the crib.”
Catherine drew the weapon.
Emily released one key.
It fell toward the river.
Catherine rushed forward.
Before the key passed through the broken window, a gloved hand caught it from outside.
Sofia climbed through the opening.
Catherine turned the gun toward her.
Elena entered through the opposite door and struck Catherine’s arm with a metal bar.
The weapon fired into the ceiling.
Cole and the officers stormed the warehouse.
Emily ran to the crib.
Elizabeth Elena reached toward her, crying.
Emily lifted her and pressed her against her chest.
Across the warehouse, Catherine was placed in handcuffs.
She looked at Elena and Sofia.
“Both of you should have disappeared at Black Harbor.”
Sofia’s face became cold.
“That was Vincent’s mistake.”
“No,” Elena said.
She stood beside Emily and touched the baby’s hair.
“His mistake was believing women who survived would remain silent.”
Catherine was led away.
The Covenant was recovered.
The keys remained secure.
Emily believed the danger had finally ended.
Then Cole approached her.
He held Catherine’s phone.
“There was another message scheduled to be sent at midnight.”
“To whom?”
“Richard Mercer.”
Emily stared at him.
Richard had been in a maximum-security prison for more than a year.
Cole turned the screen toward her.
May you like
The message read:
YOUR DAUGHTER IS ALIVE.
