Chapter 7 - Claire Refuses Julian’s Choice
Claire stared at the phone.
“My mother is with you?”
Julian laughed.
“Not exactly.”
“Let me speak to her.”
“No.”
“Then I don’t believe you.”
Adrian looked at Claire.
She surprised him.
Her voice was steady now.
Ten years of grief had taught her something.
Hope could be manipulated too.
Julian said, “You have her bracelet.”
“Yes.”
“Ask Adrian where he got it.”
Claire looked at him.
Adrian answered.
“A train station outside Quebec City.”
Evelyn had met him there three weeks earlier.
She stayed only seven minutes.
She gave him the bracelet and recorder.
She refused to reveal where she lived.
Julian said, “She made one mistake.”
“What?”
“She used a bank card.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
Julian’s people traced it.
They did not capture Evelyn.
But they narrowed her location.
A small town north of Quebec City.
Julian wanted the Northstar ledger.
He believed Claire knew where Evelyn hid it.
Claire almost laughed.
“I was fourteen when she disappeared.”
“Your mother planned ahead.”
“I don’t know anything about a ledger.”
Julian paused.
Then asked:
“What did she give you on your fourteenth birthday?”
Claire froze.
A music box.
Old.
Wooden.
Her mother had insisted Claire keep it.
After Evelyn vanished, Claire stored it with other belongings.
She had not opened it in years.
Julian knew.
Adrian saw the answer on her face.
“Claire.”
She looked at him.
May you like
The ledger might never have been with Evelyn.
It might have been with Claire all along.
