Chapter 4 - Sarah Finds Her Father Alive
Investigators traced Thomas to a farmhouse outside Stowe, Vermont.
Sarah wanted to leave immediately. Daniel arranged for Lily to stay with
Claire and trusted security.
Before Sarah left, Lily asked, “Are you coming back?”
Sarah understood the fear beneath the question.
“Yes. I’m coming home to you.”
Thomas opened the farmhouse door before they knocked.
Sarah stared at him for several seconds, then slapped him.
“You missed my wedding. You missed Lily being born. You let me think you
were dead.”
Thomas did not defend himself.
“I know.”
He explained that Charles and Margaret discovered his investigation nine
years earlier. Charles threatened prosecution. Margaret threatened
Sarah. Thomas entered a protected cooperation arrangement while
investigators tried to build a case.
The case collapsed after records disappeared and a key witness vanished.
Thomas stayed hidden because someone continued watching Sarah.
“Margaret?” Daniel asked.
“At first I thought so. Later I wasn’t sure.”
Thomas had contacted Margaret three months earlier because the old
secret accounts became active again.
He needed the blue box.
Margaret refused.
Then Thomas showed them recent bank records.
Margaret had been making monthly payments to a private residential
facility in upstate New York.
The beneficiary used an alias.
Thomas had uncovered her identity.
Evelyn Hart.
Daniel’s biological mother was alive.
Worse, records showed Charles had once controlled her legal
guardianship.
After Charles died, that authority had effectively passed to Margaret.
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“You’re saying Margaret has been paying to keep my mother somewhere for
years?”
Thomas answered carefully.
“I’m saying Evelyn is alive, and Margaret has controlled the money
keeping her there.”
Daniel stood.
May you like
They were no longer chasing an old family scandal.
A living woman might still be trapped inside it.
