Chapter 7 - Elena Followed Nathan Below Ground and Found a Second Exit

Alexander reached the hidden staircase with Mara and two police officers behind him.

The vault door stood open.

Inside, papers covered the floor.

The CROSS file was gone.

So were two hard drives.

“Elena!” Alexander shouted.

No answer.

Mara examined the second chamber.

“Someone searched fast.”

One officer checked the steel cabinets.

Alexander went to the rear wall.

A faint draft touched his face.

He remembered the ventilation grate where Evelyn hid her letter.

The airflow was stronger now.

Mara noticed.

“Where does that vent go?”

“I don’t know.”

They removed the grate and found not a duct but a crawl passage.

Too small for an adult standing upright, but wide enough to crawl through.

Scrapes in the dust were fresh.

“Elena used this,” Mara said.

Alexander entered first.

The tunnel angled upward for nearly thirty feet, then opened into a forgotten brick service shaft.

At the end stood a wooden door.

Beyond it was the old greenhouse.

Its glass roof had been abandoned since Alexander’s childhood.

One panel was broken.

Outside, tire tracks crossed the wet grass.

Mara called for units to search the property.

Alexander found Elena’s scarf near the greenhouse door.

Then a small plastic dinosaur.

Ethan’s favorite toy.

His chest tightened.

“They were here.”

Mara studied the tire tracks.

“One vehicle. Large SUV.”

An officer shouted from behind the greenhouse.

They found the missing guard tied and gagged inside a potting shed.

Conscious, terrified, and furious.

“Nathan had Ethan,” he said. “The nanny followed them downstairs. I tried to stop the SUV.”

“Did you see where they went?”

“North gate.”

Mara turned to Alexander.

“Do you have tracking on estate vehicles?”

“Yes.”

They checked.

The SUV was one of Nathan’s company cars.

Its tracker had been disabled eleven minutes earlier.

But the guard remembered part of the license plate.

Police issued an alert.

Margaret was taken to the hospital for stitches.

Alexander rode with Mara to the security office at Whitmore Holdings.

Nathan’s office had been cleared.

Computer missing.

Files removed.

A framed photograph remained on the wall.

Nathan with a group of military contractors twelve years earlier.

Mara recognized one face.

Samuel Reed.

Daniel Cross.

“They knew each other,” she said.

Alexander stared.

Nathan had lied about Cross, about the night Evelyn disappeared, about the camera footage.

“What does he want with Ethan?”

Mara did not answer immediately.

“Leverage.”

Alexander’s hands curled into fists.

“To get the evidence back?”

“Possibly.”

His phone rang from an unknown number.

He answered.

“Elena?”

A whisper.

“Alexander.”

He nearly collapsed with relief.

“Where are you?”

“I don’t know exactly.”

Her breathing was uneven.

“Is Ethan with you?”

“Yes.”

“Is he hurt?”

“No.”

“Are you?”

“No.”

Mara motioned for him to keep Elena talking while she initiated a trace.

Alexander put the call on speaker but kept his voice steady.

“What happened?”

“Nathan brought Ethan into the vault. I followed through the main door before it shut. He found me. I told him I’d seen nothing.”

“Where did he take you?”

“A warehouse or workshop. I can hear gulls.”

North Harbor.

Mara mouthed, Keep talking.

Elena continued.

“He left us in a small office. The lock is old. I used a paper clip from a folder to open it.”

Alexander almost laughed from relief.

“You’re out?”

“For now.”

“Do you see anything?”

“Shipping crates. Blue doors. A sign that says Pier Equipment Services.”

Mara typed quickly.

There were three businesses with similar names near Portsmouth.

Elena whispered, “Ethan says he remembers this place.”

Alexander’s heart stopped.

“How?”

“He says Mommy was here.”

The line crackled.

Alexander looked at Mara.

“Can you locate them?”

“Almost.”

Elena moved through the building.

Alexander could hear Ethan’s quiet breathing.

Then Elena gasped.

“What?”

“Photos.”

“What photos?”

“A wall full of them.”

“Of who?”

“Evelyn.”

Alexander closed his eyes.

“Current?”

“I don’t know.”

Elena described them.

Evelyn at a train station.

Evelyn entering a small apartment.

Evelyn walking beside a red-haired woman.

One photograph had a date printed in the corner.

Six months after she disappeared.

Alexander gripped the phone.

“She was alive.”

“Yes.”

“Is there anything more recent?”

Elena searched.

Then went silent.

“Elena?”

“There’s one from last year.”

Alexander could barely speak.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Where was it taken?”

“At a hospital entrance.”

Mara raised her head.

“Name?”

Elena moved closer.

“St. Catherine’s Medical Center.”

Mara searched.

There were several.

“Which city?”

“Bristol.”

Mara typed.

Then the phone line jolted with a loud metallic bang.

Ethan cried out.

Elena whispered, “Someone’s coming.”

“Hide.”

“I am.”

A door opened on her end.

A man’s voice said, “I know you’re out.”

Nathan.

Alexander stood completely rigid.

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Then Nathan said something that made everyone in the room go silent.

“Elena, if you want Ethan to see his mother alive, bring him to the loading bay.”