Chapter 18 - THE TWIN WHO KNEW THE TRUTH
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We reached Maine before sunrise.
The house stood at the end of a narrow road overlooking a rocky beach. A single light glowed in the upstairs window.
I approached the front door with the detective while Dorian remained several steps behind us.
An elderly woman opened it.
Her silver hair was pulled into a loose knot. Her eyes were the same shade of blue as my mother's.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then she looked at me and whispered, "Audra."
I stepped forward.
"You're Eleanor."
She nodded.
"And you look so much like your mother."
I wanted to embrace her, but too many questions stood between us.
"Why did you hide from me?"
Eleanor looked toward Dorian.
"Because the truth would have put you in danger."
"Everyone says that. Everyone uses my safety as an excuse to lie."
Her expression crumpled.
"You're right."
She invited us inside.
On a table beside the fireplace lay a stack of old documents, a sealed envelope, and a photograph of my mother holding me as a baby.
Eleanor touched the picture.
"Your mother loved you more than anything. When she discovered Victor's fraud, she came to me for help. We planned to expose him together."
"What happened?"
"Victor found out. He threatened to take you away from her. He had powerful friends, and he knew how to make a lie look official."
"Did he kill her?"
Eleanor looked down.
"I don't know who delivered the final blow. But I know he arranged the circumstances that led to her death."
Dorian stood near the window, silent.
Eleanor continued.
"After your mother died, I used a different identity to investigate the family. I discovered that Evelyn had continued moving money through the foundation. I also discovered that Dorian had been trying to find your father."
I turned toward my husband.
"Is that true?"
He nodded.
"I suspected your father was alive. I didn't know where he was. I paid investigators, but every lead disappeared."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I had no proof. And because I was afraid you'd be targeted."
I looked back at Eleanor.
"Why was there a second death certificate?"
She opened the sealed envelope.
Inside lay a certificate bearing her own name.
Eleanor Whitcomb.
The date was six years earlier.
"I used it to disappear," she explained. "Evelyn was watching everyone connected to your mother. I needed to make her believe the last witness was gone."
"So you're the woman who officially died."
"Yes."
"And Evelyn is still alive because she did the same thing."
Eleanor nodded.
"She learned from me. The difference is that I disappeared to expose the truth. Evelyn disappeared to keep it buried."
She handed me another document.
It was a list of bank accounts, shell companies, and properties.
At the bottom was a name.
Marcus Vale.
Beside it was a date from three months earlier.
I looked up.
"What's this?"
Eleanor's face grew pale.
"Proof that Marcus wasn't merely helping Evelyn."
"Then what was he doing?"
She took a shaky breath.
"He was preparing to take control of the entire empire. And he planned to use Dorian's own signature to make it legal."
Dorian's expression hardened.
"How?"
Eleanor looked directly at me.
"By proving that your husband had been declared mentally unfit to manage the family business."
I stared at the document.
Then I noticed the final line.
May you like
Guardianship application approved pending medical review.
The application had been signed by me.
