Chapter 23 - THE PHONE CALL
That night, Rowan received a call.
Unknown number.
She answered.
"Hello?"
A man's voice replied.
"You should stop looking."
Rowan immediately recognized it.
Victor.
"You took my sister."
"No."
"You destroyed my family."
"No."
"You stole our inheritance."
Victor laughed.
"Your family destroyed itself."
Rowan's anger rose.
"Where is Rebecca?"
Silence.
Then:
"Closer than you think."
The call ended.
Rowan stared at her phone.
Wells took it from her.
"Can we trace it?"
"Maybe."
Minutes later, the investigator called.
The call had originated from a public phone near the train station.
They drove there.
Nothing.
Except a woman sitting alone on a bench.
She looked at Rowan.
Then stood.
"Are you Rowan?"
"Yes."
The woman handed her an envelope.
"Someone asked me to give you this."
"Who?"
"He said you would know."
Inside was a photograph.
Rowan looked down.
Her heart stopped.
The woman in the photograph was older.
Maybe thirty.
Brown hair.
Same eyes.
Same scar beneath the left eyebrow.
Rebecca.
On the back:
I KNOW YOU'RE LOOKING FOR ME.
And beneath it:
DON'T TRUST WELLS.
Rowan slowly turned toward her husband.
Wells had followed her.
He saw the photograph.
His face changed.
"Rowan..."
She stepped backward.
"What does this mean?"
"I don't know."
"You knew about Rebecca?"
"No."
"Then why does she say not to trust you?"
"I don't know."
The woman who had delivered the envelope suddenly ran.
Wells chased her.
Rowan remained frozen.
Then she noticed something else.
A second photograph had been hidden inside the envelope.
It showed Wells.
May you like
Standing with Victor Hale.
Three months earlier.
