Chapter 4 - THE SIGNATURES
By sunrise, Elena was in a private hospital room guarded by two uniformed officers.
Richard sat beside the window.
Lily slept curled against Elena’s side.
Neither mother nor daughter had been willing to let the other out of sight.
Detective Brooks stood near the door with a folder in her hand.
“We found documents in the cellar.”
Richard looked up.
“What kind?”
“Stock transfers.”
His stomach tightened.
Brooks placed photocopies on the table.
Richard recognized the letterhead.
Hale Development Group.
His family company.
He read the first page.
Then the second.
Then he stopped.
Elena Hale hereby authorizes the transfer of voting rights associated with fourteen percent ownership...
Richard looked at Elena.
“You signed this?”
Elena nodded.
“Under threat.”
“What threat?”
Her hand moved instinctively around Lily.
“Her.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“They told you they’d hurt Lily?”
“Victoria would bring videos.”
“What videos?”
“Lily sleeping.”
Richard went still.
“Eating breakfast.”
Elena’s voice broke.
“Walking to school.”
“She said they could reach her anytime.”
Richard looked toward the door as if Victoria might somehow be standing there.
“So you signed.”
“At first.”
“What do you mean?”
“I started changing my signature.”
Brooks leaned forward.
“How?”
“Tiny differences.”
Elena raised her hand.
“I would make the final stroke too long.”
“Why?”
“So someday someone would know.”
Brooks took the documents.
“You intentionally marked coerced signatures.”
“Yes.”
“How many documents?”
“I lost count.”
“Twenty?”
“More.”
“Fifty?”
Elena looked away.
Richard’s face hardened.
“Where did those shares go?”
Brooks answered.
“Mostly to three shell companies.”
“Beneficiaries?”
“Still tracing them.”
Richard already knew the answer he feared.
“Daniel.”
“We don’t know yet.”
His phone vibrated.
Daniel’s name appeared on the screen.
Everyone looked at it.
Richard answered on speaker.
“Richard?”
Daniel sounded concerned.
“I just heard about Elena.”
Richard said nothing.
“My God.”
Daniel continued.
“Is it true?”
“You tell me.”
Silence.
“What does that mean?”
“Where are you?”
“At Heathrow.”
Richard looked at Brooks.
She wrote something on a notepad.
Keep him talking.
Richard leaned back.
“Why are you at Heathrow?”
“I’m flying home.”
“From where?”
“Geneva.”
“You told me London yesterday.”
“I had meetings.”
“What meetings?”
“Richard, what is this?”
“You tell me.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Are you accusing me of something?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You don’t have to.”
Elena stared at the phone.
Daniel’s voice softened.
“Is Elena there?”
Richard looked at her.
She shook her head sharply.
“No.”
Another pause.
“When can I see her?”
“You can’t.”
“Richard.”
“Stay where you are.”
“What?”
“Don’t come to the hospital.”
“You’re serious?”
“Very.”
Daniel laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
“Someone has put something in your head.”
Richard glanced at Elena.
“Someone put my wife beneath my floor.”
Daniel stopped talking.
Richard listened to the faint airport noise.
Then Daniel said, “Ask Victoria.”
The line went dead.
Brooks immediately stepped outside to contact airport authorities.
Richard looked at Elena.
“What did he mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said Victoria was afraid of him.”
“She was.”
“Then why would he tell me to ask her?”
Elena looked uneasy.
“Because Daniel never says anything unless it helps Daniel.”
Two hours later, Brooks returned.
“Daniel never boarded the flight.”
Richard stood.
“Where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
“He was at Heathrow.”
“No.”
Brooks placed her phone on the table.
“The airport background noise was a recording.”
Richard stared.
“We traced the call.”
“Where?”
Brooks looked toward Elena.
“Three miles from your house.”
Lily stirred.
Richard lowered his voice.
“He’s here?”
“He was.”
Brooks continued.
“And we have another problem.”
“What?”
“Victoria wants to talk.”
“Good.”
“Only to Elena.”
Richard immediately shook his head.
“No.”
Elena surprised him.
“Yes.”
“Elena.”
“I need to hear what she says.”
“She locked you underground.”
“And she knows where Daniel is.”
Richard stared at her.
Brooks intervened.
“It would be monitored.”
“No.”
Richard said.
Elena looked at him.
“You spent two years believing I left you.”
The words hit harder than she intended.
Richard’s face changed.
Elena softened.
“I’m not blaming you.”
“You should.”
“No.”
“You were fifteen feet beneath me.”
“I know.”
“I walked across that floor every day.”
“I know.”
“I brought another woman into our home.”
Elena looked away.
Richard lowered his voice.
“Were you and Victoria—”
“No.”
He answered quickly.
“We were never married.”
“But?”
Richard hesitated.
“We were engaged.”
Elena shut her eyes.
He hated himself for saying it.
“We were supposed to marry in six weeks.”
Lily woke.
Her small voice came from the bed.
“You were going to marry Victoria?”
Richard turned.
“Sweetheart—”
“She knew Mommy was downstairs.”
Richard had no answer.
Lily sat up.
“She knew.”
Tears formed.
“And you were going to make her my new mommy?”
Richard stepped toward her.
Lily moved closer to Elena.
That movement hurt more than any accusation.
Elena touched Lily’s hair.
“Your dad didn’t know.”
“But he believed Victoria.”
Richard looked down.
“Yes.”
Lily stared at him.
“Why didn’t you believe me?”
He looked up.
“What?”
“I told you.”
Richard frowned.
“When?”
“Last year.”
Her lip trembled.
“I told you I heard Mommy crying under my room.”
Richard remembered.
Lily had been seven.
She had woken screaming for three nights.
She claimed someone was calling her name through the floor.
The child psychologist called it grief projection.
Richard had believed the psychologist.
Not his daughter.
“I’m sorry.”
Lily began crying.
Richard did not touch her.
He did not think he had earned that yet.
At noon, Victoria was brought into an interview room at the police station.
Elena watched through a secure video connection from the hospital.
Victoria looked exhausted.
No makeup.
No elegant dress.
No confidence.
Detective Brooks sat across from her.
“You asked to speak to Elena.”
Victoria looked at the camera.
“Elena.”
Elena’s expression hardened.
“What?”
Victoria leaned forward.
“You think Daniel put you in that cellar.”
Elena said nothing.
“You’re wrong.”
“Then tell me who did.”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“You did.”
Richard stood.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Victoria kept looking at Elena.
“You found that room before any of us.”
Elena’s face changed.
Richard noticed.
Victoria continued.
“You discovered what was hidden there.”
“What?”
Richard demanded.
Victoria ignored him.
“That is why all of this started.”
Elena whispered, “Stop.”
“No.”
Victoria shook her head.
“You want the truth?”
Elena’s breathing accelerated.
“Stop.”
Victoria leaned toward the camera.
“Tell Richard what you found beneath that floor two years ago.”
Lily looked at her mother.
Richard stared at his wife.
Elena began to shake.
May you like
Then Victoria said the sentence Elena had spent two years trying to forget.
“Tell him about the body.”
