Chapter 13: The Legal Vault
Chapter 13: The Legal Vault
"We’re leaving," Ethan said, his voice shaking as he slammed his hand against the counter. "We’re packing a bag, taking Noah, and getting a hotel room in Portland until the cops find her. I don't care about the farm, Claire. I care about our lives."
"If we run, we’re just targets on the move," I said, trying to force my voice to remain calm, though my hands were cold as ice. "She wants us panicked. She wants us running because when people panic, they make mistakes. They forget to lock a door. They pull over at the wrong rest stop. We stay here, where we have cameras, where we have locks, and where I can find her."
I dialed Detective Ruiz’s old office in California. It took twenty minutes of bureaucracy before I finally got her on a private secure line. She was a captain now, her voice deeper and busier than before.
"Claire," Ruiz said, sounding instantly alert. "Vance told me about the photograph. Did you get something else?"
"She sent a death threat to my house today, Elena. A severed porcelain doll and a note explicitly targeting my son. The local sheriff says it's circumstantial because there are no fingerprints on the box and it was left in a public mailbox."
"Listen to me carefully," Ruiz said, the sound of papers rustling through the phone. "We just executed a search warrant on the medical facility where your mother died. We found a safety deposit box key hidden in the lining of Diane's mattress. It’s registered to a local credit union in a small town just forty miles north of your farm in Oregon."
I froze. "Forty miles from here?"
"Diane didn't pick that facility by accident, Claire. She knew you were in Oregon. She wanted to be close enough to keep an eye on you, even from a bed. The box is registered under her maiden name: Diane Vance. We’re flying a team out tomorrow to open it legally, but I need you to understand something—Vanessa knows about that box. Her parole records show she checked into a motel in that exact same town three days ago."
"She’s using Diane’s ghost to fund a war against me," I whispered.
"Don't go near that bank, Claire," Ruiz warned. "Let us handle it. Vanessa is baiting you. She wants you out in the open."
May you like
I hung up the phone and looked at the map on my computer. The town was called Blackwood. A quiet, logging community tucked deep into the mountains. It was less than an hour's drive from where my son was currently sleeping.
"Ethan," I said softly, looking at my husband’s exhausted face. "We need to hire a private security team. Tonight. Because tomorrow, I’m going to that bank."
