Chapter 7 - August Pierce Had DisappearedAugust Pierce was seventy-one.
Retired.
Divorced.
No current address anyone trusted.
His last known property in Florida had been sold six months earlier.
Bank activity showed almost nothing.
Then Detective Moreno found a flight record.
Pierce had entered Canada two days after Claire died.
He did not return for seven months.
Everett stared at the timeline.
“Convenient.”
Moreno nodded.
“Harrison says Pierce sent the threats.”
“Harrison also spent ten years lying.”
“I know.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I believe he may believe part of his story.”
That was not the same thing.
The threatening letters were real.
Forensic examination found old handling marks but little else.
One envelope had been preserved in Claire’s files.
No usable fingerprints.
But the wording mattered.
TWO HEIRS CHANGE EVERYTHING.
Whoever wrote it knew the trust clause.
Very few people did.
Harrison.
Claire.
August.
Several trustees.
Possibly Octavia because she handled records for the family hospital.
Everett returned home to find Finley waiting in the living room.
“Did you see Grandpa?”
Everett stopped.
“Yes.”
“Is he bad?”
There was that word again.
He sat.
“Grandpa lied about Sawyer.”
Finley looked down.
“That’s bad.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He says he thought he was protecting both of you.”
“Was he?”
Everett thought carefully.
“I don’t know.”
Finley frowned.
“How can you not know?”
“Because sometimes people do wrong things because they’re scared.”
“Does that make it okay?”
“No.”
Finley nodded.
Simple enough.
Then:
“When do I meet Sawyer?”
Everett’s chest tightened.
“Soon.”
“You said that yesterday.”
“I know.”
“Does he want to?”
Everett hesitated.
That was the real question.
“I don’t know.”
Finley looked hurt.
“Maybe he doesn’t.”
“He just found out too.”
“What if he likes his family better?”
Everett understood.
This was not jealousy yet.
It was fear.
If Sawyer existed, did that make Finley less special?
Less wanted?
“His family isn’t replacing yours.”
Finley looked at him.
“You’re his family.”
“I’m part of his biological family.”
“Then if he gets you, do I get less?”
Everett’s heart broke.
He pulled Finley closer.
“No.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Love isn’t ten cookies.”
Finley almost smiled.
“What?”
“If you give someone one, you don’t necessarily have nine left.”
“That’s not how cookies work.”
“Exactly.”
“That example is bad.”
“It sounded better in my head.”
Finley laughed.
For ten seconds, Everett felt normal.
Then Moreno called.
They had located August Pierce.
Not through banking.
Through Octavia.
Her second phone contained a number saved as A.P.
The calls continued until three weeks earlier.
Police traced the number to a prepaid device used near a rural property in Vermont.
Local officers were going there.
“What did Octavia say to him?”
“Mostly short calls.”
“Messages?”
“One.”
“Read it.”
Moreno did.
Octavia:
Claire was right. The boys will eventually find each other. We should have told Everett years ago.
Pierce:
If you tell him, Harrison will make sure you take the blame alone.
Everett stared.
“That sounds like Pierce and Harrison were not partners anymore.”
“Maybe.”
Another message.
Octavia:
I kept the photo because someone had to remember Sawyer existed.
That sentence complicated his anger toward her.
She had still restrained Finley.
Still tried to give him medication.
Still lied.
But guilt had apparently lived beside those choices.
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
Pierce:
Do not let Finley see Sawyer until we know what Claire copied before she died.
Everett’s pulse changed.
“Copied from where?”
“No answer.”
Claire again.
Everything returned to Claire.
Her investigation.
Her death.
The adoption.
The threats.
The trust.
Then a local Vermont officer called Moreno.
They had found Pierce’s house.
Door unlocked.
No Pierce.
Inside, they found boxes of records.
Old Vale Medical files.
Private trust documents.
A shredder.
And a large photograph pinned above the desk.
Two boys.
Finley and Sawyer.
Taken separately.
Placed side by side.
Underneath, Pierce had written:
ONE OF THEM CONTROLS NOTHING. TOGETHER THEY CONTROL EVERYTHING.
Everett felt cold.
“What does that mean?”
Cynthia answered after reviewing the trust.
“The second-child clause transferred voting rights to Claire.”
“Yes.”
“But Claire is dead.”
Everett waited.
“Her rights pass to her living biological descendants.”
“Finley and Sawyer.”
“Together.”
“How much?”
Cynthia looked at him.
“Fifty-three percent.”
Everett stared.
His two ten-year-old sons jointly controlled the voting future of Vale Medical.
And someone had spent a decade making sure they never knew the other existed.
Then Moreno received another call.
This one changed her face.
“What?”
Everett asked.
She lowered the phone.
“Police found blood in Pierce’s house.”
“His?”
“Unknown.”
“Is he dead?”
“We don’t know.”
She hesitated.
“And they found something else.”
A recent photograph.
Sawyer walking home from school.
May you like
Taken from inside a car.
Someone had been watching him.
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