Chapter 11 - Rebecca’s Last WarningDaniel felt the world divide again.
Madeline said Rebecca trusted her.
Emma remembered the opposite.
“Why didn’t Mommy trust Madeline?”
Emma looked uncertain.
“She said Madeline wanted the secret.”
“What secret?”
“The song.”
Daniel held her hand.
“Can you remember the song?”
Emma nodded.
“Don’t say it yet.”
She looked confused.
“Why?”
“Because I need to make sure nobody can hear us.”
Detective Ross swept the room.
Hospital security removed all unnecessary devices.
Only then did Emma begin.
It sounded like nonsense.
“Four little stars, seven in a row,
two by the river, nine where we go…”
Daniel recorded nothing.
Ross wrote numbers by hand.
4-7-2-9.
More followed.
Adrian looked at them later.
“Coordinates?”
“Maybe.”
A cybersecurity specialist checked combinations.
One set matched a location.
An abandoned ferry terminal north of Seattle.
Daniel stared.
Rebecca had worked nearby shortly before her death.
They drove there with police.
Rain again.
Everything in this story seemed to happen under rain.
The terminal had been closed for a decade.
Rust.
Broken windows.
A row of old storage lockers remained in one corridor.
The numbers from Emma's rhyme mapped perfectly.
Locker 4729.
Daniel’s pulse hammered.
Ross opened it with a warrant and locksmith.
Inside:
nothing.
Daniel’s hope collapsed.
Then Ghost began scratching at the bottom.
The dog had insisted on coming.
Ross knelt.
False panel.
Beneath it was a weatherproof envelope.
Daniel stared.
Rebecca’s handwriting.
For Emma.
His hands shook.
Inside:
a USB drive.
A key.
And a letter.
Daniel read.
My sweet girl,
If Daddy is reading this with you, then I didn’t get the chance to explain.
Daniel stopped.
Tears blurred the page.
Rebecca wrote that she had uncovered fraud linked to Samuel Reed’s clinics.
Madeline had initially helped her.
Then Rebecca discovered Madeline had hidden evidence that protected one person.
Evelyn.
Why?
Because Madeline loved her sister.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Rebecca no longer trusted Madeline completely.
She believed Madeline might protect family before truth.
That explained Emma’s memory.
Not that Madeline was wholly evil.
That she was compromised.
Rebecca continued.
The ledger exists in three copies.
One with me.
One hidden elsewhere.
One was given to Adrian Hayes.
Daniel turned sharply toward Adrian.
Adrian went pale.
“You had a copy?”
“Not the ledger.”
“Rebecca says she gave you one.”
“She gave me a drive.”
“Where is it?”
“I lost it.”
Daniel almost punched him.
“You lost it?”
“My apartment was broken into the week she died.”
Daniel stared.
Adrian continued.
“The drive disappeared.”
Ross said:
“So Evelyn may already have one copy.”
“Maybe.”
Daniel looked back at the letter.
Rebecca warned:
If anything happens to me, trust no one who tells you they are protecting Emma. Protection without truth becomes another kind of danger.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Rebecca had predicted everything.
Madeline.
Adrian.
Maybe even Daniel.
The USB contained scans of financial records.
Names.
Doctors.
Judges.
Police officers.
The network was larger than anyone expected.
Then one video file appeared.
Rebecca.
Alive.
Sitting in a car.
Daniel pressed play.
“If you’re watching this, I ran out of time.”
Her voice shook.
Daniel covered his mouth.
Rebecca continued.
“Madeline wants to help, but she still protects Evelyn.”
Daniel looked at Madeline’s name on the screen.
“Adrian wants revenge against his father’s family, and I don’t know how far he’ll go.”
Adrian looked away.
Rebecca continued.
“Crane is dangerous.”
Then:
“The person I trust least is Samuel Reed.”
Daniel frowned.
Samuel was supposedly dead.
Rebecca looked directly into the camera.
“Because Samuel Reed isn’t dead.”
Everyone froze.
The video ended with one sentence.
“He changed his name.”
Ross immediately searched records.
Daniel already felt the answer coming.
Rebecca had mentioned a powerful person.
Someone close enough to Daniel’s life to manipulate things.
A man who could access medical systems.
A man Daniel trusted.
Ross’s phone buzzed.
She looked at the result.
Her face changed.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Samuel Reed’s current identity may be…”
She turned the screen.
May you like
Daniel stared.
Dr. Lewis Crane.
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