Chapter 5
Audrey held the box against her chest while the officer called his supervisor.
I told her what Richard had said. She listened without moving. Then she gave the box to the officer.
“Please keep this safe,” she said. “I’m going to get my sister.”
The officer photographed the box and its contents in front of us. Inside were bank statements, letters from Marianne, and a small recorder in a cloth pouch.
Evelyn recognized Marianne’s handwriting on the letters. Audrey picked up one page, but the officer asked her to wait until they had copied everything. She let it go.
I knew how much that cost her.
The recorder mattered most. Marianne had labeled it with a date from the year before she died. We listened to a short portion. Her voice filled the little bedroom, warm and tired.
“If anything happens to me,” she said, “I want my girls to know I tried to leave them a way out.”
Audrey pressed her hand over her mouth.
The officer stopped the recording.
“We’ll make a copy and examine it properly.”
Evelyn nodded. “That’s fair.”
Richard called again before the promised ten minutes had passed.
“Daniel gave me an address,” he said. “The old train platform near Bell Creek. He wants Audrey alone.”
Audrey reached for her coat.
The officer stepped in front of the doorway.
“We’ll go. You’ll stay back until we know where Sienna is.”
“He won’t bring her out if he sees police.”
“He may not bring her out if he sees you alone, either.”
Audrey looked at me as though I could make either choice safe. I couldn’t.
“We’ll follow their plan,” I said. “And we’ll be close enough for Sienna to see you when it’s safe.”
At the road near Bell Creek, we stopped behind a stand of trees. The platform had been closed for years. A low building stood beside it, boarded on one side and open on the other.
Daniel’s car was there.
I saw a man beside it, tall and neatly dressed. He could have been waiting to collect a guest from a station. That ordinary picture made my stomach tighten.
Audrey saw him too.
“He’s alone.”
The officer spoke into his radio. Two other cars approached from the opposite road.
Daniel checked his watch and took out his phone. Audrey’s rang.
She answered on speaker.
“Where’s Sienna?”
“First tell me you have the box,” he said.
“She’s my sister. I want to hear her voice.”
“You always did make simple things difficult.”
Audrey’s shoulders rose, but her voice stayed steady.
“Sienna. Let me speak to her.”
There was a pause, then a rustle.
“Audrey?”
The sound was faint. Audrey closed her eyes.
“I’m here. Are you hurt?”
“No. I’m scared.”
“I know. I’m coming.”
Daniel took the phone back.
“Bring it to the platform.”
He ended the call.
The officer gave Audrey a plain wooden box from his car, similar in size to Marianne’s. She was to walk only as far as the line he showed her, leave it on the ground, and return. The officers would be close.
Julian protested when she stepped onto the road. Audrey stopped him with one look.
“She needs to see me,” she said.
I stood beside Julian as Audrey crossed the gravel. I could hear every step.
Daniel smiled when she reached the platform.
“Your wedding night,” he said. “What a strange way to spend it.”
“Where is she?”
“Give me the box.”
“Let her come to me.”
Daniel’s smile disappeared. He pointed to the low building.
Sienna emerged from its open side. Her blue dress was creased, and she held her arms close to her body. But she was walking on her own.
Audrey took a step forward. Daniel caught Sienna’s wrist.
I felt Julian tense beside me.
“Let her go,” Audrey said.
Daniel glanced at the box.
“She can leave when I’ve seen what’s inside.”
“You can look from there.”
Audrey set the box down and backed away. Daniel released Sienna long enough to open it. The moment he lifted the lid, Sienna ran toward Audrey.
Daniel saw the box was empty.
His face changed. He started after them, then stopped when officers came out from both sides of the platform.
One called his name and ordered him to stay where he was.
I ran only when the officer waved us forward.
Sienna reached Audrey first. They held each other so tightly that I could not tell where one ended and the other began. Julian took off his jacket and placed it around Sienna’s shoulders.
She looked up at him.
“I didn’t want her wedding ruined.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” he said.
Daniel was led toward a police car. He turned to Audrey.
“You think those papers will change anything? Ask your aunt why Marianne stopped trusting her.”
Evelyn had come with the second officer. She stiffened.
“Don’t listen to him,” she said.
But Audrey looked from Daniel to Evelyn.
“What does he mean?”
Evelyn’s face held a grief I could not read.
“Your mother and I argued before she died,” she said. “I should tell you why. Just let me get Sienna home first.”
Sienna clutched Audrey’s sleeve.
“I know why,” she whispered. “I heard them.”
Audrey bent toward her.
“What did you hear?”
Sienna looked at Daniel, then at the officers beside him.
“Mom found out he’d taken the money. Aunt Evelyn wanted her to report him that day. Mom was afraid he’d keep us from her first.”
Evelyn wiped her face.
“I told her waiting would make it worse. She said she needed a place for you girls to go. We were both trying to protect you.”
Audrey nodded slowly. There was hurt in her eyes, but I could see her listening.
Sienna took her hand.
“There’s more on the recorder,” she said. “Mom told me where to hide it years ago. I found it when I went back for my clothes.”
At that, Daniel stopped walking.
May you like
The officer guided him on.
I watched his face as he glanced toward the road. For the first time that morning, he seemed to understand that his daughters had kept something beyond his reach.
