Chapter 7 - THE FACTORY WITH NO WINDOWS
Emily read the message seventeen times.
My daughter, I am alive.
She wanted to believe it.
Desperately.
But she'd already been told too many contradictory stories.
Her mother had abandoned her.
Her mother was dead.
Her mother had been kidnapped.
And now, apparently, her mother was alive.
Daniel watched Emily carefully.
"Are you okay?"
She shook her head.
"No."
He nodded.
"That makes sense."
Emily looked at him.
"I don't need reassurance. I need proof."
"Then we'll look for proof."
The old Harrison factory stood outside Chicago, near a stretch of warehouses that had been converted into storage facilities.
The building was registered to a company called Northlake Property Management.
Rebecca Shaw, Daniel's independent attorney, discovered Northlake was connected to one of Richard Harrison's former business partners.
The factory had been closed for almost fifteen years.
But its electricity bills showed continuing usage.
That detail troubled everyone.
Investigators obtained authorization to examine the property.
Emily waited with Daniel and Margaret at a nearby office.
Nobody wanted to risk interfering with a possible criminal investigation.
Hours passed.
Then Rebecca called.
"They found a concealed records room."
Emily sat upright.
"Was Laura there?"
"No."
Her hope collapsed.
Rebecca continued.
"But there are personal belongings."
"What belongings?"
"A coat. Photographs. Medical supplies. Several handwritten notebooks."
Emily closed her eyes.
"Mom's?"
"We're examining them."
The notebooks were later identified as Laura Carter's.
They contained dates, names, and detailed observations about the Harrison Children's Trust.
The entries described children placed into private guardianship arrangements.
Money diverted from beneficiary accounts.
And records altered to conceal ownership interests.
But one entry was different.
It was written seventeen years earlier.
Richard knows I have the originals.
If he finds them, he'll destroy everything.
I must get the evidence to Margaret.
Emily began trembling.
Her mother had tried to expose Richard.
And someone stopped her.
Then Rebecca turned another page.
Victor Langley agreed to help me.
Daniel frowned.
"The restaurant manager?"
Emily stared.
Victor had interrupted Margaret.
Threatened Emily's job.
Reported her presence to Richard.
Yet Laura's notebook said he'd agreed to help.
"That doesn't make sense."
Rebecca nodded.
"There's more."
The next entry read:
Victor says Richard threatened his daughter.
Emily felt cold.
"His daughter?"
Daniel looked toward Rebecca.
"What's her name?"
Rebecca hesitated.
Then answered.
"Anna."
Daniel stopped breathing.
His missing sister.
The girl who supposedly died twenty years ago.
The girl who might have grown up under another identity.
Emily stared at the page.
Then whispered, "Victor didn't help because he was brave."
Daniel looked at her.
"He helped because his daughter was involved."
Rebecca nodded.
"And according to the documents, Anna Harrison was adopted by Victor Langley."
The room fell silent.
May you like
Then Daniel said something nobody expected.
"If Anna is Victor's daughter, she may have been in that restaurant all along."
