Chapter 18 - The Lake House
Eleanor had been taken from her rehabilitation appointment by a driver wearing the Sterling family's security badge. The nurse assumed Adrian had authorized the trip. He hadn't.
Ortiz coordinated with local police and obtained emergency authorization to search the Northstar property. I waited at the station with Noah and Simone, every minute stretching like an hour.
Adrian sat across from me. "She raised us," he said quietly. "Even after we stopped listening to her."
"Then do right by her now."
At 11:16 p.m., Ortiz called. Officers had reached the property and found Eleanor in a heated guest room. She was frightened but physically unharmed. Heller tried to leave through the rear dock and was arrested after a short pursuit on foot.
Elliot was not there.
The officers found two suitcases of records and an encrypted laptop. They also found a handwritten schedule for the next morning: PRIVATE AVIATION—WESTFIELD AIRFIELD.
"He's running," Adrian said.
"He'll try," Ortiz replied over speaker. "The airport authorities have been notified."
Hours later Eleanor returned under police protection. She insisted on speaking to me before sleeping.
"Daniel was loyal," she said. "We used that against him. All of us."
"You can tell the truth now."
"And you can choose what comes after it."
She offered me the foundation's community trustee seat permanently. I told her I'd think about it, but I wasn't buying anyone's forgiveness with a title.
Before dawn, investigators confirmed that Elliot had attempted to charter a flight using a forged passport. He was detained at the airfield after the identification was flagged.
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The call should have brought relief. Instead Ortiz's next sentence knocked the air from me.
"He says he has a second ledger," she said. "One that shows Daniel Bennett received payments before he died."
