Chapter 4 – The Bride Starts to Panic
Chapter 4 – The Bride Starts to Panic
The police arrived at Sophie’s hospital room seven minutes after I found the photograph inside the flowers.
Detective Hale came with two uniformed officers and an evidence technician carrying a sealed plastic case.
No one touched the bouquet again.
The roses remained on the counter, beautiful and white, while officers photographed every petal, every fold of the envelope and every line of the threat.
Sophie watched from her bed.
Her stuffed rabbit rested beneath her chin.
“Are the flowers bad?” she asked.
I moved closer and blocked her view.
“They’re just evidence.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means the police are going to find out who sent them.”
Detective Hale handed the cream envelope to the technician.
“Check it for prints, fibers and biological material. Get the delivery records from the front desk. I want every hallway camera between the hospital entrance and this floor.”
The technician sealed the photograph inside a transparent sleeve.
Hale examined the silver wolf printed in the corner without touching it.
“You’re certain this symbol is connected to your grandmother’s trust?”
“Yes.”
“What was her name?”
“Eleanor Whitmore.”
His eyes lifted.
“The Eleanor Whitmore?”
I nodded.
Even in Chicago, my grandmother’s name carried weight.
She had founded Whitmore Community Health, financed shelters throughout Illinois and donated millions to pediatric hospitals. Newspapers described her as generous, disciplined and fiercely private.
To the public, she was the heart of the Whitmore family.
Inside our home, she was the only person who had ever openly challenged my father.
“She died eight months ago,” I said. “The family announced that her estate would be divided between Preston and me.”
“Did you attend a formal reading of the will?”
“No.”
“Did you receive a copy?”
“No.”
Hale’s expression tightened.
“Who told you about the division?”
“My father.”
“And he asked you to sign a release?”
“He said it was routine.”
“Did you keep the papers?”
“I have the unsigned copies at home.”
“That’s good.”
He turned toward one of the officers.
“Arrange a patrol unit to accompany Ms. Whitmore when she retrieves them.”
My phone vibrated.
A new message appeared from my mother.
The deadline is noon. Do not make your situation worse.
I handed the phone to Hale.
He read the message twice.
“Your mother sent this after the flowers arrived?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think she knows about the threat?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer frightened me more than saying yes.
Detective Hale photographed the message.
Then his phone rang.
He stepped into the hallway to answer it.
Through the glass panel beside the door, I watched his posture change.
His shoulders stiffened.
His eyes narrowed.
He ended the call and returned.
“What happened?” I asked.
“The private camera discovered on the menu display was rented through a company called Wolf Security Systems.”
My heartbeat quickened.
“The same wolf symbol?”
“Possibly.”
“Who hired them?”
“The contract was placed under your grandmother’s estate office.”
“That makes no sense. She’s dead.”
“The order was submitted three weeks ago.”
Rachel looked up from the chair beside the window.
“Someone is using the estate’s name.”
“Or someone connected to the estate placed the camera,” Hale said.
I looked toward Sophie.
“What was it recording?”
“We don’t know yet. Your father removed the memory card.”
“Have you searched him?”
“He left the hotel before we identified the object.”
My disbelief turned instantly to anger.
“You told them not to leave.”
“I told Preston not to leave.”
“And my father?”
“At that point, he was being treated as a witness.”
“He helped plan this.”
“We’re working to establish that.”
“While he destroys the card?”
Hale did not defend the decision.
“We have officers searching for him now.”
“Searching?”
“He and your mother are no longer at their Chicago residence.”
The room fell silent.
Rachel stood.
“They ran?”
“It appears they left shortly after hospital security escorted them out.”
I remembered my father’s cold stare in the waiting room.
Think carefully, Evelyn.
He had not come to protect Preston.
He had come to control me.
When that failed, he disappeared.
“Where would they go?” Hale asked.
“My parents own several properties.”
“Which one is most private?”
I thought of the places where my father handled business he did not want neighbors or reporters to see.
A lake house in Wisconsin.
A condominium in New York.
A winter property in Naples.
Then another location came to mind.
“My grandmother had an estate outside Lake Geneva.”
“Who owns it now?”
“My father controls it through the trust.”
Hale opened his notebook.
“Address?”
“I don’t know the exact number, but the property is called Silver Pines.”
He wrote it down.
“I’ll contact Wisconsin authorities.”
Sophie shifted beneath the blanket.
“Mommy?”
I turned immediately.
“Yes?”
“Grandpa said nobody could find that house.”
Detective Hale stopped writing.
“When did he say that?” I asked.
“When I went there last summer.”
I stared at her.
“You went to Silver Pines?”
“With Grandma and Grandpa.”
“You told me you were at their house in Chicago.”
“That’s what Grandma said I had to tell you.”
My chest tightened.
“How long were you there?”
“One night.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Sophie looked ashamed.
“Grandma said you would be angry at me.”
I sat on the edge of her bed.
“I would never be angry with you for telling me the truth.”
“She said it was a secret game.”
Detective Hale moved closer, careful not to frighten her.
“What happened at the lake house, Sophie?”
She hugged the rabbit.
“Grandpa took pictures.”
“Of what?”
“Me signing my name.”
I stopped breathing.
“What did you sign?”
“I don’t know. He gave me a pen and showed me where.”
May you like
“Sophie, you’re eight. You cannot legally sign estate papers.”
Rachel’s voice was filled
