Chapter 3: The Ghost of St. Jude's
The morning sun flooded the glass-walled study where Eleanor met Arthur Cross, her private security director and former intelligence officer.
"Seven years ago, Eleanor, Alex was declared dead in the nursery fire at St. Jude’s Memorial," Cross said, laying out black-and-white police archives. "The body found was charred beyond dental identification, but the state coroner signed off."
"Corrupt signatures can be bought," Eleanor said coldly, staring out the window at the skyline. "Who took him, Arthur? Who kept him alive on the streets?"
"Alex’s memories are hazy, but he remembers 'Mama Rosa'—an elderly homeless woman in Queens who died three weeks ago of pneumonia," Cross explained. "Rosa left him a cardboard box containing that locket and a handwritten note telling him to sit on 57th Street outside your corporate headquarters every morning until 'the lady with red hair' walked by."
Eleanor’s heart clenched. Rosa had known who she was. Rosa hadn't been a kidnapper; she was a protector in hiding.
"Find out who paid the hospital coroner seven years ago," Eleanor ordered. "Trace every bank account linked to St. Jude’s Board of Trustees back in 2019."
Cross hesitated. "Eleanor... your former brother-in-law, Julian Vance, was the hospital’s primary donor that year."
May you like
The air in the room turned arctic. Julian had inherited forty percent of the family trust after Alex’s presumed death.
---
