Chapter 17 - The Echoes of the PastThe tranquility of the afternoon was gently interrupted by the vibrating hum of Julian’s secure satellite phone resting on the table.
He picked it up, glancing at the caller ID. It was Thaddeus Aldridge.
Julian’s brow furrowed slightly. The old lawyer was supposed to be spending the week resting at his country home in the Finger Lakes after finalizing the structural paperwork for the youth sanctuary.
"Thaddeus," Julian answered, his tone shifting into one of immediate professional alertness. "Is everything alright?"
“Harrison,” Aldridge’s voice came through the speaker, tight and strained, carrying an edge of urgency that Julian hadn't heard since the night Julianna Vance made her threats in London. “I'm calling from my study. A courier just dropped off a sealed legal notice from the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute.”
Julian sat up straighter, his muscles tensing. "Terre Haute? Marcus?"
“Not Marcus,” Aldridge corrected gravely. “Victoria Vance. Her final federal appeal was rejected by the appellate court this morning. But along with the official court ruling, she included a handwritten letter addressed personally to you.”
Julian stared out across the lawn toward the gleaming waters of Blackwood Bay. "What does it say?"
“She claims she has one final piece of information regarding the night Eleanor was taken—a detail she withheld even from her mother and Carter. She says if you want to know the absolute truth about who originally orchestrated the conspiracy against your family before she was born, you have to go hear it from her lips.”
Silence stretched over the phone line for a long, heavy moment.
"It's a trap," Julian said flatly. "A dying animal lashing out from a cage."
“Undoubtedly,” Aldridge agreed. “Federal marshals offered to intercept the letter, but because it was marked legal correspondence, it bypassed normal screening. She is asking for a private, ten-minute meeting behind the glass partition within forty-eight hours.”
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Julian looked at Eleanor, who was watching him with wide, questioning eyes, sensing the sudden shift in the air.
"Tell the marshals to schedule it," Julian said quietly. "I'll fly down to Indiana tomorrow morning. It’s time to close the final door on the past once and for all."
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