Chapter 11 - Edward Sterling
Lucas refused to say more outside.
Naomi recorded everything inside the office.
Lucas sat across from Willow.
“My Uncle Edward didn’t die overseas.”
Willow’s skin prickled.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what did Richard show you?”
Lucas stared at the floor.
“A hospital record.”
Naomi leaned forward.
“What hospital?”
“Private psychiatric facility in Wisconsin.”
Willow blinked.
Lucas continued.
“My father told everyone Edward disappeared because he was unstable.”
“In reality, Edward threatened to expose him.”
“So Richard had him committed?”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“I was twenty-nine when I found the file.”
“My father caught me.”
“He took me to Wisconsin.”
Willow’s heartbeat accelerated.
“You saw Edward?”
Lucas nodded.
“He was alive.”
The room went silent.
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
Willow thought of Catherine’s tape.
Edward had not vanished.
Richard had hidden him.
“Why hasn’t Edward spoken?”
Lucas looked sick.
“He was heavily medicated.”
Naomi’s face hardened.
“This needs immediate investigation.”
Lucas rubbed his hands together.
“My father said Edward had signed away control.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I wanted to.”
Willow stared at him.
“And then you met me.”
Lucas looked at her.
“Yes.”
“You knew my mother discovered what happened to Edward.”
“Not until later.”
“How much later?”
“Two years into our marriage.”
Willow felt another piece of herself break.
“You had three years to tell me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Willow stood.
“No.”
Her voice was calm now.
“You were protecting yourself.”
Lucas looked up.
“Willow.”
“You let your father insult me.”
“You let him insult my father.”
“You helped him search for my mother’s property.”
“And when I finally refused to kneel, you hit me.”
Lucas’s eyes closed.
Willow continued.
“You are not trapped by Richard.”
“You became him one compromise at a time.”
Lucas flinched.
Naomi’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She stood.
“Send me everything.”
Willow waited.
Naomi ended the call.
“The Wisconsin facility closed three years ago.”
Lucas went pale.
“What happened to Edward?”
Naomi looked at him.
“According to public records, every patient was transferred.”
She paused.
May you like
“Except one.”
Edward Sterling had vanished again.
