Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Photograph
Federal technicians established a temporary command center inside the Sterling estate library.
The banquet guests were released in small groups after providing identification and contact information.
By midnight, the ballroom was nearly empty.
Broken champagne glasses remained on the tables.
The merger banners still glowed behind the deserted platform.
Maya sat in a private sitting room with Noah sleeping in her arms.
A nurse examined the swelling on her cheek.
Agent Sloan entered with Colonel Vance.
Vance carried a leather folder.
“We found this in an archived evidence file.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
Maya looked down.
A young woman in military uniform stood beside a dark-haired man wearing a federal prosecutor’s badge.
Between them was a little girl with large brown eyes.
The child held the silver medal.
Maya’s hands began to tremble.
The little girl had the same small crescent-shaped mark above her left eyebrow.
Maya touched her own scar.
Vance sat across from her.
“Her name was Mara Evelyn Hale.”
“How old was she?”
“Three years and seven months.”
Maya stared at the photograph.
“That is how old I was when the police found me.”
“Yes.”
The woman in the picture was smiling.
Her eyes looked exactly like Maya’s.
“Was she my mother?”
Vance struggled to answer.
“I believe she was.”
Maya touched the photograph with one finger.
She had spent her entire childhood imagining a mother who might have abandoned her.
A woman who might have chosen a new life.
A woman who had forgotten the little girl beside the highway.
Now she was looking at someone who might have died trying to save her.
“Tell me everything.”
Vance leaned back.
“Elena discovered that Vaughn Global technology was being diverted through shell companies.”
“The products were officially classified as civilian aviation systems.”
“In reality, some were being sold to criminal organizations and hostile governments.”
“Who was responsible?”
“We never proved it.”
“Who did you suspect?”
Vance’s eyes hardened.
“Conrad Sterling.”
Maya knew the name.
Victoria’s late husband.
Adrian’s father.
The man whose portrait hung above the Sterling estate staircase.
Vance continued.
“Conrad managed several Vaughn defense contracts.”
“Your mother gave evidence to your father.”
“Jonathan Hale prepared a federal case.”
“Three days before indictments were expected, your family disappeared.”
Maya looked through the open doorway.
Victoria sat at the far end of the hall with three attorneys around her.
“Did she know?”
“We could never prove that Victoria was involved.”
“But you believe she was.”
“I believe she has been lying for twenty-four years.”
Agent Sloan placed another photograph on the table.
It showed the burned vehicle at the bottom of a ravine.
The rear door was open.
A child’s blood had been found inside.
But no child’s body had ever been recovered.
Maya’s stomach tightened.
“Why was I wandering beside a highway seventy miles away?”
Vance looked toward the medal technicians.
“That answer may be hidden in the microfilm.”
A technician entered the room.
Her face was pale.
“We recovered the first image.”
She set a printed frame on the table.
It showed a list of names.
May you like
Conrad Sterling appeared at the top.
Victoria Sterling appeared directly beneath him.
