and.
Daniel continued.
“So the original route is dead.”
“I changed everything.”
“He doesn’t know.”
“He thinks we’re going west.”
“We’re going north first.”
I held my breath.
“The Montana cabin is a decoy.”
Hope collapsed.
Daniel continued.
“If they find this storage unit, the documents lead there.”
“I need another route.”
“There is one person I still trust.”
He did not name them.
Then.
“If Rebecca ever sees this, I’m sorry.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Video ended.
No destination.
Nothing.
I wanted to scream.
We had been one step from an answer.
Then Marcus noticed a file name.
NORA.
He opened it.
A photograph of a woman.
Mid-forties.
Red hair.
I knew her.
“Nora?”
Sophie looked at me.
“Who is she?”
“My cousin.”
Nora Hayes.
My mother’s niece.
We had not spoken in years.
She lived in Canada.
Or had.
Daniel knew her.
Everyone did.
Nora attended our wedding.
Then moved to Alberta after marrying a Canadian man.
Could she be the person Daniel trusted?
Detective Brooks searched databases.
Nora Hayes died three years ago.
Cancer.
My heart sank.
Then.
She had owned a ranch property outside Calgary until her death.
Sold afterward.
Investigators contacted Canadian authorities.
Records showed something strange.
Six years earlier, Nora had registered three minors for temporary homeschooling.
Names.
Owen Miller.
Ethan Miller.
Ryan Miller.
The aliases from Daniel’s forged documents.
I stopped breathing.
They had made it.
At least to Canada.
The boys had survived the fake accident.
Daniel had gotten them to Nora.
My sons were alive six years ago.
Maybe longer.
Sophie started sobbing.
I held her.
Detective Brooks continued checking.
Nora’s husband died before her.
No children.
Her estate records listed one beneficiary.
David Miller.
Daniel’s alias.
My knees almost failed.
He had inherited the
