Chapter 3 - THE FUNERAL WITHOUT A BODY
Adrian reopened every file.
Crash reports.
Medical transport records.
Dental identification.
Police photographs.
Insurance correspondence.
Security logs.
Three years of grief reduced to boxes and encrypted folders.
Dante Russo—different Dante than prior story? This story has no Dante. We need introduce chief security maybe "Miles Carter" but user's prompt didn't mention. We can introduce "Victor Hale"? We already have no security chief. Let's use "Roman Pierce", 42, head of security. Keep consistent.
Roman Pierce had been Adrian’s security chief for six years.
He arrived at three in the morning and did not complain.
Adrian handed him the crash file.
“Assume it’s wrong.”
Roman stared.
“Why?”
Adrian showed him the locket.
Roman’s expression changed.
“Evelyn’s.”
“Yes.”
Then the photograph.
Roman sat.
“My God.”
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t decide before evidence.”
Roman looked at him.
“You’re telling me that?”
“Tonight, yes.”
The crash contained weaknesses Adrian had never wanted to see.
The vehicle identification was correct.
The driver was identified.
A second body was presumed Evelyn based on dental records supplied by a private dental clinic.
The clinic closed eight months later.
The dentist died the following year.
No independent DNA sample existed because of the condition of the remains.
Evelyn’s wedding ring was recovered.
So was her purse.
Adrian had accepted those objects as proof.
Now they looked like props.
Roman traced the medical transport company.
It had been created only fourteen months before the crash.
Dissolved five weeks afterward.
Owner:
A holding company.
That company led to another.
Then nowhere obvious.
Adrian’s lawyer, Rebecca Sloan, joined the review.
She asked the obvious question.
“Why was Evelyn using private transport?”
Adrian answered:
“She had been sick.”
“With what?”
He looked away.
That was another secret.
Evelyn had started experiencing nausea, fainting, and severe fatigue two months before the crash.
She refused to discuss details with Adrian beyond saying doctors were testing.
“Pregnant?” Rebecca asked.
Adrian’s face tightened.
“She told me she wasn’t.”
Maybe true at the time.
Maybe lie.
“Was your marriage good?”
Roman looked uncomfortable.
Adrian answered anyway.
“No.”
Rebecca waited.
He continued.
“We loved each other.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Adrian stared.
“No.”
The final months had been tense.
Evelyn accused him of bringing danger home.
Adrian accused her of hiding things.
She wanted him to leave parts of the organization.
He said he could not.
Three days before the crash, she told him:
If anything happens to me, do not trust the first story they give you.
He thought she meant rival threats.
Then she kissed him.
Left.
Never returned.
Adrian had forgotten the exact words until now.
Or perhaps forced himself not to remember them.
Roman found another inconsistency.
Evelyn’s medical appointment did not exist.
The specialist listed in the transportation request had no record of seeing her.
Someone created the appointment.
“Who scheduled it?” Adrian asked.
Roman looked up.
“Your family medical office.”
“Name.”
“Dr. Malcolm Price.”
Adrian knew him.
His father’s old physician.
Retired now.
Evelyn disliked him.
Why had she used his office?
Roman called.
No answer.
They found him the next afternoon at a retirement property in Connecticut.
Malcolm Price agreed to speak.
He looked frightened when Adrian entered.
That told Adrian enough to sit rather than threaten.
“Evelyn Kane.”
Malcolm closed his eyes.
“I wondered when you’d come.”
Adrian’s hands tightened.
“She was pregnant.”
There it was.
“Mine?”
Malcolm looked at him.
“Yes.”
Adrian felt the room tilt.
“How far?”
“Nearly full term when she disappeared.”
Adrian stood violently.
Roman moved.
Rebecca said his name sharply.
Adrian forced himself still.
“Full term?”
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“She hid an entire pregnancy?”
“She stayed away from you often that year.”
True.
Travel.
Private apartment.
Long visits with an aunt.
Loose clothing.
Adrian remembered every moment differently now.
“Why?”
Malcolm’s eyes filled.
“Because someone told her you would kill the baby.”
Adrian stared.
“That is insane.”
“I know.”
“Who?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
“What did she believe?”
“That your father’s old enemies would use a daughter against you.”
A daughter.
Nora.
Adrian’s mouth went dry.
Malcolm continued.
“Evelyn planned to disappear temporarily after giving birth. She told me she had help.”
“From whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where did she give birth?”
Malcolm hesitated.
“Private clinic in Vermont.”
Adrian’s breathing changed.
“Where is she now?”
“I swear I don’t know.”
“Did she survive the crash?”
Malcolm looked at him.
“There was no Evelyn Kane in that vehicle.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Three years.
A funeral.
A grave.
Nothing inside it that belonged to his wife.
Then Malcolm whispered:
May you like
“But she did disappear the same night.”
And according to him, nobody who helped her had ever been seen again.
