Chapter 11 - The Name Eleanor Was Afraid to Say.
Victoria stared at her sister.
"If Malcolm didn't start the fire, who did?"
Eleanor looked toward the open doorway.
The officers and medical advocate were still there.
She shook her head.
"Not here."
Victoria wanted answers immediately, but Eleanor could barely keep her eyes open.
The court-appointed doctor ordered her transferred to an independent hospital under police protection.
St. Agnes protested.
Their objections ended when officers discovered altered medication logs and two different patient files under Eleanor's photograph.
One listed her as Eleanor Hart.
The other called her Emily Harlow.
Both carried Malcolm's authorization codes.
Victoria traveled in the ambulance.
She held Eleanor's hand the entire way.
At the hospital, doctors found sedatives in Eleanor's system at levels inconsistent with the chart St. Agnes had provided.
She was weak, but stable.
By evening, Lily was allowed into the room.
The child ran to the bed so quickly that Victoria barely had time to move aside.
"Mom!"
Eleanor began sobbing before Lily reached her.
She wrapped both arms around her daughter.
Lily buried her face against her chest.
"I found her."
Eleanor kissed Lily's tangled hair.
"I knew you would."
Lily pulled back.
"I told her what you said."
Pain crossed Eleanor's face.
She looked at Victoria.
"I told Lily you left us."
Victoria swallowed.
"I know."
"I was wrong."
"I know that too."
For a moment, neither sister could speak.
Then Eleanor reached for the black handbag, which Victoria had placed on a chair.
She took out the faded photograph.
"This was supposed to make you listen before Malcolm convinced you Lily was lying."
Victoria sat beside the bed.
"It worked."
Eleanor almost smiled.
Then the smile vanished.
"There is something worse."
She explained that the lake house fire had been planned to destroy the trust records.
Malcolm knew about the plan and benefited from it.
But he had not ordered the match struck.
Daniel had not either.
The order came from someone Victoria trusted so completely that Eleanor had never been able to make herself say the name to Lily.
Victoria felt cold.
"Who?"
Eleanor looked at her.
"Father."
Victoria stood so abruptly that the chair scraped across the floor.
"Our father died seven years ago."
"The fire was nine years ago."
"He loved us."
Eleanor closed her eyes.
"He loved the company more."
Conrad Ashford had learned that Eleanor intended to expose financial misconduct that would destroy the family's reputation.
He ordered the study burned after Malcolm promised the records could be reconstructed safely later.
But Malcolm lied to him.
Once the originals disappeared, Malcolm used the chaos to seize control of Eleanor's trust and hide his own theft.
Conrad realized what had happened months later.
By then, Eleanor was gone and Malcolm had leverage over him.
"Father tried to find me before he died," Eleanor said.
"He sent me something through Whitmore."
Victoria looked toward Mrs. Whitmore, who stood quietly near the door.
The housekeeper began crying again.
"I never received anything," Eleanor said.
Mrs. Whitmore whispered,
"Because I hid it."
She reached into her handbag and placed a small safe-deposit receipt on the bed.
"I was too afraid to give it to either of you."
The receipt bore Conrad Ashford's signature.
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And beside it was a handwritten instruction.
Access requires the Orchid key and both daughters.
