Chapter 6 - The Investigation Begins
Eleanor was not a woman who waited for miracles; she manufactured them. By sunrise the next morning, she had Arthur Pendelton, the most ruthless and discreet private investigator in the city, sitting in her study.
Arthur reviewed the faded photograph and the worn leather wallet. "It's a thin lead, Ms. Vance," he noted, adjusting his glasses. "A first name and a three-year-old cold trail."
"I don't pay you for easy jobs, Arthur," Eleanor replied firmly. "I want every resource mobilized. We start with the foster home Lily ran from, and we trace her sister Sarah’s last known steps."
Upstairs, Lily was waking up in a plush guest bedroom, overwhelmed by the softness of the Egyptian cotton sheets. When she came downstairs, wearing a brand-new set of clothes Eleanor had rush-ordered, she looked like a different child. Yet, the shadows of the street still lingered in her hazel eyes.
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Eleanor sat her down at the breakfast table. "Lily, Arthur is going to help us. Can you tell him exactly where you last saw Sarah?"
Lily gripped her glass of orange juice. "It was at a bus station downtown. She told me to wait for her. She said she was going to find a way to get us a real home. But she never came back."
