Chapter 8 - What Marcus Bought with Sarah's Silence.
The missing notary transformed the case overnight.
What had looked like domestic coercion and financial fraud now touched a second disappearance.
Sheriff Reyes requested state investigators.
Marcus's attorney stopped returning casual calls and began filing motions.
Marcus himself remained in custody on the search warrant matter while prosecutors reviewed potential charges.
Nathan did not care what label the system eventually placed on Marcus.
He cared about finding Sarah before another label became necessary.
Colleen Marsh had vanished after leaving work on a Tuesday evening.
Her car was found at a bus station two counties away.
There had been no evidence of foul play.
Until Sarah's letter.
Evelyn and Nathan sat with Reyes in a small interview room while investigators mapped every contact between Colleen and the Kane household.
"She notarized Sarah's revocation," Reyes said.
"Then two weeks later, a different document appears restoring Marcus's power of attorney."
Evelyn pushed the forged copy across the table.
"This one lists Colleen as the notary too."
Reyes studied it.
"But she says she never signed it?"
"We don't know what she says."
"She's missing."
Nathan's voice remained flat.
"Marcus made sure the only person who could challenge the newer document vanished."
Reyes looked at him.
"That's a theory."
"A strong one."
"Still a theory."
Nathan hated the sheriff's discipline because it resembled his own in surgery.
You could suspect an internal bleed.
You still had to prove it before cutting.
Reyes continued.
"We searched Marcus's phone."
"Most of it was wiped remotely about twenty minutes before he arrived at the hospital."
Evelyn frowned.
"Remotely by whom?"
"We're working on it."
"But we recovered location history from a linked vehicle account."
Nathan leaned forward.
"Where did he go after the lodge?"
Reyes slid a map across the table.
A route traced north along the logging road, then turned east.
"Signal drops here."
He pointed to a valley beyond the ridge.
"There are three properties in that area."
"One hunting cabin."
"One abandoned ranger station."
"And one private house owned by a company called Alder Ridge Ventures."
Evelyn went still.
"I've seen that name."
She opened a financial file.
Alder Ridge Ventures had received more than three hundred thousand dollars from one of the companies draining Sarah's trust.
Nathan stared at the map.
"Marcus bought a house with her money."
"Looks like it."
"Then why didn't it appear in the property search?"
"Shell company."
"Different registered agent."
"Different county."
Reyes stood.
"We're getting a warrant."
Nathan rose too.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"If Sarah is injured, you need a doctor."
"We have medics."
"I know her medical history."
"You haven't seen her in seven years."
The sentence struck differently coming from Reyes than from Marcus.
It was not meant to hurt.
That made it worse.
Nathan looked away.
Evelyn stepped between them.
"Let him ride with the medical staging team."
Reyes frowned.
"Why?"
"Because if Sarah sees only uniforms after years of being told everyone is controlled by Marcus, she may run."
"She told Lily to find Nathan."
"His face may be the one thing she recognizes as safe."
Reyes considered it.
Then he pointed at Nathan.
"You stay behind the perimeter until I tell you otherwise."
"Agreed."
"And if you break that agreement, I will put you in a patrol car."
"Understood."
The convoy left before dusk.
Snow had weakened to light flakes, but the roads remained narrow and dangerous.
Nathan sat in the back of an ambulance with a trauma bag at his feet.
He watched the mountains through the rear windows.
Every mile looked like the same mile.
He imagined Lily walking through this landscape in darkness.
He could not understand how she survived it.
Then he remembered she had not survived it alone.
She carried Owen and Ethan.
Sometimes responsibility was heavier than fear.
Sometimes it kept a person moving.
They reached the valley after nightfall.
Police vehicles killed their lights half a mile from the property.
Nathan waited with two medics inside the ambulance.
The radio whispered coded updates.
Perimeter set.
Approaching residence.
No exterior movement.
Door secured.
Forced entry authorized.
Nathan's pulse accelerated.
Then silence.
One minute.
Two.
Three.
Nathan looked at the medic across from him.
"Is this normal?"
The medic nodded.
"Feels longer than it is."
Five minutes.
Then the radio came alive.
"Medical forward."
Nathan was out before the medic finished grabbing the bag.
They ran toward the house.
It was smaller than Nathan expected.
Dark cedar siding.
Single-story.
No visible neighbors.
A generator hummed behind a shed.
A deputy stopped Nathan at the doorway.
"Wait."
"You called medical."
"For someone else."
Nathan froze.
"Who?"
The deputy looked toward the interior.
"Not Sarah."
Nathan pushed past only after the deputy stepped aside.
In the living room, an older woman sat wrapped in a blanket while a paramedic checked her blood pressure.
Her gray hair had been cut unevenly.
Her wrists were bruised.
Her eyes moved toward Nathan.
Evelyn entered behind him and stopped.
"Colleen Marsh?"
The woman's lips parted.
"Who are you?"
"Evelyn Cho."
"I'm Sarah Carter's attorney."
Colleen's face collapsed.
"Sarah."
Nathan moved closer.
"I'm her brother."
Colleen stared at him.
"Nathan?"
He nodded.
She began to cry silently.
"She said you would come if she could get a message out."
Nathan crouched in front of her.
"Where is she?"
Colleen looked toward the back hallway.
"She was here."
Nathan's heart jumped.
"When?"
"Last night."
"Marcus brought her in after dark."
"She could barely walk."
Nathan felt the room tilt.
"What happened to her?"
"Her head was bleeding."
"He made me clean it."
"I'm a notary, not a nurse."
"I did what I could."
Nathan forced his voice to remain controlled.
"Was she conscious?"
"Most of the time."
"Where is she now?"
Colleen looked down.
"He moved her before sunrise."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Nathan stood too quickly.
The medic reached out.
"Give her a second."
Nathan stepped back.
Colleen took several breaths.
Then she looked at Evelyn.
"He kept me here because of the documents."
"He said if I told anyone the second power of attorney was fake, nobody would believe me anyway."
"Why didn't you escape?"
"I tried once."
She looked at her bruised wrists.
No more explanation was needed.
Evelyn sat beside her.
"Did Marcus say where he was taking Sarah?"
Colleen closed her eyes.
"He kept saying one thing."
"What?"
"That he needed her signature before midnight."
Nathan looked at Evelyn.
"Signature on what?"
Colleen opened her eyes.
"Something about the children."
"Something about Nathan Pierce."
Nathan's skin went cold.
"Did you see the document?"
"Only the last page."
"There were two signature lines."
"One for Sarah."
"One for a witness."
Evelyn leaned closer.
"Do you remember the title?"
Colleen shook her head.
Then stopped.
"There was a word."
"Guardianship."
Nathan stared at her.
Marcus was not only trying to regain control of Sarah's money.
He was building legal control over what happened to the children if Sarah disappeared.
Evelyn stood.
"If he forces Sarah to sign a guardianship nomination naming someone other than Nathan, he could use it to challenge placement."
Reyes entered the room.
"We found a printer in the back office."
"Recent print logs are still cached."
He held up a page.
Nathan read the file name.
TEMP_GUARDIAN_REVISED_FINAL.pdf.
Below it was another file printed at 4:12 that morning.
TRANSFER_AUTHORIZATION_PIERCE_CHILDREN.pdf.
Nathan looked at Reyes.
"Pierce children?"
"We haven't opened the source files yet."
"The laptop is encrypted."
Colleen spoke softly.
"He called them that."
Everyone turned.
"Who?"
"The babies."
Nathan frowned.
"Their last name is Kane."
Colleen shook her head.
"Marcus said that was temporary."
"He said once Sarah signed, the Pierce name would be worth more than the Kane name ever was."
Nathan felt a new kind of fear.
Not physical.
Strategic.
Marcus was trying to turn the children into access points to the Pierce fortune.
Evelyn looked at Nathan.
"Your parents' trust has descendant provisions."
Nathan understood immediately.
If Sarah's children were recognized beneficiaries, each child could eventually control significant assets.
Marcus had not simply stolen Sarah's money.
He had spent years positioning himself around the next generation.
Reyes's radio crackled.
An investigator called from the back bedroom.
"Sheriff, you need to see this."
They followed him.
The bedroom had been stripped except for a mattress and a folding chair.
On the wall above the mattress, someone had scratched letters into the paint.
Nathan stepped closer.
They were uneven and faint.
But readable.
NATHAN, HE IS TAKING ME TO RAVEN LAKE.
May you like
Beneath it was one more line.
TRUST LILY.
