Chapter 2 - The Six Months Victor Chose Not to See
Victor took the lighter from Maris before she could close her fingers around it.
“Everyone out,” he told the hotel manager.
Maris laughed once, sharply. “This is my event.”
“The foundation paid for it.”
“The foundation bears our name because I built it.”
Victor turned toward the guests.
“The gala is over.”
People began moving toward the exits, some avoiding Maris’s eyes, others lingering long enough to watch her lose control of the room she had designed around herself.
Victor carried Annie into a private lounge. Brian followed with the letter. Maris tried to enter, but hotel security stopped her after Victor requested privacy.
Only then did he set Annie down.
She immediately hid behind a chair.
“Sweetheart,” he said, kneeling, “when did you last eat?”
Her eyes moved toward Brian.
“Yesterday at school.”
It was Saturday night.
Victor felt the answer in his stomach.
Maris had told him Annie attended a private therapeutic program in Bethesda because Catherine’s disappearance had caused anxiety and food refusal. The monthly bills Maris forwarded showed counseling sessions, specialized meals, and a live-in caregiver.
Victor had never called the school directly.
Whenever he tried to video-chat with Annie, Maris arranged the calls in the library of her Potomac estate. Annie wore clean clothes and answered questions with the careful politeness Maris praised.
Victor had seen the stiffness in his daughter’s shoulders.
He had called it grief.
Brian handed him the letter.
The envelope was dated four months earlier. Catherine had written that Maris had forced her out of the Potomac house, blocked her access to Annie, and told her Victor had authorized everything.
I have not left you or our daughter. Your mother says you believe I stole from the foundation. Please meet me without her or her lawyers. I have records that explain why she needs you to hate me.
The letter ended with a phone number Victor had never seen.
“Where did you get this?” he asked.
“Mrs. Hale gave it to me to burn.”
“Four months ago?”
Brian nodded.
“And you kept it.”
“My wife was receiving cancer treatment through the foundation’s employee plan. Mrs. Hale reminded me of that every time I asked about Catherine.”
Victor looked at him.
“You let Annie stay there.”
Shame crossed Brian’s face.
“I drove her to school. I brought food when I could. I told myself keeping my job meant I could watch over her.”
“That bread came from the trash.”
“I know.”
The quiet admission was worse than an excuse.
Victor called the number from Catherine’s letter.
A recorded message said it was no longer in service.
May you like
Maris had not only intercepted Catherine’s letter.
She had allowed enough time to pass that reaching her would now require proving Victor deserved to be found.
