Chapter 62 Chapter 62
SIXTY-TWO~
The Seattle police found Emma's apartment empty but undisturbed. No signs of struggle. No indication of where she'd gone.
"Her neighbors say she left yesterday with a suitcase," the Seattle detective told Detective Morrison over the phone. "Said she was going on a trip. Didn't say where."
"Did she leave alone?" Detective Morrison asked.
"Neighbor saw her getting into a car with a man," the detective said. "Didn't get a good look at him. Just said he was well-dressed, middle-aged."
My stomach churned. "Someone got to her first."
"We don't know that," Detective Morrison said. "Maybe she really did just go on a trip."
But we both knew that was unlikely. The timing was too convenient.
"We need to find her," I said. "Now."
Detective Morrison contacted the FBI. Explained the situation. Within hours, Emma Reeves was listed as a missing person and her case was classified as potentially connected to organized crime.
"They're taking it seriously," Detective Morrison told me. "Every law enforcement agency in the country is looking for her."
But looking and finding were two different things.
Dr. Chen, still recovering in the hospital, was devastated. "This is my fault. I should have contacted Emma sooner. Warned her."
"This isn't your fault," I said. "We were trying to protect her by being cautious."
"And now she's missing," Dr. Chen said bitterly.
I went home that night feeling defeated. Told Declan everything that had happened.
"I need to tell you something," Declan said after I finished. "About my mother. About something she told me before she died."
"What?" I asked.
"She said James had another child," Declan said quietly. "A daughter. Born before me. She said the baby died, but she always wondered if James had done something with her. She was delirious, dying, so I didn't take it seriously."
"But what if she wasn't delirious?" I asked. "What if James had a daughter who survived?"
"Where would she be?" Declan asked.
We looked at each other as the same realization hit us both.
"Emma Reeves," we said simultaneously.
It made terrible sense. If Emma was James's biological daughter, that would explain his interest in her. His willingness to kill Rachel to get the baby. His arrangement of the adoption.
"But why?" Declan asked. "Why would James give away his own daughter?"
"Maybe he didn't want people to know he had an affair," I suggested. "Or maybe Rachel refused to have an abortion and James needed to control the situation."
"Or maybe he was protecting her," Declan said. "Keeping her away from his criminal life."
"James Harris didn't protect anyone but himself," I said.
"True," Declan admitted. "But if Emma is his daughter, that makes her our family. Liam's sister. The twins' aunt."
The implications were staggering.
"We need to verify this," I said. "We need proof."
Dr. Chen, despite her injuries, managed to access genetic databases from her hospital bed. She'd been collecting DNA information as part of her research.
"If I can get a sample of James Harris's DNA and compare it to Emma Reeves's DNA, we can confirm whether they're related," she said.
"James is buried in the Harris family plot," Declan said. "Getting his DNA would require exhumation."
"That takes a court order," Detective Morrison said. "Which requires probable cause. Which we don't quite have yet."
But Dr. Chen had another idea. "What about Declan's DNA? If Emma is James's daughter, she and Declan would share DNA markers. We could test Declan and see if the familial match appears."
Declan agreed immediately. Within hours, his DNA was being processed and compared to the sample Dr. Chen had managed to obtain from Emma's doctor during her research.
"This is highly irregular," the lab technician said. "And probably not admissible in court."
"We're not building a court case," Dr. Chen said. "We're trying to find a missing woman."
The results came back two days later.
Emma Reeves and Declan Harris were half-siblings. They shared a father.
James Harris had another daughter.
"Oh my God," Declan said when we got the results. "I have a sister. A sister I never knew about."
"Who's now missing," I added. "Possibly taken by people connected to the network."
"Or possibly running from them," Detective Morrison suggested. "Maybe Emma discovered something. Maybe she knew she was in danger and went into hiding."
"How would she know?" I asked.
"Maybe someone warned her," Detective Morrison said. "Someone who knew about her connection to James and wanted to protect her."
"Who?" I asked.
We didn't have an answer.
The FBI traced Emma's credit cards. She'd used one at a gas station in Portland, Oregon, the day she left Seattle. After that, nothing.
"She either switched to cash or someone else has her cards," the lead FBI agent said.
"Or she's deliberately staying off the grid," Detective Morrison suggested.
I decided to take a different approach. I contacted Emma's adoptive parents in Seattle.
"Mrs. Reeves? My name is Anita Harris. I need to talk to you about Emma."
There was a long pause. "I was wondering when you'd call."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Emma came to see us three weeks ago," Mrs. Reeves said. "She'd been doing one of those genetic ancestry tests. Found out her biological background was different than we'd told her. She wanted answers."
"What did you tell her?" I asked.
"The truth," Mrs. Reeves said. "That we'd adopted her through a private attorney. That we didn't know much about her biological parents. But Emma... she was smart. She did her own research. Found out about Rachel Martinez. About James Harris."
"She knew," I said, shocked. "She knew about her connection to James before we even started investigating."
"She knew," Mrs. Reeves confirmed. "And she was scared. Said she needed to disappear for a while. Asked us not to tell anyone where she was going."
"Where did she go?" I asked urgently.
"I don't know," Mrs. Reeves said. "She wouldn't tell us. Said it was safer that way. But she did say something strange before she left."
"What?" I asked.
"She said she wasn't the only one," Mrs. Reeves said. "She said James Harris had other secrets. Other children. And she was going to find them."
I relayed this information to Detective Morrison and Dr. Chen immediately.
"Other children?" Dr. Chen said. "How many?"
"I don't know," I said. "But if Emma's investigating on her own, she might be putting herself in more danger."
We needed to find Emma before she found something that got her killed.
The FBI intensified their search. They tracked down the man who'd picked Emma up from her apartment. He was a private investigator Emma had hired to help her research James Harris's background.
"She paid me to dig into Harris's past," the investigator told the FBI. "Find information about his affairs. His illegitimate children. His hidden assets."
"What did you find?" the FBI agent asked.
"More than I expected," the investigator said. "James Harris had at least three affairs that resulted in children. Emma Reeves was one. There were two others."
"Who?" I asked when the FBI shared this information with me.
"One was a boy born in 1995 to a woman named Christine Palmer," the investigator said. "She died in a car accident in 1997. The boy was adopted by her sister and raised in Boston. His name is Marcus Palmer."
"And the other?" Detective Morrison asked.
"A girl born in 2001 to a woman named Sophia Chen," the investigator said. "She's still alive, living in California. The daughter's name is Lily Chen."
"Sophia Chen," I said, looking at Dr. Chen. "Any relation?"
Dr. Chen went pale. "Sophia Chen was my sister."
The room fell silent.
"Your sister had a child with James Harris?" I asked.
"I didn't know," Dr. Chen said, her voice shaking. "Sophia and I were estranged for years before she died. I knew she had a daughter, but I thought the father was her ex-husband."
"How did your sister die?" Detective Morrison asked gently.
"Cancer," Dr. Chen said. "In 2015. But now I'm wondering if it really was cancer. If James had her killed too."
The web kept expanding. Three children. Three women who'd had relationships with James Harris. Two of them dead under suspicious circumstances.
"We need to warn Marcus Palmer and Lily Chen," I said. "If Emma's investigating and putting herself at risk, they might be targets too."
The FBI contacted Marcus Palmer in Boston. He was shocked to learn about his connection to James Harris.
"My mother never told me who my biological father was," Marcus said. "I always assumed it was someone unimportant. Not a... criminal."
"You might be in danger," the FBI agent told him. "We'd like to place you under protective custody."
Marcus agreed. He was brought to a safe house while the FBI investigated further.
But when they tried to contact Lily Chen in California, they discovered she'd also disappeared.
"Her roommate says she left two days ago," the FBI agent reported. "Said she was going to meet someone. Didn't say who."
"Emma," I said. "She found Lily. They're together."
"Or someone else found them both," Detective Morrison said darkly.
We had three of James Harris's illegitimate children. One in protective custody. Two missing.
"Why would Emma seek out the others?" Dr. Chen asked. "What is she trying to accomplish?"
"Maybe she wants answers," I suggested. "About who their father really was. About their heritage."
"Or maybe she wants revenge," Declan said quietly. "If she discovered what James did to her biological mother, she might want to destroy his legacy."
"His legacy is already destroyed," I said.
"Is it?" Declan asked. "James left behind wealth, properties, business connections. Maybe Emma wants to dismantle all of it. And maybe she needs her siblings to help."
It was possible. But it was also dangerous.
"We need to find them before the network does," I said.
The FBI put out alerts for Emma Reeves and Lily Chen. Their photos were distributed to law enforcement across the country.
Meanwhile, I contacted Liam. Told him everything we'd discovered.
"I have three half-siblings," Liam said, stunned. "Three people I never knew existed."
"Two half-sisters and a half-brother," I corrected. "And two of them are missing."
"What do you need from me?" Liam asked.
"Help us find them," I said. "You have resources. Connections. Use them."
Liam mobilized his own private investigators. Within days, they'd found a lead.
Emma and Lily had been spotted at a storage facility in Nevada. A facility owned by one of James Harris's shell companies.
"They're looking for something," Liam's investigator reported. "Documents, maybe. Or money. The facility is full of James's old belongings."
"We need to get there," I said. "Now."
Detective Morrison, Dr. Chen, and I flew to Nevada. Liam met us there with his security team.
The storage facility was enormous. Dozens of units filled with James's possessions. Furniture. Artwork. Boxes and boxes of documents.
"They could be anywhere," Detective Morrison said.
We split up and started searching. I took the east wing, checking units systematically.
That's when I found them.
Emma and Lily were in unit 247, surrounded by boxes of files. They looked up as I entered, their faces defiant.
"You shouldn't be here," Emma said. She looked just like the photo Dr. Chen had shown me, but harder. More determined.
"Neither should you," I said. "Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?"
"I know exactly how dangerous it is," Emma said. "Which is why I'm here. Finding the truth. Finding evidence of what our father did."
"James Harris isn't worth dying for," I said.
"No," Emma agreed. "But the people he hurt are worth justice. And I'm going to make sure they get it."
Lily spoke for the first time. "We found something. Something big."
She held up a document. A list of names. Hundreds of names.
"What is this?" I asked.
"James's blackmail list," Emma said. "Every person he had leverage over. Every crime he knew about. Every secret he held. It's all here."
"And we're going to expose all of them," Lily added.
Before I could respond, the lights went out.
In the darkness, I heard footsteps. Multiple people entering the facility.
"They found us," Emma whispered.