Chapter 6 - The Key to Ohio
The rain had tapered off to a heavy mist by the time Detective Miller handed me the brass safety deposit box key. The metal was cold against my palm, stamped with the emblem of the First National Bank of Albany—the same city where my birth records had supposedly originated twenty-five years ago.
“Your mother,” I repeated, the word tasting strange and foreign on my tongue. For my entire life, “Mother” had meant an empty, gilded picture frame on the mantelpiece—a woman who had supposedly passed away from pneumonia when I was an infant, leaving me solely to the care of a grieving lawyer father. “Miller, are you certain? The bank box was registered under The Elena & Audrey Foundation?”
“That’s what the remote query returned,” Miller said, slipping his notepad back into his damp trench coat. He glanced over toward the alley where Uncle Richard was being guided into the back of a transport van, his head bowed against the flashing strobes. “Richard kept that key in a hidden compartment inside his briefcase alongside the St. Jude’s adoption records. It wasn't there by accident. He was holding onto it as an insurance policy against Julian and Clara—or perhaps as leverage against whoever else knew the truth about your background.”
Maya stepped closer, her breath pluming in the chilly autumn air. She looked down at the brass key in my hand, her expression a mix of caution and hard-earned resolve.
“If your biological mother is still alive, Audrey, then everything your father told you about your childhood was curated,” Maya said quietly. “Not necessarily malicious, but edited. Just like my adoption records were edited to keep the Vance family estate intact.”
The thought sent a shiver through me that had nothing to do with the wet wind. I thought of Leo, sleeping safely now in the care of my trusted neighbor back at the apartment, completely unaware that the ground beneath our family tree had shifted entirely. I couldn't just bury this key or hand it over to a county clerk who might be bought out by whatever remnants of Julian’s corporate network still operated in secret.
“I’m going to Albany,” I said, looking up at Miller with absolute certainty.
“Audrey, it’s a three-hour drive, and you’re five months pregnant,” Miller cautioned, though there was a sympathetic glint in his tired eyes. “Richard is locked up, and Julian is facing federal indictment. The immediate physical danger has passed. But heading out to an out-of-town bank based on a dead man’s safety deposit box key without a court order might hit procedural walls.”
“I don't need a court order to open a box registered under a foundation bearing my own name,” I replied, my voice steady. I turned to Maya. “Are you coming with me?”
May you like
Maya looked back at the glowing neon sign of the diner, then down at her own hands. A faint, humorless smile touched the corners of her mouth. “My entire life was built on a lie manufactured by the Vances. Do you really think I’m going to stay behind while you go find out who started it?”
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