Chapter 7: The Blue Ink Clue

I took a screenshot of the note and sent it to Becca.

"Have you seen this symbol before?"

She leaned closer to the screen.

"No. What is it?"

"I don't know yet."

I opened the old messages between Elise and me.

Three months earlier, she had asked me to drop off a sealed envelope at a law office downtown.

I had never opened it.

At the time, I hadn't thought there was anything strange about it.

Now I searched through my phone until I found the photograph I had taken that day.

There it was.

The same blue symbol was printed in the corner of the envelope.

My stomach tightened.

I called the law office.

After several transfers, a receptionist finally answered.

"I'm calling about a document that was delivered here three months ago. It was sent by Elise Carter."

There was a pause.

"I'm sorry, but we can't discuss client information."

"I understand. I don't need the contents. I only want to know whether the document is still there."

Another pause followed.

"No. It was collected the same day."

I frowned.

"Collected by whom?"

"A man named Adrian Cole."

My breath caught.

Adrian was Cole's middle name.

But Cole had never mentioned going to that law office.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes. His identification matched the name on the collection form."

I thanked her and ended the call.

Becca looked at me.

"Cole picked it up?"

"Apparently."

Suddenly, the story about the fake breakup no longer looked like a simple mistake.

There were too many pieces that didn't fit.

Elise's secret hotel meeting.

The blue symbol.

The missing document.

And now the note blaming me.

I called Wes again.

"Where was Elise's phone found?"

"Near the river. Why?"

"Was anything else found with it?"

He hesitated.

"There was a small black envelope."

My heart started pounding.

"What happened to it?"

"The police took it."

"Did you see what was written on it?"

His voice became quieter.

"Your name."

I closed my eyes.

Someone wasn't just trying to frame me.

Someone wanted me to be connected to Elise's disappearance from the beginning.

That evening, I went to the police station with Becca.

I wasn't there to confess anything.

I wanted to make sure my side of the story was officially recorded before someone twisted it against me.

The detective assigned to the case listened without interrupting.

When I finished, he asked, "Did you have any conflict with Elise recently?"

"No."

I paused.

"The only conflict was between me and Cole."

The detective wrote something down.

"When was the last time you saw her?"

"The night she moved into our apartment."

"Did she say anything unusual?"

I remembered her tearful expression.

"She kept saying she was causing problems between Cole and me."

The detective looked up.

"And you believed her?"

"At the time."

He closed the notebook.

"Ms. Mara, I need to tell you something."

My fingers tightened around the strap of my bag.

"What?"

"The river footage shows Elise arriving there alone."

"Then what is the problem?"

"She never went into the water."

I stared at him.

"What do you mean?"

"She stood near the river for approximately six minutes. Then another vehicle arrived."

He turned his monitor toward me.

The image was blurry, but I could make out the shape of a dark sedan.

"Do you recognize this car?"

I stared at the screen.

I knew that car.

It belonged to Cole.