Chapter 19 - The Safety Deposit Box
The vault at First Heritage Bank was cold and silent.
The bank manager led Daniel and Detective Monroe down a long corridor of steel boxes. He inserted the master key, and Daniel inserted the silver one.
With a heavy click, box number 814 slid open.
Inside lay a leather-bound journal and a faded, yellowed document. Daniel pulled the document out carefully. It was a birth certificate.
His birth certificate.
But the mother's name wasn't left blank as it had been on the forged copies he grew up with. The name was written clearly in dark ink: Eleanor Vance.
"Vance?"
Monroe whispered in shock.
"As in Vanessa Carter’s maiden name?"
"No,"
May you like
Daniel said, his voice trembling as he opened the journal.
"Eleanor was Victor's first wife. The woman everyone thought died in a car crash thirty-eight years ago."
