Frederick's mother had been missing for three days before the recording arrived. Her absence had been attributed to a trip to visit relatives, but Frederick now understood that she had been kidnapped. Helena Ashford had taken his mother as leverage, as a way to ensure that Frederick would not pursue his investigation any further.
Detective Morrison wanted to move forward with trying to locate Frederick's mother, but Frederick knew that any official action would trigger Helena to execute his mother immediately. Instead, Frederick decided to reach out to someone he had not contacted in years: Uncle Michael's widow, Catherine, the woman who had helped him understand Adrian's tragic history.
Catherine was now in her eighties, living in a quiet retirement community in California. When Frederi
