Chapter 302: Many Miller names.
By the time noon crept across the compound, Sienna’s fever had long broken, yet she remained in a deep, stubborn sleep. Her body, exhausted from the night’s ordeal, refused to stir. Elias kept going in and out of her room, sitting by her side, and grumbling about why she was taking too long to open her eyes. The poor doctor was at his nerves end thanks to the fox lord.
Right now, Elias, the Veythar elders and Timothy were locked inside the bedroom, sitting opposite Elias, around the bed. The expressions on the faces of the elders were grave, while Timothy stood at attention with a slim tablet that he was swiping.
They had just had a conversation about the missing death certificates of the Millers. A mystery that they would rather not solve, but had no choice but to do so.
Timothy cleared his throat and began. "My lord, and lady, my team has traced the movements of the Miller’s over the a period of twenty years. Over this period, they lived under different identities in three different cities. Each time, they adopted a new surname, but always ended it with Miller."
He scrolled right, revealing the aliases: "Thomas and Eliza Miller in Houndfang city. Richard and Cyan Miller in the coastal city of Seaford. Samuel and Ruth Miller in the Greenhaven city and Edward and Blair Miller in the capital."
Jess rolled her eyes. "How did they remember who they were all the time?"
Timothy couldn’t answer that, and he continued, "They were grifters, mostly. Most of their crimes were small but consistent. In Houndfang, they ran a pawnshop that doubled as a front for counterfeit money schemes. In Seaford, they sold fake land deeds for land in the sea to desperate fishermen. In Greenhaven, they staged insurance frauds--burning down empty warehouses they never owned, collecting payouts through forged documents. In the capital, they sold the same horse to ten nobles."
Jesse frowned deeply. "Grifters, yes. But clever ones. Their victims were very foolish. How do you buy land in the sea?"
His wife guffawed. "I have to say the Miller’s were clever. They knew how to reinvent themselves. That kind of skill doesn’t die easily."
Timothy nodded. "When their daughters were nine, they broke away from the nomad tribe and settled in Morning Dew town, in lost-born city. They opened a mechanic shop. Enforcers has it under surveillance for three months, suspecting it was tied to illegal car thefts and underground races. But they never found proof and closed the file. The shop was legitimate--or so the documents claim."
Jess leaned forward, her voice sharp. "And yet, within two years, Sienna’s grandfather turned a small shop into a thriving car factory and automobile business. It takes big money to do that. Notice the pattern. They move to a new city and do a small crime, then pivot to legitimacy before escaping. It’s a cycle. Perhaps they believed they could cleanse themselves, but the stain of deception never left."
Her husband shook his head. "No. It was strategy. All these small crimes were to build capital for the big business."
Timothy swiped up to the records of the business. "He took on partners and a loan from the bank. He invited relatives who were willing to work and spoke openly of leaving the nomad tribe behind completely. It seemed he wanted the family to go straight and he was preparing to take his company public." His tone grew heavier. "Then came the accident. One night, after dinner with his partners, Thomas, Richard, or Samuel, depending on which identity he was using and his wife were supposedly killed in a car crash. Records of the crush are vague, the names of the responding officers are not in the file. The autopsy reports? Nonexistent. It is as if someone erased all this information deliberately. It doesn’t exist anywhere."
Jesse slammed his hand on the table. "Sienna’s grandfather was a hacker. He taught his daughter the craft. If anyone could erase records, it was him. I suspect he staged their deaths."
Jess’s eyes narrowed. "And if he staged them, then they are alive. Somewhere. Watching or hiding."
Timothy continued, "The business they built still exists, but the name was changed and it was eventually sold. It operates under new ownership now, clean and respectable. But I think the Miller roots are still buried beneath it. They are still using the same software that was created by Sam--Rich--" He rolled his eyes, "Let’s go with Samuel Miller as that is what is on the documents. Someone has been updating it, but their work is very similar to the original. We have a small part of it and experts are already analyzing it."
Elias paled, his tail flicking with agitation. "Arrange all this information. Every alias, every crime, every partner. When Sienna wakes, she must face this troublesome side of her family with clarity. She deserves to know the truth. And knowing her, it is entirely possible that she will reject them the same way she rejected Paris."
His grandfather Jesse rose, his voice commanding. "I will send the elite guards. They will begin the search immediately. If the Millers are alive, we will find them. And if they are hiding for a worthy reason, we will see to it that it remains so forever. If they are good people, maybe we can arrange new identities for them. But otherwise, since they are officially dead, it’s best to keep that status as it is. There is no need to go resurrecting them."
Timothy looked up from the tablet, seeming unsure. "One more thing, although I am not sure if it is relevant."
Grandma Jess rubbed her temples. "What else must we clean up?"
Timothy shook his head. "It is not a problem that needs cleaning up. I found record of Lady Sienna’s mother’s original birth certificate. She was named Missy Orlena Miller at birth, but after a fire at the orphanage the physical birth certificate was burned. A clerk accidentally registered Missy as Mrs when issuing a new one and so she has been called that since then. Should we correct it for her? I can get the documents in order and apply for a new one. I will need supporting documents from her, of course."
Jess twisted her lips. "That has no relevance to the problems we are faced with." She smiled softly, "Although, I have always wondered why she was Mrs. Miller when there was no Mr. Miller. I actually thought Paris Rocland had used the name Paris Miller to lie to her."
Elias snorted. "Even the name has its own story!"
His grandparents laughed.
Sienna stirred faintly in her bed, her eyes fluttered open.