Chapter 6 - NOAH HAD SEEN THE CORRUPT DETECTIVE BEFORERichard returned to the hospital and found two uniformed officers outside Noah’s room.
Claire was gone.
Michael looked terrified.
“What happened?”
“She left.”
“Why?”
“After Noah mentioned Paul.”
Richard stopped.
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know.”
“You let her leave?”
“She’s not under arrest.”
“Not yet.”
Inside, Noah was awake.
Color had begun returning to his face.
His legs remained wrapped and elevated.
Doctors were cautiously optimistic.
Richard sat beside him.
“Buddy, Dr. Collins said you remembered the man in the picture.”
Noah nodded.
“Uncle Paul.”
Paul Mercer was not actually Noah’s uncle.
Children called him that because he had been around the family for years.
Foundation dinners.
Christmas parties.
Michael’s birthday.
Richard had trusted him.
“Are you sure?”
“He has the funny eyebrow.”
Paul had a scar cutting through his left eyebrow.
Noah continued.
“He came to our house too.”
Richard’s pulse quickened.
“When?”
“A lot.”
“Since Claire married Dad?”
Noah nodded.
“Does Dad know?”
“Sometimes.”
“Sometimes?”
“He comes when Dad is at work too.”
Richard looked toward Michael through the glass.
“Does Claire talk to him?”
Noah nodded.
“Do you know what about?”
“No.”
Then Noah’s face changed.
“One time I heard them fighting.”
“What did they say?”
“Claire said, ‘You promised Sarah was finished.’”
Richard went still.
“What did Paul say?”
Noah squeezed the blanket.
“He said, ‘Keep your voice down.’”
“When was this?”
“Before Christmas.”
Months ago.
Richard’s heart hammered.
“Did you tell Dad?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Claire said Uncle Paul was helping with a surprise.”
Richard felt sick.
Noah had been living inside an adult conspiracy without understanding any of it.
“What happened today after Claire found you with the picture?”
“She asked where I got it.”
“And?”
“I said behind Dad’s desk.”
“Then?”
“She asked if I found the key.”
“What key?”
Noah shrugged.
“I didn’t.”
“What kind?”
“She said, ‘Did you take the brass key?’”
Richard frowned.
Sarah’s photograph had been hidden behind Michael’s desk.
Possibly intentionally.
An envelope for Richard in the same area.
And Claire believed a key was there.
“What happened after that?”
“She searched my pockets.”
Richard’s anger surged.
“She thought you had the key.”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
Noah hesitated.
Richard caught it.
“Noah.”
The boy looked guilty.
“I found it yesterday.”
Richard leaned closer.
“Where is it?”
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
“In my dinosaur.”
“What dinosaur?”
“The big green one in my room.”
Richard immediately stood.
Michael entered.
“What?”
“There’s a key in Noah’s stuffed dinosaur.”
Michael stared.
“What key?”
“Claire wanted it.”
His face changed.
“I’m going home.”
“No.”
Richard blocked him.
“Why?”
“Because Claire may already be there.”
Michael stopped.
Richard called police.
Detective Elena Brooks had taken over once child endangerment became linked to possible evidence from Sarah’s death.
Unlike Paul Mercer, Brooks had no relationship with the Bennett family.
Richard liked that immediately.
She listened.
Then said:
“Nobody enters that house alone.”
Police met them at the mansion.
Claire’s car was gone.
The front door was unlocked.
No sign of forced entry.
They went upstairs.
Noah’s room had been destroyed.
Drawers emptied.
Toys ripped from shelves.
Mattress flipped.
Michael stared.
“She was looking for it.”
Richard found the large green stuffed dinosaur beneath the bed.
Its seam had been cut open.
Empty.
Michael’s face went white.
“She found the key.”
Richard looked around.
“No.”
“What?”
“If she found it, why destroy the rest of the room?”
Michael understood.
Someone had searched.
But not found what they wanted.
Richard examined the dinosaur.
The seam was freshly cut.
Then he noticed something.
A small zipper beneath its tail.
He opened it.
Inside was a plastic battery compartment.
No batteries.
But taped behind the plastic was a brass key.
Claire had missed it.
Michael stared.
“What does it open?”
No answer.
Police photographed it.
Then Detective Brooks found tiny letters engraved along the side.
B.F. ARCHIVE — 3C
Richard’s pulse changed.
“Bennett Foundation.”
Michael looked at him.
“We don’t have an archive.”
“Yes, we do.”
Richard remembered the old foundation headquarters downtown.
Three underground storage levels.
Most records had been digitized years ago.
Level C had been sealed after flooding.
Or so he had been told.
Brooks looked at Richard.
“Who told you it was closed?”
He thought.
Paul Mercer.
Five years earlier.
The same year Claire joined the foundation.
Richard suddenly understood why Sarah had hidden the key where Noah might eventually find it.
Not with Michael.
Not with lawyers.
With her child’s belongings.
She must have believed anyone else could be compromised.
They drove downtown.
Bennett Foundation Archive Room 3C still existed.
The brass key opened it.
Inside were shelves of old files.
One locked metal cabinet.
Another keyhole.
The same key fit.
Richard opened the cabinet.
Empty.
Except for a flash drive.
And a handwritten note.
Sarah’s writing.
If Noah ever finds this before Richard does, then I was right not to trust Michael.
Michael staggered back.
Richard picked up the flash drive.
May you like
On the other side Sarah had written:
START WITH THE CHILDREN WHO NEVER EXISTED.
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