Richard stared at Chloe as if the room had tilted beneath him.
“What did you just say?”
Chloe’s lips trembled.
“The man behind Patricia.”
Patricia turned toward her.
“There was nobody behind me.”
“Yes, there was.”
“Chloe, I would have seen him.”
“You were facing the house.”
Patricia frowned.
Chloe pointed again at the old photograph.
“He looked like Daniel.”
Richard’s voice came out as a whisper.
“My son died at nine years old.”
“I know.”
“Then what you saw could not have been him.”
“I didn’t say it was him.”
Chloe swallowed.
“I said he looked like him.”
Richard took the photograph from the table.
His hands were shaking badly now.
“What did this man look like?”
“Tall.”
“How tall?”
“About your height.”
“Hair?”
“Dark. Some gray.”
“Face?”
Chloe hesitated.
“Same eyes.”
Richard stopped moving.
Mom looked between them.
“Richard?”
He sat down slowly.
“Daniel had my eyes.”
No one spoke.
Patricia suddenly stepped toward Chloe.
“Did this man speak to you?”
“No.”
“Did he see you take the briefcase?”
“I think so.”
“Did he follow you?”
“I don’t know.”
Patricia looked terrified.
“That might explain the flash drive.”
Richard lifted his head.
“What?”
“If somebody wanted you to receive it, Chloe taking your briefcase gave them the perfect opportunity.”
I stared at her.
“You think someone deliberately put that drive inside?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Patricia looked toward Richard.
“Because someone wants him to see what’s on it.”
Richard walked toward my laptop on the counter.
Mom immediately grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“What?”
“You don’t plug unknown devices into a computer.”
Richard almost smiled despite everything.
“You’re right.”
I looked at Patricia.
“Daniel’s House has computers?”
“Yes.”
“Connected to financial records?”
“Yes.”
“Then we don’t use those either.”
Richard nodded.
“We use an old laptop with no internet.”
I went upstairs and brought down an old machine Chloe had used for school years earlier.
Richard placed it on the dining table.
Everyone gathered around.
The laptop took forever to start.
No one complained.
When the desktop finally appeared, Richard inserted the flash drive.
One folder appeared.
DANIEL.
Inside were four files.
A scanned medical chart.
An audio recording.
A photograph.
And a video file.
Richard stared at the screen.
“Which one?”
Patricia whispered,
“The medical chart first.”
Richard opened it.
Page after page appeared.
Daniel’s name.
Hospital dates.
Medication records.
Doctor signatures.
Then one document caught Richard’s attention.
“Wait.”
He leaned closer.
“What?”
“This signature.”
Patricia looked.
“Samuel Pierce.”
Richard shook his head.
“He wasn’t supposed to be working that night.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I was there.”
His voice became distant.
“The hospital called us around midnight. Daniel’s fever had climbed.”
He pressed two fingers against his forehead.
“Dr. Pierce came in after one in the morning. I remember asking why he was there.”
Mom whispered,
“What did he say?”
“He said another doctor had called him.”
Patricia scanned the document.
“According to this, Pierce authorized the medication at 12:48.”
Richard frowned.
“But he didn’t arrive in Daniel’s room until after one.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“So he authorized it before seeing Daniel?”
“Apparently.”
Patricia pointed toward another line.
“Look here.”
Richard read it.
“Patient transferred?”
“To where?” I asked.
Richard scrolled.
There was no destination.
Just a timestamp.
2:14 a.m.
Then another entry.
PATIENT RETURNED — 3:02 A.M.
Richard went pale.
“That never happened.”
“What?”
“Daniel never left the room.”
“Are you certain?”
“I was sitting beside him.”
Patricia stared at the screen.
“Then the chart was fabricated.”
Mom whispered,
“Why would anybody fake a transfer?”
Nobody answered.
Richard closed the document and opened the audio file.
Static filled the room.
Then a woman’s voice.
Older.
Shaky.
“I don’t know who will hear this.”
Patricia gasped.
“Evelyn.”
Richard turned toward her.
“That’s your sister?”
“Yes.”
The recording continued.
“My name is Evelyn Hart. I was a registered nurse at St. Matthew Hospital in 1994.”
Richard’s eyes locked on the laptop.
“If Richard Bennett ever hears this, I am sorry I waited.”
Richard gripped the edge of the table.
The voice continued.
“Daniel Bennett did receive the wrong medication that night.”
Mom covered her mouth.
“But the medication error was not the reason his records were altered.”
Richard whispered,
“What?”
Evelyn’s voice cracked through the speakers.
“Daniel was part of a clinical trial.”
Patricia stumbled backward.
Richard looked at her.
“You knew about this?”
“No.”
The recording continued.
“The trial involved an experimental leukemia drug developed by a private pharmaceutical company working with St. Matthew.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
“Parents were supposed to sign consent forms.”
The recording paused.
“I never saw one signed by Richard or Anna Bennett.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Mom gripped his shoulder.
Evelyn continued.
“When Daniel developed a severe reaction, the research team panicked.”
Richard whispered,
“Oh God.”
“They transferred him temporarily to a restricted treatment room.”
Richard stood.
“That’s the missing hour.”
Patricia nodded slowly.
The recording became harder to hear.
“I was ordered to change several chart entries.”
Richard stared at the computer.
“I refused.”
“Dr. Pierce told me the boy was terminal anyway.”
Mom’s face twisted with horror.
Richard’s eyes filled with tears.
“He said that?”
The recording continued.
“He said exposing the trial would destroy careers, close the hospital program, and cost millions.”
Richard slammed his fist onto the table.
Chloe jumped.
“Sorry.”
He turned away.
Mom touched his arm.
The recording continued.
“Daniel survived the initial reaction.”
Richard froze.
Nobody breathed.
Evelyn’s voice trembled.
“At approximately 3:20 a.m., he was conscious.”
Richard turned slowly toward the laptop.
“What?”
“I spoke to him.”
Richard’s knees nearly buckled.
“No.”
“He asked for his father.”
Richard covered his mouth.
Tears ran down his face.
“I was told Richard had gone home.”
“I never left.”
Richard looked at us.
“I NEVER LEFT.”
The recording continued.
“Minutes later, security removed me from the floor.”
Richard whispered,
“What happened after that?”
As if answering him, Evelyn said,
“The next morning, I was told Daniel Bennett had died.”
Silence.
Then static.
Richard stared at the laptop.
Patricia was crying now.
“My sister never told me this.”
The recording resumed.
“Years later, Anna contacted me.”
Richard looked up.
“She knew.”
“Yes,” Patricia whispered.
“We met several times.”
Evelyn’s recording continued.
“Anna believed Daniel’s body had been moved before the family was allowed to see him.”
Richard shook his head violently.
“No.”
Mom whispered,
“Richard…”
“No.”
He backed away from the table.
“I saw my son.”
“Did you?” Patricia asked.
Richard turned toward her.
“What kind of question is that?”
“Did you see his face?”
Richard opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
I watched the realization reach him.
He whispered,
“The coffin was closed.”
Mom’s hand rose to her mouth.
Richard looked sick.
“They told us…”
His voice broke.
“They told us the treatment had caused severe swelling.”
Nobody moved.
Patricia whispered,
“So you never identified his body?”
Richard stared at her.
“No.”
Evelyn’s voice continued from the laptop.
“Anna tried to have the grave examined.”
Richard whispered,
“What?”
“She stopped after the threats began.”
Then the recording ended.
The room became painfully quiet.
Richard stood motionless for several seconds.
Then he reached for the mouse.
“There’s a video.”
Mom said softly,
“Richard, you don’t have to watch it.”
“Yes.”
“Please.”
“I have to.”
He opened the video.
The screen was black for several seconds.
Then an image appeared.
Security-camera footage.
A hospital corridor.
A timestamp in the corner.
JUNE 18, 1994.
3:31 A.M.
Richard leaned forward.
“That’s St. Matthew.”
A hospital bed entered the frame.
Two men pushed it down the hallway.
A child lay beneath a blanket.
Richard stopped breathing.
The child turned his head toward the camera.
The image was grainy.
But the face was visible.
Richard whispered,
“Daniel.”
Mom began crying.
The bed disappeared through a set of double doors.
Then another person entered the frame.
Dr. Samuel Pierce.
Richard’s face hardened.
Pierce spoke briefly with one of the men.
Then the footage jumped ahead.
4:07 A.M.
A black vehicle pulled away from a service entrance.
Richard whispered,
“They took him somewhere.”
Patricia shook her head.
“We don’t know that.”
“He was alive.”
“We know he was alive at 3:31.”
Richard pointed at the screen.
“And hours later they told me he was dead.”
The video continued.
Then the camera changed.
Different location.
Different year.
A timestamp appeared.
2011.
Richard stared.
“What is this?”
A man walked across a parking garage.
Middle-aged.
Dark hair.
Thin build.
The camera zoomed slightly.
Richard stopped breathing.
Mom whispered,
“Oh my God.”
The man turned toward the camera.
Same eyes.
Same jawline.
Same small scar near his eyebrow.
Richard touched the screen.
“No.”
Chloe whispered,
“That’s him.”
Everyone looked at her.
“That’s the man I saw.”
Richard looked as though someone had punched him.
“That video is fifteen years old.”
Patricia whispered,
“He would have been twenty-six.”
Exactly the age the man appeared to be.
The file ended.
Richard stared at the blank screen.
For almost a minute, nobody spoke.
Then he whispered,
“My son might be alive.”
Mom took his hand.
Richard looked down at Daniel’s childhood photograph.
“If he survived…”
His voice cracked.
“Where has he been for thirty-two years?”
Patricia stepped closer.
“And why did he never come home?”
The laptop suddenly made a sound.
A new text file had appeared on the flash drive.
Everyone stared at it.
Richard hadn’t touched anything.
I whispered,
“Was that there before?”
“No.”
The file name read:
RICHARD — READ THIS BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
Richard clicked it.
Only three lines appeared.
DO NOT GO TO ST. MATTHEW.
PIERCE KNOWS YOU HAVE THE FILES.
IF YOU WANT TO SEE DANIEL ALIVE, COME TO THE OLD RIVERSIDE TRAIN STATION AT 11:30.
Richard stared at the screen.
Mom whispered,
“It could be a trap.”
“It probably is.”
“Then you’re not going.”
Richard looked at her.
“I have to.”
Patricia shook her head.
“Pierce could be manipulating you.”
Richard pointed at the frozen video.
“Then explain that man.”
Patricia couldn’t.
Chloe suddenly said,
“There’s something else.”
We all turned toward her.
“When I saw him tonight, he wasn’t just watching Patricia.”
“What was he doing?”
Chloe looked at Richard.
“He was crying.”
Richard’s face softened.
“And when you drove away…”
She swallowed.
“He whispered something.”
Richard stepped closer.
“What did he say?”
Chloe’s eyes filled with tears again.
“I couldn’t hear everything.”
“What did you hear?”
She looked directly at him.
“One word.”
Richard waited.
Chloe whispered,
“Dad.”
Richard closed his eyes.
And for the first time that night, he stopped asking whether Daniel could still be alive.
He started wondering why his son had spent thirty-two years hiding from him.
TO BE CONTINUED…
PART 5 — THE MAN WAITING AT RIVERSIDE STATION
At 10:47 p.m., Richard was standing beside the front door with Daniel’s file tucked beneath his coat.
Mom stood directly in front of him.
“You are not going alone.”
“The message specifically said—”
“I don’t care what the message said.”
“Margaret.”
“No.”
Her voice trembled, but she didn’t move.
“You disappeared from my birthday dinner because you were helping sick children. Fine. You lied to me about your son because you couldn’t face what happened to him. I’m angry, but I understand.”
She pointed toward the window.
“But walking into an abandoned train station because an anonymous message says your dead son is waiting there?”
Richard lowered his eyes.
“That is exactly why I have to go.”
Mom grabbed both sides of his coat.
“And if someone is waiting there to kill you?”
“Then I need to know why.”
“That is the stupidest thing you’ve said all night.”
For the first time, Richard almost smiled.
“I know.”
Patricia stepped forward.
“We should call the police.”
Richard shook his head.
“If Evelyn is really being held, that could put her in danger.”
I looked at him.
“So what’s your plan?”
He didn’t answer.
That was the problem.
He didn’t have one.
Chloe suddenly lifted her phone.
“I do.”
Everyone turned toward her.
“No,” I said immediately.
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”
“You are fifteen. Whatever you’re about to say is no.”
“Mom.”
“No.”
Chloe sighed.
“Fine. But Richard can share his location with us.”
Richard nodded.
“And keep his phone recording.”
Patricia added,
“I have another phone he can hide in his coat.”
Mom stared at Richard.
“You still shouldn’t go.”
He looked at Daniel’s photograph on the table.
“If there is even a one-percent chance that man is my son, I will spend the rest of my life hating myself if I stay here.”
Mom closed her eyes.
Then she whispered,
“Come back.”
Richard reached for her hand.
“I will.”
At 11:18, Richard parked two blocks from Riverside Station.
We watched his location from my living room.
The station had been abandoned for almost twenty years.
According to Patricia, the city had fenced off most of the property after part of the roof collapsed.
Richard approached on foot.
His phone transmitted audio to us through a call he had left open.
We heard wind.
His breathing.
The crunch of gravel beneath his shoes.
Then Richard whispered,
“I’m inside.”
Mom gripped the edge of the table.
“Can you see anyone?”
“No.”
The old station was nearly black except for pale moonlight entering through broken windows.
Richard moved through the waiting hall.
Old benches sat beneath layers of dust.
A shattered clock hung above the ticket counter.
11:27.
Three minutes early.
Richard stopped.
“I’m at the main platform.”
Patricia leaned toward the phone.
“Richard, if anything feels wrong, leave.”
No response.
“Richard?”
Then we heard footsteps.
Slow.
Approaching.
Mom covered her mouth.
Richard whispered,
“Someone’s here.”
A man’s voice came through the phone.
“Turn off your phone.”
Richard didn’t move.
The voice sounded calm.
Almost exhausted.
“I know they’re listening.”
Mom looked at us.
Richard whispered,
“Who are you?”
The man stepped closer.
We could hear his shoes against the concrete.
Then silence.
Richard spoke again.
“Show me your face.”
The man answered,
“You already know my face.”
Mom started crying.
On Richard’s end, there was a long pause.
Then he whispered one name.
“Daniel?”
The stranger didn’t answer immediately.
When he finally spoke, his voice cracked.
“You used to call me Danny.”
Richard made a sound I had never heard from another human being.
Half breath.
Half sob.
“No.”
The man continued.
“When I was afraid of thunderstorms, you let me sleep on the floor beside your bed because Mom said I was too old to sleep between you.”
Richard stopped breathing.
The stranger kept talking.
“You bought me a wooden train for my seventh birthday.”
Richard whispered,
“Stop.”
“I broke one of the wheels the same afternoon.”
“Stop.”
“You fixed it with a tiny brass screw because I cried for two hours.”
Richard’s voice shattered.
“Daniel?”
The man whispered,
“Hi, Dad.”
Mom sank into a chair.
Chloe began crying.
Even Patricia covered her face.
For several seconds, nothing came through the phone except Richard sobbing.
Then we heard movement.
Probably the two men embracing.
Richard repeated the same words over and over.
“My boy.”
“My boy.”
“My boy.”
Then suddenly Daniel said,
“We don’t have much time.”
Richard pulled away.
“What happened to you?”
“I’ll explain.”
“Where have you been?”
“Dad.”
“Thirty-two years!”
“I know.”
“Your mother died believing—”
“I KNOW!”
Silence.
Daniel’s voice softened.
“I know.”
Richard whispered,
“She searched for you.”
“I found out later.”
“She thought you were dead.”
“So did you.”
Richard’s voice became hard.
“I saw you alive on that hospital footage.”
Daniel exhaled slowly.
“That night, Dr. Pierce’s research team moved me.”
“Why?”
“The trial went wrong.”
“I know.”
“No, Dad.”
Daniel’s voice changed.
“You know part of it.”
Richard said nothing.
“The drug they gave me was experimental. But the reaction didn’t kill me.”
“What did it do?”
“It destroyed parts of my immune system.”
Richard swallowed.
“I was kept isolated for months.”
“Where?”
“A private research facility outside Baltimore.”
Richard sounded stunned.
“You were nine years old.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell us?”
“Because Pierce had already reported me dead.”
Richard whispered,
“Oh God.”
“If I suddenly reappeared, the hospital would have had to explain the illegal trial.”
“So they kidnapped you.”
Daniel hesitated.
“At first, I didn’t understand what was happening.”
“At first?”
“They told me you and Mom had died.”
Richard went completely silent.
Daniel continued.
“They showed me newspaper clippings.”
“Fake?”
“Yes.”
“They told you your parents were dead?”
“Yes.”
Richard’s voice trembled with rage.
“You were a CHILD.”
“I know.”
“Who raised you?”
“A man named Thomas Vale.”
Patricia suddenly gasped beside us.
Richard must have heard it through the phone.
“Patricia knows that name.”
Daniel immediately became alarmed.
“Patricia is there?”
“Yes.”
“Dad, listen to me carefully.”
“What?”
“Do not trust her.”
Patricia froze.
Mom stared at her.
Richard whispered,
“Why?”
Daniel answered,
“Because Thomas Vale worked for Patricia.”
Patricia stood.
“That’s a lie.”
Richard could hear her shouting through the open call.
Daniel said,
“Get away from her.”
Patricia shook her head.
“No.”
She grabbed the phone on our table.
“Daniel!”
There was silence.
Then his voice changed.
Cold.
“You.”
Patricia whispered,
“I never knew you were alive.”
“You knew enough.”
“No.”
“You handled payments.”
Patricia’s face drained of color.
“What payments?”
“The transfers from St. Matthew.”
“I was seventeen when you disappeared!”
“I’m not talking about 1994.”
Everyone froze.
Daniel continued.
“I’m talking about eleven years ago.”
Richard whispered,
“The stolen money from Daniel’s House.”
“Yes.”
Patricia shook her head.
“No. Richard, I swear—”
Daniel cut her off.
“Ask her why she became treasurer.”
Richard repeated the question.
Patricia looked trapped.
“I volunteered.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“No.”
Patricia gripped the phone.
“Who told you this?”
“I have the records.”
“What records?”
“The ones Evelyn found.”
Patricia’s eyes widened.
“My sister?”
“Yes.”
Patricia went silent.
Daniel continued.
“Evelyn discovered that money from Daniel’s House was being diverted to Silver Crown Medical Consulting.”
Richard said,
“We know that.”
“But she didn’t know Patricia authorized the first transfer.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Mom stepped backward.
Patricia whispered,
“That isn’t true.”
Daniel answered,
“April 17, 2015. Forty-eight thousand dollars.”
Patricia shook her head violently.
“No.”
“Authorization code P-HART-04.”
“That was my login, but—”
Richard interrupted.
“Your login?”
Patricia looked toward us.
“I didn’t send it.”
Daniel said,
“But somebody using your credentials did.”
Patricia sat down hard.
“I gave Evelyn access once.”
Richard frowned.
“Why?”
“She was helping reconcile donations.”
Daniel went quiet.
Then said,
“That explains something.”
Richard asked,
“What?”
“The person behind this may have been using both sisters.”
Patricia looked at the phone.
“You just said not to trust me.”
“I said Thomas Vale worked for you.”
“He never worked for me.”
Daniel replied,
“Then somebody created records showing that he did.”
Patricia whispered,
“Why?”
“To make you the fall person.”
Another silence.
Richard said,
“Daniel, who is behind this?”
Daniel hesitated.
“I don’t know the full name.”
“You’ve been hiding for thirty-two years and you don’t know?”
“I know the organization.”
“What organization?”
“They called it Meridian.”
Patricia’s face went white.
I noticed immediately.
“You know that name.”
She didn’t answer.
Mom looked at her.
“Patricia.”
Patricia whispered,
“Meridian was the company financing the clinical trial.”
Richard’s breathing became heavier.
Daniel said,
“It still exists.”
Richard asked,
“Doing what?”
“Private medical research.”
“Illegal research?”
“Sometimes.”
Richard’s voice became sharp.
“And Pierce?”
“Still connected.”
“Then where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You told me to meet you here because Pierce knew I had the files.”
“He does.”
“How?”
Daniel paused.
“Because someone inside your house told him.”
Every person in our living room froze.
I looked at Mom.
Mom looked at Patricia.
Chloe looked at me.
Richard whispered,
“What are you talking about?”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“They knew Chloe took the briefcase before she even reached home.”
My heart began pounding.
Richard said,
“Patricia followed her.”
“No.”
Patricia shouted toward the phone,
“I went straight back inside!”
Daniel continued.
“Then somebody else saw her.”
Chloe suddenly whispered,
“The car.”
I turned toward her.
“What car?”
She swallowed.
“When I ran home, a black SUV passed me twice.”
I felt sick.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought I was imagining it.”
Daniel heard her through the phone.
“That was them.”
Richard’s voice hardened.
“My granddaughter was followed?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you wait until now to warn us?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
“Daniel.”
“I needed the flash drive to reach you.”
Richard paused.
“You put it in my briefcase?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I saw Chloe hiding outside Daniel’s House.”
Richard gave a stunned laugh.
“So you were there.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“Because somebody else was watching too.”
“Who?”
Daniel’s answer came quietly.
“Dr. Pierce.”
Mom gasped.
Richard whispered,
“He was there tonight?”
“Yes.”
“And you still let Chloe leave alone?”
“I followed her.”
Chloe’s eyes widened.
Daniel continued.
“I stayed behind until she reached your street.”
Richard exhaled.
“Thank you.”
Then Daniel suddenly whispered,
“Dad.”
“What?”
“Someone’s coming.”
We all froze.
Richard said,
“Where?”
“East entrance.”
Footsteps echoed through the phone.
More than one person.
Daniel whispered,
“You need to run.”
“I’m not leaving without you.”
“Dad.”
“I just found you.”
“You’ll lose me permanently if you stay.”
Richard’s voice broke.
“I’m not abandoning my son again.”
“You never abandoned me.”
The footsteps became louder.
Daniel said,
“Go through the service tunnel.”
“I don’t know where it is.”
“I’ll show you.”
Then we heard running.
Richard’s breathing became heavy.
Behind them, a man shouted,
“STOP!”
Mom cried,
“Oh God.”
We heard something crash.
Then Daniel shouted,
“LEFT!”
Richard’s footsteps thundered through the station.
Suddenly a loud bang came through the phone.
Mom screamed.
The line filled with static.
“Richard!”
No answer.
“RICHARD!”
Another bang.
Then Richard groaned.
Chloe grabbed my arm.
“Is he hurt?”
I shouted into the phone.
“Richard!”
For several terrifying seconds, we heard nothing.
Then Daniel’s voice returned.
“Dad?”
Richard coughed.
“I’m fine.”
“What happened?”
“They hit the wall.”
Daniel sounded relieved.
“Keep moving.”
They ran again.
Then another voice echoed behind them.
Older.
Calm.
“Daniel!”
Daniel stopped.
Richard whispered,
“Keep going.”
But Daniel didn’t move.
The older voice called again.
“You’ve spent thirty-two years blaming the wrong man.”
Daniel whispered,
“Pierce.”
Richard’s breathing changed.
Dr. Samuel Pierce was inside the station.
Richard shouted,
“What did you do to my son?”
Pierce answered from somewhere in the darkness.
“I saved him.”
“You stole him!”
“I kept him alive.”
“You told us he was dead!”
“Because Meridian would have killed all three of you if I hadn’t.”
Silence.
Even Daniel seemed stunned.
Richard whispered,
“What?”
Pierce moved closer.
“I falsified Daniel’s death because it was the only way to get him out of their trial.”
Daniel shouted,
“You kept me imprisoned!”
“No.”
“I lived under fake names my entire childhood!”
“To keep Meridian from finding you.”
“You told me my parents were dead!”
Pierce’s voice cracked for the first time.
“That wasn’t me.”
Daniel froze.
Richard whispered,
“Then who?”
Pierce answered,
“Thomas Vale.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“Vale worked for you.”
“No.”
Pierce’s voice turned bitter.
“He worked for Anna.”
Richard stopped breathing.
“My wife?”
Mom looked stunned.
Daniel whispered,
“That’s impossible.”
Pierce said,
“Your mother found you in 1998.”
Richard made a strangled sound.
“What?”
Daniel’s voice became tiny.
“She found me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t she take me home?”
Pierce hesitated.
Daniel screamed,
“WHY?”
Pierce answered quietly.
“Because by then, Daniel, you were no longer the only child Meridian was hiding.”
The station became silent.
Richard asked,
“What does that mean?”
Pierce said,
“There were twelve children in the original trial.”
Richard whispered,
“Twelve?”
“Seven were officially reported dead.”
Daniel said,
“But they weren’t.”
Pierce replied,
“No.”
Richard’s voice trembled.
“Where are they?”
Pierce didn’t answer.
“WHERE ARE THEY?”
Pierce said,
“Some survived.”
Daniel whispered,
“And the others?”
Pierce lowered his voice.
“That is what Evelyn discovered.”
Richard stopped.
“Evelyn knows where they are?”
“Yes.”
“Then where is Evelyn?”
Pierce took a long breath.
“I came here to tell you.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Tell us what?”
Pierce answered,
“The photograph you received of Evelyn tied to a chair was staged.”
Patricia gasped from our living room.
“My sister staged her own kidnapping?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Pierce said,
“Because Evelyn wanted everyone looking for a victim.”
Richard whispered,
“When actually?”
Pierce’s answer made Patricia drop the phone.
“She is the person running Meridian now.”
Nobody spoke.
Daniel whispered,
“No.”
Pierce continued,
“And she isn’t hiding from the people who took you.”
His voice hardened.
“She became one of them.”
Then Richard’s phone vibrated.
A new message.
This time from Evelyn.
Richard opened it.
A single photograph appeared.
Evelyn stood inside a brightly lit medical facility.
Behind her were six adults.
Each one holding a childhood photograph.
Richard recognized the photographs instantly.
They were children from the same experimental trial.
Beneath the image was a message.
DANIEL WAS NEVER THE ONLY ONE.
BRING HIM TO ME, RICHARD.
AND I’LL TELL YOU WHAT ANNA REALLY DID.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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