Chapter 5 - What Sarah Drew in Blue
Detective Quinn did not dismiss Sarah’s statement.
She also did not accept it as fact.
Children under stress could confuse faces, memories, photographs, and dreams. Quinn explained this gently, making it clear that nobody believed Sarah was lying.
Daniel understood the need for caution.
He hated it anyway.
At one thirty in the morning, a child-interview specialist named Lena Ortiz arrived. She spoke with Sarah alone while Daniel watched from an adjoining room through a one-way observation window.
The interview was calm.
No one pressured Sarah.
Lena gave her paper and several colored pencils, then asked her to draw the room she remembered.
Sarah selected a blue pencil.
She drew four walls, a door, a table, and a large rectangle representing a glass window. Behind the window stood a tall figure.
“What happened in this room?” Lena asked.
“Sometimes they asked me questions.”
“Who asked them?”
“Mr. Gray.”
“Was your mother there?”
“Sometimes.”
“Was Uncle Victor there?”
“Sometimes.”
“What questions did they ask?”
“They asked if Dad shouted. They asked if Dad broke things. They asked if I was scared to sleep at his house.”
“And what did you say?”
“I said no.”
“What happened when you said no?”
Sarah pressed the blue pencil harder against the page.
“Mom cried.”
“Why did she cry?”
“Because Uncle Victor said he would send Dad away.”
Daniel felt his hands close into fists.
Lucas stood beside him.
“Rachel was being threatened too,” Lucas said.
“She still participated.”
“I know.”
In the interview room, Sarah added a red circle to the hand of the figure behind the glass.
“The man behind the window wore a ring?” Lena asked.
Sarah nodded.
“Was it Uncle Victor?”
“No.”
“Who was it?”
“Grandpa.”
Daniel leaned toward the glass.
The red ring in Sarah’s drawing matched Malcolm’s.
Their father had once worn an identical ring.
It was the symbol of the original Mercer Foundation board.
Only three rings had been created.
One belonged to Thomas.
One belonged to Malcolm.
The third had belonged to Evelyn Mercer, Daniel and Lucas’s grandmother, who founded the organization.
After she died, the third ring disappeared.
Daniel had assumed it was lost.
When the interview ended, Sarah remained with Lena and Nurse Evelyn while Daniel met Quinn in the hallway.
“Malcolm’s ring belonged to the foundation,” Daniel explained.
“Could someone else have one?”
“There were only three.”
“Where is your father’s ring?”
“He was wearing it the night he disappeared.”
“And the third?”
“Missing for twenty years.”
Quinn wrote the information down.
An officer arrived from Rachel’s house carrying a tablet.
The search team had found a digital access panel inside the blue room. Most of its data had been erased, but one folder remained.
It contained appointment schedules.
Sarah’s name appeared six times.
Rachel’s name appeared four times.
Lucas’s old employee number appeared as the authorizing supervisor.
A third name appeared on every entry.
Dr. Alan Kessler.
Daniel recognized it from the custody case.
Kessler was the psychologist who had written the report describing Daniel as an unstable parental influence.
“Where is he?” Daniel asked.
“We are trying to locate him,” Quinn said.
“Try Northbridge.”
“Officers entered Northbridge twenty minutes ago.”
“And?”
“The building is empty.”
The clinic’s reception computers had been removed. Filing cabinets stood open. Security drives were missing.
Someone had known the warrant was coming.
Daniel thought of Rachel’s attorney, Malcolm’s arrival, and the information leaks Lucas had found.
“There is someone inside the investigation,” he said.
“Possibly.”
“Or inside the court.”
“Also possible.”
A voice came from the end of the hallway.
“There is someone inside everything.”
Rachel stood beneath the fluorescent light with an officer beside her.
Her attorney was gone.
Daniel moved toward her.
“Where is Malcolm?”
“I don’t know.”
“You brought him here.”
“No. He followed me.”
“How did he know Sarah was at the hospital?”
Rachel looked at Claire.
“Because Claire’s car is monitored.”
Claire’s face lost color.
“What?”
“Malcolm has tracked all of us for months.”
“You knew that and said nothing?”
“I tried to warn you.”
“You sent me an empty envelope,” Claire said.
“It wasn’t empty when I mailed it.”
Detective Quinn approached.
“Rachel, you asked to speak without your attorney.”
Rachel nodded.
“My attorney works for Malcolm.”
“Do you have proof?”
“I have invoices.”
“Where?”
“At a storage unit.”
“Why should we believe you?”
“Because Malcolm thinks I am still protecting him.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Are you?”
Rachel looked through the window toward Sarah.
“No.”
“You protected him when you coached her.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Malcolm told me that if Sarah continued talking about the man behind the glass, you would have an accident like your father.”
“My father’s death was not an accident.”
“I know that now.”
“What do you know?”
Rachel’s hands trembled.
“I know Thomas discovered money disappearing from the foundation. I know Malcolm was using medical charities and family courts to move assets into private companies. And I know your father gathered evidence.”
“Why didn’t he go to the police?”
“He planned to.”
“Who told you this?”
“Thomas did.”
Daniel’s breath caught.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
Lucas stepped forward.
“Our father has been dead for ten years.”
Rachel’s eyes moved between the brothers.
“No,” she whispered. “He has been hidden for ten years.”
Daniel felt the corridor narrow around him.
“You saw him?”
“Not directly.”
“Then how do you know?”
“He sent me a message through Northbridge.”
“What did it say?”
Rachel reached inside her coat.
The officer immediately moved toward her, but she slowly removed a folded piece of paper.
Detective Quinn took it.
The paper contained a sequence of numbers and one handwritten sentence.
Document every mark.
Daniel looked at Sarah’s drawing.
“What do the numbers mean?”
Rachel shook her head.
“I don’t know. Malcolm caught me before I could find out.”
Lucas photographed the paper.
“These look like timestamps.”
“For the recordings?” Quinn asked.
“Maybe.”
Daniel looked again.
Six pairs of numbers.
Six appointments at Northbridge.
Six recorded marks in Sarah’s medical notes.
“They’re not timestamps,” he said.
Everyone looked at him.
“They’re dates.”
Rachel stepped closer.
“Dates of what?”
Daniel recognized the first one.
It was the date his father bought the lake house.
The second was the date the Mercer Foundation opened its first clinic.
The third was Sarah’s birthday.
The fourth was the night Thomas disappeared.
The fifth was three months ago, when Rachel claimed she received the message.
May you like
The sixth date had not happened yet.
It was tomorrow.
