Chapter 10 - The Price of Arthur’s Life
Arthur had been taken from police custody during transport to the county detention center.
A vehicle struck the transport van at an intersection during the confusion caused by the hospital garage explosion. Two masked attackers injured an officer and escaped with Arthur.
The operation was coordinated.
Professional.
Caroline gave Emily three hours.
The broadcast included an address to which Daniel’s files were to be delivered.
An abandoned medical warehouse owned by one of Victor Hale’s shell companies.
Lena insisted Emily would not go.
Emily insisted she would.
“Caroline asked for me.”
“She asked for the files.”
“She believes I have them.”
“Do you?”
Emily did.
Before the memory card entered police evidence, the forensic technician had created two copies.
One remained with Lena.
The other was hidden inside Noah’s hospital room, sealed in the battery case of a portable ultrasound unit.
Emily had not told anyone.
Not even Lena.
She trusted Lena more than most, but Daniel’s warning remained clear.
Do not trust anyone simply because they stood beside you after my death.
Arthur’s life did not concern her enough to risk Noah.
But Caroline had answers.
About Daniel.
About the hospital.
About the unidentified woman.
Emily needed those answers.
She returned to Noah’s room.
Tasha sat beside him reading a book.
Noah looked up.
“Was that Grandpa on the television?”
Emily pulled the curtain around the bed.
“Yes.”
“Is he going to die?”
“I don’t know.”
Noah stared at his hands.
“Do you want him to?”
The question shocked her.
“No.”
“But he almost killed me.”
“He did something cruel and dangerous.”
“Then why save him?”
Emily sat.
“Because the truth should decide what happens to him. Not Caroline.”
“Who is Caroline?”
“Your father’s sister.”
“My aunt?”
“Yes.”
“I thought she died.”
“So did I.”
Noah absorbed this.
“Dad knew?”
“I think so.”
He looked toward the hallway.
“Are you leaving?”
Emily could not lie.
“I need to speak with the police.”
“Mom.”
“I will come back.”
“Dad said that.”
The words cut through her.
On the morning of Daniel’s death, he had promised to return before Noah’s bedtime.
He never did.
Emily touched Noah’s cheek.
“I am not your father.”
“I know.”
“And I will not make promises I cannot control.”
His eyes filled.
“Then promise something you can control.”
Emily thought.
“I promise I will keep fighting to come back to you.”
Noah nodded.
She hugged him carefully.
Then he whispered, “The files aren’t all on the card.”
Emily pulled back.
“What do you mean?”
“When I took the camera, there was another note.”
“Where is it?”
“I hid it.”
“At Pine Hollow?”
“No.”
He looked toward the compass watch in the evidence bag across the room.
“Inside the watch.”
Emily opened the back of the watch using a small instrument.
Beneath the battery was a tightly folded strip of paper.
Daniel had written a series of numbers.
Coordinates.
Below them were three words:
CAROLINE KNOWS HALF.
Emily showed Lena.
The coordinates pointed toward a remote section of forest six miles from Pine Hollow.
“What is there?” Lena asked.
“I don’t know.”
Julian looked over Emily’s shoulder.
“I do.”
They turned.
“There’s an old research facility,” he said. “Whitaker Medical operated it twenty years ago.”
“For what?”
“Device testing.”
Emily’s anger rose.
“The same devices?”
“Possibly earlier versions.”
Lena studied the coordinates.
“Caroline knows half of what?”
Julian shook his head.
Emily thought of Daniel dividing evidence between locations.
“One half of the truth.”
Lena looked at the clock.
“We have less than two hours.”
They built a plan.
Police would place tracking software inside a drive containing partial files. Emily would deliver it under surveillance. Lena’s team would surround the warehouse.
Emily knew coordinated plans could fail.
Daniel’s had.
At the hospital entrance, Julian stopped her.
“I should go.”
“No.”
“Caroline knows me.”
“That is why you should stay.”
“You think I was the person Daniel trusted.”
“I don’t know what to think.”
Julian looked hurt but did not argue.
“I can prove I wasn’t at Pine Hollow.”
“How?”
“I was in surgery.”
“Records can be changed.”
“There were twelve people in the operating room.”
“People can lie.”
He stepped back.
“You’re right.”
Emily turned to leave.
“Emily.”
She stopped.
“If Caroline claims Daniel lied to you, ask her about May seventeenth.”
“What happened then?”
“Daniel called me that night. He said he had made the worst mistake of his life.”
“What mistake?”
“He would not tell me.”
“Why does the date matter?”
“Because nine months later, a private maternity clinic connected to Victor Hale issued a sealed birth record.”
Emily stared at him.
“Whose birth record?”
“I don’t know. Daniel made me promise never to search.”
Emily felt the ground shift.
May you like
“Why?”
“He said the child would be killed if Arthur found out.”
