Chapter 14 - AARON’S CONFESSION
Rachel went to the hospital without Emma.
Detective Torres arranged the meeting in Aaron Pike’s intensive-care room with two officers present.
Aaron looked older than he had in the surveillance photographs. His skin was gray. Tubes ran from his arms. His voice was barely audible.
“You did not bring the girl.”
“No.”
“Then I cannot be certain.”
“Certain of what?”
He looked at Detective Torres.
“I want immunity.”
“You are not in a position to negotiate full immunity,” the detective said.
“Then I say nothing.”
Rachel stepped closer to the bed.
“My daughter nearly died because of you.”
Aaron looked at her.
“I know.”
“You put her in a trash can.”
“I was told it would be emptied.”
Rachel’s blood ran cold.
“What?”
“The container was supposed to be taken through the service gate.”
“Taken where?”
“To a vehicle.”
“Whose vehicle?”
“I never saw the driver.”
“Why did you leave her there?”
“I received a cancellation code.”
“What code?”
“Silence.”
Rachel remembered the word written at the top of the original event schedule in Margaret’s preparation room. She had assumed it referred to a musical transition.
“What did silence mean?”
“Abort transfer. Leave the asset. Exit immediately.”
“My daughter is not an asset.”
“I know.”
“You wrapped her in a blanket and left her without air.”
“I loosened the lid.”
“She stopped breathing.”
Aaron closed his eyes.
“I did not know she had been sedated.”
“Who ordered the transfer?”
“North Vale.”
“Who at North Vale?”
“Instructions came through encrypted messages.”
“Who paid you?”
“Charles Ashford’s company paid for surveillance. Daniel Bennett paid for the maternal operation.”
“What maternal operation?”
“Creating evidence that you intended to abandon the child.”
Rachel felt sick hearing Lily’s explanation confirmed.
“And Emma?”
Aaron opened his eyes.
“The child transfer was ordered separately.”
“By Margaret?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said the grandmother was not the client.”
“She issued instructions at the party, but she was not the original client. She believed Emma would be taken to an Ashford property for several hours.”
“Where was Emma actually supposed to go?”
Aaron looked toward Detective Torres.
“Internationally.”
Rachel gripped the bed rail.
“What country?”
“I was not told.”
“Who was going to take her?”
“A transport specialist from the Vale network.”
“Simon Vale?”
Aaron looked frightened.
“Do not say his name in this hospital.”
“Why?”
“Because he owns people here.”
Detective Torres leaned closer.
“Who sent the cancellation code?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened after you left the estate?”
“I received a second message telling me the child had been found and the mother was still alive.”
Rachel stared at him.
“Still alive?”
Aaron’s eyes shifted away.
“The operation included you.”
“What was supposed to happen to me?”
He said nothing.
Rachel grabbed the rail harder.
“What was supposed to happen?”
“A staged accident.”
The officers became completely still.
“What kind of accident?”
“Your car was supposed to leave the road after the party.”
Rachel remembered that she had planned to drive Emma home.
Had the plan succeeded, Emma would have vanished.
Rachel would have died.
Daniel could claim his grieving daughter had been abducted after an accident.
Or perhaps he would have known exactly where she went.
“Who changed the plan?” Rachel asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Who sent the word silence?”
Aaron looked at her.
“The message came from Daniel’s phone.”
Rachel stopped breathing.
“He cancelled Emma’s transfer?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he know about the accident?”
Aaron closed his eyes again.
“He signed the operation.”
Rachel felt the room moving around her.
Daniel had signed.
Perhaps without reading.
Perhaps knowing everything.
Either answer was unbearable.
“Why did you ask me to bring Emma?” she asked.
Aaron’s eyes opened.
“Because the transfer order included a photograph.”
“Of Emma?”
“Of a child who looked like her.”
“What do you mean?”
“The photograph was taken twenty-six years ago.”
Rachel stared at him.
Aaron whispered.
“The little girl was wearing a yellow coat.”
Claire.
Rachel thought of Vanessa’s photograph.
“Why would someone use Claire’s picture for Emma’s transfer?”
Aaron’s breathing became shallow.
“Because they have the same mark.”
“What mark?”
He lifted a shaking finger and pointed toward the left side of his own face.
Rachel’s body went cold.
Emma’s birthmark.
In Vanessa’s photograph, Claire’s face had been partly turned away. Rachel had not noticed whether she had a similar mark.
“What does the mark mean?”
Aaron whispered one final sentence.
“It means Emma was never chosen because she was Daniel’s daughter.”
The heart monitor began sounding an alarm.
Medical staff rushed into the room.
Rachel was moved into the hallway.
Through the glass, she watched doctors work on Aaron.
Detective Torres stood beside her.
“What did he mean?” Rachel asked.
“I don’t know.”
But Rachel saw something in the detective’s face.
“You have a theory.”
“Not one I am prepared to state.”
“Tell me.”
Detective Torres hesitated.
“Claire Ashford may not have been selected randomly twenty-six years ago.”
“For what?”
“For the same transfer network that targeted Emma.”
“Why would they want children with a birthmark?”
“It may not be the birthmark itself.”
“What else could it be?”
May you like
The detective looked down the corridor before answering.
“A genetic marker.”
