Chapter 6 - THE YEAR ERIC NEVER TALKED ABOUT
In 2009, Eric Collins was twenty-one.
Ryan was seventeen.
Their father, Thomas Collins, was a respected accountant who handled finances for several construction businesses.
One of them was the company that would later become Archer Development.
For six months, Thomas vanished.
The official story was consulting work in Europe.
Eric had never questioned it.
Until now.
"My mother wouldn't let us call him," Eric said.
Heather sat across from him.
"That didn't seem strange?"
"I was twenty-one. I was finishing college. My parents had a complicated marriage."
"Did he come home?"
"Yes."
"Different?"
Eric nodded.
"He stopped drinking."
Heather frowned.
"That sounds better."
"He also stopped going out alone."
"What do you mean?"
"He became paranoid."
Eric stared at the hotel window.
"He checked locks constantly. He disconnected the home computer at night. Once, I saw him burn papers in the backyard."
Price asked, "Did he say why?"
"No."
"How did he die?"
"Stroke. Four years later."
"Autopsy?"
"No."
Heather felt increasingly sick.
Two parents.
Two unexplained chapters.
One dead after years of fear.
The other dead after discovering CROWN.
Price asked, "What happened shortly before your father disappeared?"
Eric thought.
"Nothing I remember."
"Financial issues?"
"No."
"Threats?"
"No."
"Police visits?"
Eric shook his head.
Then stopped.
"Actually."
Heather leaned forward.
"What?"
"There was a man."
"What man?"
"Came to the house late one night."
"Who?"
"I don't know his name."
"Describe him."
Eric frowned.
"Older. Gray hair. Expensive suit."
Price waited.
"He argued with my father outside."
"About?"
"I only heard one sentence."
"What?"
Eric looked at them.
The sentence had stayed buried in his memory for seventeen years.
His father had shouted it across the driveway.
"You don't get to own my children because I fixed your books."
Price slowly sat back.
Heather whispered, "Own his children?"
Eric shook his head.
"I thought it was just angry nonsense."
Price asked, "Could you identify the man from a photograph?"
"Maybe."
Hours later, police showed Eric a series of archived corporate photographs.
Executives.
Accountants.
Developers.
Donors.
Politicians.
On the ninth page, Eric stopped.
His finger touched the screen.
"That's him."
The man was named Victor Hale.
Former founder of Archer Development.
Dead eight years.
Heather stared at the photograph.
"Eric."
He already understood.
Eric had worked for Victor Hale's company for twelve years.
He had joined Archer six months after his father died.
He had risen from financial analyst to chief financial officer.
"What are the odds?" Heather whispered.
Price replied, "I'm beginning to think odds have very little to do with this."
They searched old corporate records.
Thomas Collins had been Victor Hale's personal accountant.
He had approved dozens of transactions now connected to CROWN.
Then, abruptly, his signature disappeared from the records during the same six months he supposedly worked overseas.
When his signature returned, several shell companies had been dissolved.
One was named Northbridge Youth Foundation.
Heather read the name twice.
"Foundation?"
Price nodded.
"It operated youth programs."
"What kind?"
"Scholarships. Foster-family grants. Private education funding."
Daniel looked at him.
"What does that have to do with construction?"
"No obvious connection."
Eric scanned the documents.
Then stopped.
One program listed a familiar participant.
Melissa Carter.
Age fourteen.
Heather stared at the screen.
"Melissa was in one of the programs?"
"Yes."
Daniel shook his head.
"She never told me."
Another participant appeared.
Ryan Collins.
Age thirteen.
Eric's face went pale.
"My brother?"
Price nodded.
Eric whispered, "Ryan was never in foster care."
"The program wasn't only for foster children."
"What did it do?"
Price scrolled.
"Officially? Mentorship."
Heather stared at the words.
"And unofficially?"
"We don't know."
Then Olivia entered the hotel conference room holding Avery's hand.
Heather immediately closed the laptop.
"What are you doing awake?"
Olivia looked at Eric.
"Daddy, Avery remembered something."
Avery's face was pale.
Daniel crouched beside her.
"What?"
Avery held out a small piece of paper.
"I wrote it before I forgot."
Three words were printed in a child's handwriting.
GREEN HOUSE SUNDAY.
Price looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
Avery swallowed.
"Mom used to talk in her sleep."
Daniel's face tightened.
"About a green house?"
"She said people went there Sundays."
Eric and Heather exchanged a glance.
Price asked, "Where is it?"
Avery shook her head.
"She said Uncle Ryan hated it."
Eric's breathing changed.
The detective turned to him.
"Does that mean anything?"
"No."
But then Eric stopped.
A memory had surfaced.
His brother at thirteen.
A summer afternoon.
Ryan refusing to get into their father's car.
Their mother dragging him down the porch steps.
Ryan screaming something Eric had forgotten until that moment.
Don't make me go back to the green house.
May you like
Eric looked at Detective Price.
"I think I know where it is."
