Chapter 14 - The Man in Second House)
Second House looked like a luxury rehabilitation center.
Landscaped grounds.
Stone entrance.
Private lake.
No sign identified the facility.
Federal agents entered through three points.
No resistance.
That frightened Daniel more than gunfire would have.
The reception area was empty.
Coffee still warm.
Computers running.
People had left minutes earlier.
Claire’s team swept the first floor.
Patient rooms.
Empty.
Daniel found clothing.
Food.
Photographs.
Someone had lived here.
At the end of the second-floor corridor, they found Samuel Grant.
Alive.
Bound to a chair.
Daniel rushed toward him.
Samuel looked up.
His face crumpled.
“Daniel.”
“Where is my father?”
Samuel shook his head.
“They moved him.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes.”
Daniel cursed.
“Who?”
“Two men and a woman.”
“What woman?”
“I didn’t see her face.”
“Margaret?”
“No. Taller.”
“Evelyn?”
“No.”
Claire asked, “Vehicle?”
“Ambulance.”
Agents immediately issued alerts.
Daniel untied Samuel himself.
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“Henry forbade it.”
“I’m beginning to hate that sentence.”
Samuel gave a weak smile.
“He knew you would.”
“Where has he been?”
“Moving between safe locations.”
“For eleven months?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Hale poisoned him.”
Daniel stopped.
“What poison?”
“Experimental memory drug.”
“Why?”
“Hale wanted the archive.”
“Did my father tell him?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Henry often doesn’t remember where it is.”
Daniel looked away.
His father was alive.
But damaged.
“Why did he call me?”
Samuel stared.
“He called you?”
“Yesterday.”
Samuel’s face changed.
“That shouldn’t be possible.”
“Why?”
“He hasn’t had a phone.”
“Someone gave him one.”
“Then someone wanted him to call you.”
Daniel remembered the warning.
Don’t trust Peter.
“What did Peter do?”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I know Henry stopped trusting him.”
“Why?”
“Because Peter was at the fire.”
Daniel thought of the question.
Ask who died in the fire.
“Which fire?”
“Bellhaven.”
“Who died?”
Samuel looked at him.
“That is the question no one answers the same way.”
Daniel waited.
“The official record says six people.”
“Names?”
“Three staff. two security officers. one unidentified female.”
“Who was the woman?”
Samuel whispered, “Margaret.”
Daniel stared.
“My mother survived.”
“Yes.”
“Then who died?”
Samuel’s voice became almost inaudible.
“Catherine Bell.”
Anna’s mother.
Daniel felt sick.
“Anna believes her mother died years later.”
“She did.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Because Catherine didn’t die in the fire.”
Daniel stared.
“Then who did?”
Samuel shook his head.
“I never knew.”
Daniel turned toward Claire.
“Find records.”
Her team was already searching.
In the basement, they discovered a locked archive room.
Inside were dozens of tapes.
Adult sessions.
Daniel Carter was written on several empty cases.
He pulled one down.
Empty.
Another.
Empty.
Someone had removed his tapes.
Then Claire called from the next room.
“Daniel.”
He entered.
A medical bed stood beneath harsh white lights.
A man’s restraints were still attached.
On the wall, written in pencil:
DANNY REMEMBERS MORE THAN HE KNOWS.
Daniel touched the writing.
His father’s handwriting.
Below it:
THE FIRE WAS FOR HIM.
Daniel stared.
“For me.”
Samuel had entered behind him.
His face went grey.
“He remembered.”
“What?”
Samuel shook his head.
“Nothing.”
Daniel grabbed his arm.
“What did he remember?”
Samuel whispered, “The real reason Bellhaven burned.”
Daniel waited.
Samuel looked terrified.
“Your father did not start the fire to destroy the research.”
“Then why?”
“To get you out.”
Daniel stared.
“I knew that.”
“No.”
Samuel shook his head.
“You don’t understand.”
He pointed toward the writing.
“Henry didn’t know you were inside Bellhaven that night until the fire had already started.”
Daniel’s skin prickled.
“Who started it?”
Samuel swallowed.
“You did.”
Silence.
Daniel released him.
“I was nine.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“You locked yourself inside Room Seven.”
“No.”
“The staff tried to sedate you.”
Daniel saw flashes.
Red ball.
White wall.
Smoke.
A woman screaming.
“Stop.”
Samuel continued.
“You knocked over a chemical heating unit.”
“Stop.”
“The fire spread.”
“I said stop.”
Samuel’s eyes filled.
“Henry blamed himself for the rest of his life.”
Daniel’s breathing became shallow.
A memory surfaced.
Not clear.
Heat.
Smoke.
His small hand gripping a door.
A woman behind glass.
Catherine?
Margaret?
Someone shouting:
Run, Danny.
Daniel staggered.
Claire caught him.
“Sit.”
“No.”
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man’s voice.
“Mr. Carter?”
Daniel froze.
“Who is this?”
“Paramedic unit 41. We have an elderly male asking for you.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“Where?”
The paramedic gave a highway location.
An ambulance had been found abandoned beneath an overpass.
Inside was Henry Carter.
Alive.
Daniel did not remember the drive.
He only remembered opening the hospital door.
Henry lay in bed.
Thinner.
Older.
His hair almost entirely white.
Daniel stood motionless.
Henry opened his eyes.
For several seconds, he seemed confused.
Then he whispered:
“Danny.”
Daniel’s throat closed.
“Dad.”
Henry began crying.
Daniel crossed the room.
For the first time in almost a year, father and son held each other.
No words.
Only grief.
Then Henry pulled back.
His eyes suddenly filled with fear.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
“They know.”
“Who?”
Henry looked toward the door.
“The woman.”
“What woman?”
Henry gripped Daniel’s wrist.
“The one who took Noah before he was born.”
Daniel stared.
“Hale?”
“No.”
“Margaret?”
“No.”
“Evelyn?”
Henry shook his head violently.
“No. No.”
“Then who?”
Henry whispered a name.
Daniel did not understand at first.
Then he did.
And everything inside him stopped.
May you like
“Melissa.”
Noah’s dead mother.
