Chapter 8 - The Dead Woman at O'Hare
The footage changed everything.
Federal agents joined the investigation before midnight.
Special Agent Naomi Reed took control of the Horizon portion of the case.
She was forty-one, concise, and unimpressed by family drama unless it produced evidence.
She replayed the airport footage three times.
"Facial match confidence is eighty-seven percent."
Richard asked, "Meaning?"
"Meaning it resembles Monica Hale strongly enough to investigate but not strongly enough to swear in court."
Claire said, "Thomas believed she died."
Reed nodded.
"We confirmed the death certificate."
"And?"
"The body was cremated."
Richard almost laughed.
"Convenient."
"Potentially."
Reed pulled up the accident report.
Monica Hale supposedly died when her vehicle struck a concrete barrier late at night.
Severe fire.
Identification was made through dental records supplied by a private dentist.
Reed looked at them.
"That dentist closed his practice nine months later."
Claire asked, "Where is he?"
"Belize."
Richard folded his arms.
"More convenient."
Reed ignored the tone.
"The insurance beneficiary was Thomas Hale. One hundred fifty thousand dollars."
Claire looked uncomfortable.
"You think Thomas helped fake it?"
"We don't know."
Thomas had sounded sincere.
But so had Derek for years.
Sincerity no longer bought much.
Reed ordered Ethan located discreetly.
She would not tell the family where he lived.
That was sensible.
Richard still disliked it.
By morning, O'Hare footage showed Margaret and the Monica lookalike entering a terminal.
Only one emerged.
Margaret never appeared again.
The other woman changed clothes in a restroom and exited through another concourse.
No flight.
No obvious luggage.
She had gone to the airport to be seen.
Another manufactured story.
Claire understood.
"They wanted us to think Margaret flew somewhere."
Reed nodded.
"Possibly."
"Why leave blood in the car?"
"To imply injury or coercion."
"Whose blood was it?"
"Margaret's."
Richard said, "Then she was hurt."
Reed looked at him.
"Or donated it deliberately."
Everything could be staged.
Every clue could be real.
Every clue could be bait.
Richard hated investigations built on uncertainty.
Engines were kinder.
A broken engine eventually told you what was wrong.
People could choose to remain mysteries.
At noon, Claire received a call from Derek.
Private number.
Reed motioned everyone silent and began recording.
Claire answered.
"Derek."
His breathing sounded ragged.
"Are you with your father?"
"Yes."
"Police?"
Claire looked at Reed.
"Yes."
Derek cursed.
"Listen to me. You need to take Lily and leave the house."
"Where are you?"
"Doesn't matter."
"It matters to me."
"No, Claire. For once, just listen."
She almost laughed.
"For once?"
"I know what I've done."
"Do you?"
Silence.
Claire continued.
"You stole from me."
"I know."
"From Lily."
"I was going to replace it."
"You stole from elderly patients."
"I didn't start that."
"That's your defense?"
"No."
"Where's Margaret?"
Derek did not answer.
Claire's voice hardened.
"Where is your mother?"
"She's alive."
Richard leaned forward.
Claire saw.
"How do you know?"
"I saw her last night."
"With Monica?"
Long silence.
Derek whispered, "You know Monica's alive."
Claire looked at Reed.
"Why did she fake her death?"
"Protection."
"From you?"
"No."
"Owen Marion?"
Derek stopped breathing for a beat.
Reed wrote something.
Claire asked, "Is Marion behind this?"
Derek whispered, "Marion is part of it."
"Part of what?"
"The program."
Reed's pen stopped.
Claire said, "What program?"
Derek's voice shook.
"Horizon didn't start at the nursing home."
"What does that mean?"
"Claire, your mother figured it out."
Richard closed his eyes.
"Figured out what?"
Derek continued.
"They chose people with clean identities. Good credit. Ordinary families. People nobody watches."
Claire felt cold.
"What people?"
"Children."
Richard stood.
Reed motioned him down.
Claire whispered, "What children?"
"The records."
"Say something that makes sense."
Derek sounded as though he was crying.
"Horizon created identities."
Nobody moved.
Claire's pulse hammered.
"For whom?"
"I don't know all of it."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I handled transfers. That's all."
"Using my name?"
"They told me your records were already in the system."
Claire stopped breathing.
"My records?"
"From before I met you."
Richard stared at the phone.
Claire whispered, "Who put them there?"
"I don't know."
"Liar."
"I'm not lying about this."
"Who is Ethan?"
Derek went silent.
Claire pushed.
"Whose child is he?"
"I don't know."
"Why did Monica take him?"
"Because she found him."
"Where?"
"At Horizon."
"We know that."
"No."
Derek sounded terrified.
"Not the facility."
Claire frowned.
"What?"
"Horizon was the name of the program before it was the name of the building."
Reed leaned forward.
Claire's voice dropped.
"What program?"
A sound interrupted Derek.
A door?
Footsteps?
He whispered, "I have to go."
"No."
"Claire, find your mother's bracelet."
Everyone stared.
Claire's hand tightened around the phone.
"We don't have it."
"Margaret does."
"Where is she?"
"She'll contact you."
"Why should I trust her?"
"You shouldn't."
Another sound.
Derek breathed faster.
Then he said, "Your mother didn't hide the records because of me."
"Then why?"
"Because one of them has your birth certificate."
Claire froze.
"My birth certificate?"
"The original."
"I have my birth certificate."
"No."
Derek's voice became almost inaudible.
"You have the replacement."
The call ended.
Claire remained holding the phone.
Richard could hear his own heartbeat.
He had watched Claire enter the world.
He knew who her mother was.
He knew the hospital.
He knew the doctor.
At least he thought he did.
Agent Reed broke the silence.
"Mr. Bennett, I need to ask you some questions about Claire's birth."
Richard looked at her.
"There is nothing to ask."
"Apparently there is."
Claire stared at her father.
"Dad."
Richard felt something he had not felt since Susan died.
Fear.
Not for the past.
Of the past.
Claire had been born at St. Vincent Regional Hospital thirty-two years earlier.
Susan had gone into labor during a snowstorm.
Richard remembered everything.
The terrible coffee.
The green hospital walls.
The nurse named Barbara.
The doctor arriving late.
Susan screaming at him for saying it would be over soon.
Then Claire crying for the first time.
He had been there.
He had cut the cord.
Nothing could rewrite that.
Except Agent Reed asked one question Richard could not answer.
"Did Claire ever leave your sight after delivery?"
Richard opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
Because she had.
For almost six hours.
Doctors said Claire had difficulty breathing.
They took her to the neonatal unit.
Susan was exhausted.
Richard slept.
May you like
Six hours.
A lifetime could hide inside six hours.
