Chapter 13 - The Man Who Should Have Been Dead
Hospital security locked down the floor.
The mysterious man had vanished.
His badge belonged to a nurse working two states away.
The scrubs were found in a stairwell trash bin.
No fingerprints.
No usable DNA.
Nathan replayed the security image repeatedly.
"That's him."
Emily stood behind him.
"You can't know from his eyes."
"I know my father."
"People can look alike."
"He moves like him."
Emily hated that he was right.
The man's posture.
The slight inward turn of his left foot.
Richard had walked exactly that way after a motorcycle accident when he was twenty.
Nathan had told the story dozens of times.
Agent Quinn watched the footage.
"What if Richard Moore didn't die five years ago?"
Nathan laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
"I saw his body."
"Open casket?"
"Yes."
"How closely?"
Nathan stopped.
Emily remembered the funeral.
Richard had looked strange.
But dead people always looked strange.
Too much makeup.
Stillness where movement belonged.
"Could it have been someone else?" Emily asked.
Nathan shook his head.
"I kissed his forehead."
Quinn spoke carefully.
"Facial reconstruction and mortuary preparation can create certainty where there isn't any."
"You're saying someone gave us a fake body?"
"I'm saying we verify everything."
She ordered an exhumation.
The cemetery records produced another shock.
Richard's grave had been opened eleven months earlier.
Authorized by Helen Moore.
Reason listed:
Transfer to family mausoleum.
There was no family mausoleum.
Nathan stared at the document.
"Where is the coffin?"
Nobody knew.
Emily thought of Helen's words.
Nobody was ever supposed to find the red door again.
Maybe Richard had not merely hidden evidence.
Maybe Richard had hidden himself.
That afternoon, Helen was formally charged with child endangerment and evidence tampering.
The sedative vial linked to a prescription in her name.
She requested an attorney.
Then refused to answer questions.
Emily watched through a remote interview feed.
Helen sat calmly at a metal table.
Her lawyer whispered.
Helen looked toward the camera.
Even though she could not see Emily, it felt personal.
Then she spoke.
"I will talk to Emily."
Quinn turned.
"No."
Emily answered immediately.
"Yes."
Nathan objected.
"Absolutely not."
Emily looked at him.
"This woman nearly killed our son."
"That's why you don't go near her."
"I need to know where my mother is."
Quinn considered.
"Video only."
Helen was moved to an interview room.
Emily sat in another building connected through secure video.
Quinn remained beside her.
Helen appeared on screen wearing a gray detention uniform.
Without jewelry and expensive clothing, she looked smaller.
But not weaker.
"Emily."
"Where is Rachel?"
Helen smiled faintly.
"Still calling her your mother?"
Emily's jaw tightened.
"Where is she?"
"Ask Marcus."
"Where is Marcus?"
"Ask Rachel."
Emily leaned forward.
"Why did you drug my drink?"
Helen's expression changed.
"I was trying to help you."
"By drugging me?"
"You were supposed to sleep."
"And then?"
Helen looked toward her attorney.
He shook his head.
She ignored him.
"We were going to take Oliver somewhere safe."
Emily stared.
"You poured water on him and put him outside."
Helen's face hardened.
"That wasn't supposed to happen."
"You did it."
"He grabbed the key."
"So you punished him?"
"I needed him to forget."
"He almost died."
"For eleven minutes."
Emily felt rage rise.
"You say that like eleven minutes doesn't matter."
"It wasn't supposed to be eleven."
"What does that mean?"
Helen stopped.
Emily caught it.
"How long was he supposed to be outside?"
Helen looked away.
Emily whispered, "Someone was supposed to take him."
Helen said nothing.
"You weren't leaving him there as punishment."
Silence.
"You were delivering him."
Quinn leaned closer.
Helen's attorney whispered urgently.
Helen suddenly smiled.
"There you are."
Emily felt cold.
"What?"
"The part of you they couldn't erase."
"Who?"
Helen looked directly into the camera.
"Your mother."
Emily's breath stopped.
"Rachel?"
Helen laughed softly.
"Rachel Harlow is many things. Your mother is not one of them."
Emily stared.
"Then who is?"
Helen leaned back.
"That's why Richard hid you."
"Richard?"
"He discovered who you belonged to."
"What does that mean?"
Helen's lawyer finally cut in.
"This interview is over."
Helen raised her voice before the feed ended.
"Ask Rachel about Caroline Webb!"
The screen went black.
Emily turned toward Quinn.
"Caroline Webb."
The blonde woman in the old photograph.
The missing woman holding a baby.
Quinn's phone buzzed.
She checked it.
Then looked at Emily.
"We found Rachel."
Emily stood.
"Where?"
"Lake Arden."
"Alive?"
Quinn nodded.
Relief almost dropped Emily to the floor.
"Is she safe?"
Quinn's expression remained guarded.
"She walked into a federal field office ten minutes ago."
"Where is Marcus?"
"Not with her."
"Did she say where he's going?"
Quinn looked at the message again.
"She says Marcus is heading to Briarwood."
May you like
"Why?"
"To find Oliver."
