Chapter 5 - The Uncle Who Came to Finish It
Robert did not run when security approached.
He opened his arms.
"I'm here for my niece."
Two hospital security officers blocked him.
Sarah stood behind the locked pediatric doors with Emma.
Emma saw Robert through the window.
Her body reacted before her mind did.
She dropped to the floor.
"No."
Sarah knelt.
"Emma."
"No, no, no."
Robert looked upward and spotted her.
His smile widened.
Then he waved.
Emma crawled backward.
"Don't let him take me."
Sarah pulled her close.
"I won't."
Police arrived within minutes.
Robert remained strangely calm.
Officer Ryan handcuffed him.
"You are being detained in connection with the death of Grace Miller."
Robert laughed once.
"Grace killed herself."
Ryan stared at him.
"That's interesting."
"What?"
"We didn't tell the public she was dead."
Robert stopped smiling.
At the station, he asked for a lawyer.
Not a local attorney.
Harrison Cole.
Lisa Grant watched through the interview-room glass when Cole arrived forty minutes later.
Silver hair.
Dark suit.
Same man from the warehouse photograph.
Same man from the hidden camera.
Cole entered Robert's interview room without looking at detectives.
Five minutes later, he emerged.
"My client will not answer questions."
Lisa blocked his path.
"You knew Grace Miller."
Cole gave her a polite smile.
"I know thousands of people."
"We have video of you inside her home after she died."
The smile vanished for less than a second.
"I would be interested in seeing that."
"You will."
"When?"
"At trial."
Cole stepped closer.
"Detective, you appear enthusiastic."
"A woman is dead."
"And enthusiasm often leads investigators to mistake narratives for evidence."
Lisa held his gaze.
"How many children did Hollow Creek sell?"
Cole's face became empty.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Then you won't mind if we search your offices."
"With a warrant."
"We have one."
For the first time, Cole looked concerned.
Federal agents were already inside his law office.
They found almost nothing.
Computers recently wiped.
Files shredded.
Safes empty.
Someone had cleaned the place less than twelve hours earlier.
But behind a framed photograph, they found a second key.
Exactly like Emma's.
Stamped with another number.
622.
The number led not to another warehouse locker but to a private vault at Briar State Bank.
Inside vault box 622 were passports.
Birth certificates.
New identities.
Twenty-three children.
Some had disappeared from hospitals.
Others were listed as dead.
One photograph showed a boy around ten years old.
James stared at the name.
Daniel Miller Jr.
He called Lisa.
"Grace only had Emma and the twins, right?"
"As far as anyone knows."
"Then who is Daniel Miller Jr.?"
They checked the birth certificate.
Mother: Grace Miller.
Father: Daniel Miller.
Date of birth: eleven years earlier.
That meant Emma had an older brother.
A brother nobody had mentioned.
James called Sarah.
"Ask Emma if she knows someone named Daniel Junior."
Sarah sat beside Emma.
"Did you ever have an older brother?"
Emma stared at her.
"Mommy said I wasn't supposed to talk about him."
Sarah's pulse jumped.
"Why?"
"Because he's dead."
"How did he die?"
Emma looked confused.
"Mommy said he stopped being ours."
Sarah did not understand.
Neither did James when she repeated it.
Then federal agents found Daniel Jr.'s Hollow Creek record.
Transferred at age four.
Recipient family sealed.
New identity issued.
Grace and Daniel Miller had not lost one child.
May you like
Someone had taken him.
And their debt had continued anyway.
