Chapter 4 - The Fire Everyone Stopped Questioning)
Lauren looked smaller without the careful clothes and perfect posture.
She sat inside the interview room wearing the cream cardigan from the kitchen.
There were dried tear tracks on her face.
Mark sat across from her.
Detective Coleman remained near the door.
For nearly a minute, neither Mark nor Lauren spoke.
Finally Mark placed a photocopy of Michael's letter on the table.
Lauren closed her eyes.
“You found the box.”
“You knew about it.”
“Yes.”
“Is Michael alive?”
Lauren looked at him.
“I don't know.”
“You knew he survived the fire.”
“Yes.”
Mark's jaw tightened.
“For four years you watched me visit his grave.”
“I know.”
“You watched me tell Noah stories about him.”
“I know.”
“You watched me blame myself for missing his calls.”
“I know.”
His palm struck the table before he realized he had moved.
Lauren flinched.
Coleman shifted slightly.
Mark lowered his voice.
“Stop saying you know.”
Lauren began crying.
“I thought he was dead later.”
“Later?”
“Victor told me Michael escaped after the fire. Then about two years afterward, he said Michael had been found.”
“Found where?”
“He wouldn't tell me.”
“Dead?”
“He said yes.”
“And you believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
The answer disgusted Mark.
Coleman stepped forward.
“Tell us about Victor Hale.”
Lauren stared at the tabletop.
“He worked security and collections for my father.”
“What kind of collections?”
“The kind that weren't legal.”
Mark had met Lauren's father only twice before the man died from a heart attack.
Robert Crane had been charming.
Expensive suits.
Quiet voice.
A man who made everyone else seem slightly nervous.
Lauren continued.
“My father borrowed money from people he shouldn't have. Victor handled problems for them. Then he started using Dad's businesses to move money.”
“And Bennett Residential?” Coleman asked.
Lauren nodded.
“When I became controller, Victor pressured me to create false vendors. I told myself it was temporary.”
Mark laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You laundered money through our company?”
“At first I didn't know how serious it was.”
“You knew enough to hide it.”
“Yes.”
Coleman asked, “What did Michael discover?”
“Everything.”
Lauren wiped her eyes.
“He traced payments to Victor. He confronted me. I told him I could fix it.”
Mark remembered Michael canceling their expansion.
The strange meeting.
The tension.
Lauren continued.
“He said he was going to the police.”
“And three days later his house burned,” Coleman said.
Lauren nodded.
“I didn't know Victor planned that.”
Mark stood.
Coleman blocked the door.
“Mark.”
He turned away.
Lauren spoke quickly.
“I went to the house that night.”
Mark looked back.
“What?”
“Victor called me. He said something had gone wrong.”
“What did you see?”
“Fire. Smoke. Jenna outside near the trees.”
Mark's breath caught.
“She was alive?”
“Yes.”
“With Ava?”
Lauren shook her head.
“No. Jenna kept screaming that someone had taken her.”
Mark sat down again.
“What happened to Jenna?”
Lauren's hands began shaking.
“Victor put her in his car.”
“You watched him abduct her?”
“I was terrified.”
“So you did nothing.”
“I followed.”
“Where?”
“A private medical facility outside Ashford.”
Coleman immediately pulled out her phone.
“What facility?”
“Ravenwood Behavioral Center.”
Coleman stopped typing.
“Ravenwood closed three years ago.”
Lauren nodded.
“Victor had connections there.”
Mark remembered news stories about the facility closing after licensing violations.
“What did he do to Jenna?”
Lauren stared at him.
“He created records saying she was mentally ill and delusional. He registered her under another name.”
Mark felt nauseated.
“And Michael?”
“I didn't see him.”
“Ava?”
“Gone.”
“Yet Ava ends up inside our wall.”
Lauren covered her mouth.
Mark leaned forward.
“How?”
“Victor called me four days ago.”
“Why?”
“He said the family caring for Ava was being investigated by child services.”
Mark stared.
“You knew where she had been all this time?”
“No. I swear. I thought she was dead.”
“Stop swearing.”
“He told me to keep her for one week.”
“And you agreed?”
Lauren looked toward Coleman.
“Victor has things on me. Documents. Transfers. Recordings. If he goes down, I go down.”
Mark's voice became quiet.
“So you put a five-year-old child inside our wall to save yourself.”
“I didn't put her there to punish her.”
The sentence was so absurd Mark nearly laughed.
Lauren hurried on.
“The cavity has ventilation. I put blankets inside. Water. Food. I was going to move her.”
“You hid her.”
“Yes.”
“In my house.”
“Yes.”
“From me.”
“Yes.”
Mark stood again.
This time Coleman did not stop him.
He walked toward the door.
Lauren called after him.
“Mark.”
He turned.
Her expression had changed.
Fear again.
Real fear.
“Victor knows Noah found her.”
Mark froze.
“How?”
“I had a camera inside the cavity.”
Mark felt sick.
“Where does it send the footage?”
“To my second phone.”
“Where is the phone?”
Lauren looked down.
“Victor has access to it too.”
Coleman cursed under her breath.
Mark opened the door.
Then Lauren said something that stopped him.
“He'll take Noah.”
Mark turned.
Lauren was crying harder now.
May you like
“He knows Noah can identify Ava. He knows Noah heard her name. He won't leave witnesses.”
Mark ran.
