Chapter 4 - the secret lucas tried to bury)
Detective Ortiz had two officers stationed outside Maya's hospital room before Aaron finished the drive back.
By the time he arrived, Maya had been moved to a secure floor.
Chloe was awake.
She sat on the bed drawing circles on a hospital napkin with a blue crayon.
The rag doll lay beside her.
Aaron kissed his daughter first.
Then Maya.
"What did the man look like?"
"Forties. Gray jacket. Baseball cap. I only saw him for maybe twenty seconds."
"Hospital cameras?"
"Police are checking."
Aaron looked toward the doll.
"The card isn't here."
"I know."
"He may not."
Maya watched his expression.
"You found something."
Aaron nodded.
He told her about the USB drive.
About Thomas.
About the suspicious laboratory results.
Maya covered her mouth.
"Your father thought Florence was poisoning him?"
"Yes."
"And Lucas knew something?"
"Something that happened in December."
Maya frowned.
"What December?"
"Twelve years ago. Two months before Dad died."
Aaron pulled out his phone.
He called Lucas.
No answer.
He called again.
Voicemail.
Ortiz entered the room.
"We found your hospital visitor."
Aaron stood.
"Who is he?"
"His name is Calvin Reed."
Maya went still.
Aaron noticed.
"You know him?"
Maya shook her head slowly.
"The name."
"From where?"
"Bellweather."
Ortiz nodded.
"He's listed as an officer in one of the company's early filings."
Aaron rubbed his face.
"Where is he?"
"Gone. But we have an address."
"Then arrest him."
"We need enough to hold him."
"He threatened my family."
"Indirectly. We're building it."
Aaron hated the phrase.
Building it.
Every minute felt dangerous.
Ortiz continued.
"We also reviewed more of the memory card."
Aaron looked at her.
"Anything useful?"
"Very."
She opened her tablet.
One recording showed Florence unlocking the pantry.
She removed bread, canned soup, bottled water, and fruit.
Then she locked the food away again while Maya watched.
Another showed Lucas taking Maya's phone.
Another showed him removing the inside door handles from the back entrance and garage.
Aaron's hands curled into fists.
Ortiz noticed.
"There's enough for charges related to unlawful confinement and child endangerment."
"Then why aren't they arrested?"
"Because they left the house."
Aaron stared.
"What?"
"Shortly after you went to the hospital. Your mother claimed she needed medication from her home. Your brother drove her. Officers were still treating them as witnesses at that point."
"You let them leave?"
Ortiz's jaw tightened.
"Local patrol did. We have alerts out now."
Aaron looked toward Maya.
Florence and Lucas were running.
That meant they were frightened.
Which meant the evidence was real.
Ortiz continued.
"We searched your house with your consent."
"And?"
"We found documents in the upstairs guest room. Financial transfers, blank notarized forms, copies of your signature."
Aaron closed his eyes.
"There was also a locked case."
"What was in it?"
"Prescription bottles."
Aaron opened his eyes.
"Whose?"
"Some belonged to Florence. Some labels had been removed."
Maya whispered, "Aaron."
He looked at her.
"Your trip."
"What about it?"
"How did it get scheduled?"
Aaron frowned.
His Denver trip had been requested by a regional client.
The meeting had been unusually urgent.
Lucas had recommended Aaron handle it personally.
Aaron looked toward Ortiz.
"My brother arranged it."
That night, Aaron sat beside Chloe while she ate applesauce.
She ate slowly, guarding the cup with one hand.
Every time a nurse entered the room, she looked toward the door.
Aaron's heart broke a little each time.
"Sweetheart."
Chloe looked at him.
"You don't have to protect your food here."
She said nothing.
"No one's going to take it."
She looked at Rosie.
Then whispered, "Grandma said bad girls eat too much."
Aaron swallowed hard.
"Grandma was wrong."
"She said Mama made us poor."
"That's not true."
"Uncle Lucas said you were going to lose the house."
Aaron leaned forward.
"When?"
"When Grandma got mad."
"Do you remember what they were talking about?"
Chloe nodded.
"The blue papers."
"What blue papers?"
She pointed at the doll.
"Rosie saw."
Aaron immediately called Ortiz.
They reviewed the videos again.
At 2:13 a.m., they found it.
Lucas sat at the kitchen table holding documents with blue covers.
Florence stood behind him.
Maya was out of frame.
Lucas said, "Once Bellweather owns the trust assets, Aaron can't reverse it."
Florence replied, "He won't know until it's too late."
Lucas rubbed his temples.
"We still need her signature."
"Then make her afraid."
"I didn't agree to starve a kid."
Florence leaned over him.
"You agreed twelve years ago."
Lucas became still.
Aaron replayed the sentence.
You agreed twelve years ago.
Then Lucas whispered, "That was different."
Florence's voice lowered.
"No. It was exactly the same. You panicked. I solved it."
"What if Aaron learns about Dad?"
"He won't."
"He almost did then."
Florence leaned closer.
"Your father was dying anyway."
Aaron stopped the video.
The room seemed to shrink.
Ortiz looked at him.
"There's your December."
Aaron stared at Lucas's face frozen on the screen.
"What did he panic about?"
The answer came the next morning.
Police found Lucas's abandoned car at a motel near the interstate.
Inside the trunk was a duffel bag containing fifty thousand dollars in cash.
A passport.
Two prepaid phones.
And an old photograph.
The photograph showed Lucas at twenty one years old standing beside Calvin Reed.
Behind them was Thomas's car.
The date stamped in the corner was December 18.
May you like
On the back, someone had written three words.
He saw us.
