Chapter 4 - Northstar House
The fire at the bank was contained before it spread beyond the records corridor.
Investigators called it deliberate.
Someone had poured an accelerant into a waste bin and disabled two security cameras minutes before the alarm.
The attacker had known exactly where Maya and Lena would be.
Officer Reed took the compass pendant as evidence, but Maya photographed it first.
A search revealed that Northstar House had once been a private maternity residence outside Bellhaven. It had closed after a newborn died under suspicious circumstances.
The property still existed.
It now belonged to a charitable foundation controlled by Diane Mercer.
“She’s been holding the building for twenty-seven years,” Lena said.
They sat in Adrian’s study that evening with every curtain closed.
Adrian had six stitches above his right ear. He refused to rest.
Maya had been examined by her obstetrician after the bank attack. The baby remained healthy, though the doctor ordered her to avoid stress.
Maya almost laughed when she heard the instruction.
Adrian spread property records across the desk.
“Diane purchased Northstar House through a shell foundation three months after your mother recovered you.”
“Why keep it?” Maya asked.
“Maybe something is still inside.”
Lena studied the photograph of the pendant.
“Or someone.”
Maya’s phone rang.
The caller identification showed Charles Bennett.
Adrian frowned.
“My uncle hasn’t spoken clearly since his stroke.”
Maya answered.
At first, she heard only breathing.
Then Charles spoke.
His voice was weak but urgent.
“Do not go to Northstar House.”
Maya looked at Adrian.
“Charles, how do you know we found it?”
“The bank.”
“You knew what was in the ledger.”
A long pause followed.
“I knew what Diane wanted me to believe.”
“What does that mean?”
“You are not safe.”
“Who took me from my mother?”
Charles began coughing.
Maya heard a machine beeping in the background.
“Charles?”
“Diane arranged the transfer,” he whispered. “But she wasn’t alone.”
“Who else?”
The line crackled.
A second voice spoke in the background.
A woman.
“Mr. Bennett, you need to rest.”
Maya recognized the voice.
Diane.
“Charles, is Diane there?”
The call ended.
Adrian was already on his feet.
His uncle had been recovering at a private medical facility two hours away.
Adrian called the facility.
A receptionist claimed Charles had been transferred that morning under a family authorization.
“To where?” Adrian demanded.
The receptionist refused to say.
“What family member signed it?”
Another pause.
“Mrs. Diane Mercer.”
Adrian struck the desk with his palm.
Maya stood.
“We’re calling the police.”
“Reed needs probable cause to search a private residence.”
“She threatened me and kidnapped an incapacitated man.”
“We can prove the threats. The facility will argue the transfer was authorized.”
Lena looked toward Maya.
“Northstar House.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No. That is exactly where Charles told us not to go.”
“Because Diane was standing beside him,” Maya replied. “She made him say it.”
“You don’t know that.”
“He called me while she was there. He wanted us to hear her voice.”
Adrian paced across the study.
“I’m not taking my pregnant wife into an abandoned maternity home controlled by a woman who may have ordered a bank fire.”
“Then I’ll go without you.”
“No, you won’t.”
Maya stepped closer.
“You have spent weeks deciding what I’m allowed to know and where I’m allowed to go. That ends now.”
His face tightened.
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“And I’m trying to understand why someone stole me from my mother.”
Silence filled the room.
Lena finally spoke.
“We don’t go tonight. We gather evidence. We make sure Reed knows where we are. Then we go tomorrow in daylight.”
Adrian looked at Maya.
He knew she would not surrender.
“Daylight,” he agreed. “And we bring security.”
The next morning, they drove to Northstar House with two private security officers.
The building stood behind rusted gates on the edge of an abandoned apple orchard.
Its white paint had peeled away in long strips.
Most windows were boarded.
A faded blue star remained above the entrance.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, dust covered the reception desk.
Old children’s drawings hung along the corridor.
Maya felt the baby move.
She had the strange sensation that she had been there before, though she knew that was impossible.
She had been an infant.
They searched the first floor.
Empty examination rooms.
A kitchen with broken cabinets.
A nursery containing six rusted cribs.
On the wall above the cribs, someone had written numbers in blue chalk.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The sixth number had been erased.
Lena found a staircase leading to the basement.
The door was secured with a new electronic lock.
Adrian’s security officer examined it.
“This was installed recently.”
He bypassed the panel.
The door opened.
Cold air rose from below.
The basement lights were on.
At the bottom of the stairs stood rows of filing cabinets, computer equipment, and shelves filled with modern medical supplies.
Northstar House was not abandoned.
Someone was still using it.
Maya approached a desk.
A photograph rested beside the computer.
It showed Evelyn Hart standing outside the building twenty-seven years earlier.
She held two newborn girls.
Charles Bennett stood beside her.
Diane stood behind them.
A fourth person had been cut from the photograph.
On the desk lay a fresh hospital bracelet.
Maya picked it up.
The printed name read:
BABY BENNETT, MALE.
May you like
EXPECTED DELIVERY: SEPTEMBER 18.
That was Maya’s due date.
