Chapter 9 - What Michael Hid in the Workshop)
The original amendment was not in the garage anymore.
Claire had hidden it inside Noah's diaper supply box upstairs.
Richard did not know that.
Vanessa did not know that.
Leonard did.
Claire realized it from the way his eyes moved.
"You know where I put it."
Leonard looked at her.
"I saw you carry the envelope upstairs."
Emma stepped closer.
"Did you tell Richard?"
"No."
"Why should we believe you?"
Leonard looked through the front window.
"Because if he gets that document, I'm finished too."
Claire almost laughed.
"You are already finished."
Richard knocked.
Three slow knocks.
Nobody moved.
Then he called through the door.
"Leonard."
Leonard closed his eyes.
Richard knocked again.
"We only need the paper."
Claire whispered, "How does he know you're here?"
Leonard pulled out his phone.
A small tracking icon appeared on the screen.
"I thought I disabled it."
Emma stared.
"They tracked you?"
Leonard nodded.
Richard spoke through the door.
"Claire, this does not need to become unpleasant."
Emma muttered, "He lost that option."
Claire carried Noah into the upstairs bedroom.
She placed him carefully in his crib and turned on the baby monitor.
Emma stayed beside the nursery door.
Claire opened the diaper box.
The envelope was still there.
But something about it bothered her.
The paper felt thicker than before.
She removed the amendment.
Behind it was another sheet.
She had not noticed it earlier.
Michael had folded two documents together.
The second was handwritten.
Claire sat on the floor.
She recognized every curve of his handwriting.
Leonard entered the hallway behind Emma.
"Claire."
"Stay there."
She read.
If Leonard or anyone connected to him ever presents a custody claim involving our future child, contact Daniel Mercer at the state inspector general's office. He knows why.
Claire looked up.
"Who is Daniel Mercer?"
Leonard went pale.
Emma saw it.
"You know him."
Leonard said nothing.
"Who is Daniel Mercer?"
Leonard whispered, "An investigator."
Claire waited.
"He was looking into Richard years ago."
"Then why didn't he stop him?"
"He almost did."
"What happened?"
Leonard lowered himself against the wall.
"Richard had a source inside the investigation."
Evelyn arrived downstairs with Samuel and Brooke.
Claire handed Samuel the handwritten note.
He read it.
"Daniel Mercer retired last year."
"Can we reach him?"
"I'll try."
A crash came from downstairs.
Emma ran to the landing.
The front window had shattered.
Richard had thrown something through it.
Not a weapon.
A phone.
The screen was playing a video.
Claire walked down slowly.
The video showed a woman holding a baby.
A different baby.
A timestamp from four years earlier.
The woman was screaming at someone off camera.
Then the recording ended.
A message appeared on the screen.
Destroy the card and the amendment or every mother involved will be exposed publicly as unstable and dangerous.
Claire felt her stomach twist.
Richard was threatening the victims.
Not only with embarrassment.
With records.
False medical records that could damage custody disputes, employment, reputations.
Evelyn said quietly, "This is how he kept people silent."
Brooke whispered, "He told Vanessa that once records exist, truth doesn't matter. People believe databases."
Claire looked toward the dark window.
Richard remained in the driveway.
She suddenly understood his entire system.
He did not need permanent control.
He only needed temporary confusion.
A forged form.
A compromised employee.
A frightened mother.
An adoptive family desperate enough not to ask questions.
By the time anyone untangled the truth, the child was gone.
Claire picked up the phone Richard had thrown.
A new message appeared.
Last chance.
Samuel took the phone.
"Do not respond."
Claire looked at him.
"I want him to know we found Daniel Mercer."
"We haven't."
"He doesn't know that."
Samuel understood.
Claire typed.
Michael left Daniel Mercer's name.
Outside, Richard's posture changed.
Vanessa turned toward him.
They began arguing.
Evelyn watched.
"That scared him."
Claire nodded.
"Which means Daniel knows something important."
Samuel called several numbers.
On the fourth attempt, someone answered.
"Mr. Mercer?"
Everyone went silent.
Samuel stepped into the kitchen.
The conversation lasted five minutes.
When he returned, his face was serious.
"Daniel Mercer is coming."
Claire looked at the clock.
"Tonight?"
"He's ninety minutes away."
"What does he know?"
Samuel sat down.
"Seven years ago Richard was investigated for altering placement records. Daniel believed at least three children had been moved using fabricated consent documents."
Brooke whispered, "Three?"
"That was all he could prove."
"What happened?"
"The evidence disappeared."
Claire stared.
"How?"
"A digital archive was wiped the night before warrants were supposed to be issued."
"Who had access?"
Samuel looked at Evelyn.
"A supervisor named Margaret Lawson."
Evelyn went completely still.
Claire noticed.
"You know her too."
Evelyn's face had lost color.
"Margaret Lawson was my supervisor."
Nobody spoke.
Evelyn continued.
"She signed Vanessa Hale's temporary worker authorization last month."
Emma stared.
"So Richard still has someone inside the county."
"Yes."
Claire looked at the false custody paperwork.
"And that's how the suspension was withdrawn."
Evelyn nodded.
Claire suddenly felt as though the conspiracy had expanded beyond the walls of her house.
Vanessa.
Richard.
Diane.
Leonard.
Margaret.
Possibly others.
Her son had not been targeted by one cruel guardian.
He had been caught in a machine.
Then Brooke's phone vibrated.
A message from Vanessa.
Brooke read it.
Her face turned white.
"What?"
Brooke showed Claire.
The message contained an address.
May you like
Below it were six words.
Ask where the other babies went.
