Chapter 8 - The Bennett Account)
The answer was North Hollow Consulting.
The same company Claire had seen in Robert's hidden bank records.
But North Hollow was not a real consulting firm.
It was a shell company.
Money entered from dozens of private accounts.
Money left through medical contractors, property companies, and charities.
One account belonged to Robert Bennett.
Not small payments.
Millions over three decades.
Daniel stared at the financial summary.
"Our father never had millions."
Claire remembered their childhood.
They had been comfortable.
Never wealthy.
Robert ran a regional hardware distribution company.
Margaret taught elementary school until Claire was ten.
They took modest vacations.
Robert complained about mortgage rates.
Yet his hidden accounts told another story.
Detective Mendez said the money did not originate with Robert.
"He was moving it."
"For who?"
"We're tracing that."
Rachel became useful the moment prosecutors explained how much prison time she faced.
Evidence tampering.
Witness intimidation.
Conspiracy if investigators proved she knew about the old crimes.
She requested a deal.
Daniel refused to attend the interview.
Claire went.
Rachel sat behind a steel table wearing county jail clothes.
Without makeup and carefully styled hair, she looked smaller.
Claire felt no sympathy.
Rachel looked at her leg.
"How is it?"
Claire laughed.
"Don't."
Rachel nodded.
"You hate me."
"Yes."
"Fair."
Claire stared at her.
"Why did you shove me?"
Rachel looked down.
"Robert told me to create a scene."
"You could have said no."
"Yes."
"You grabbed your own son."
Rachel closed her eyes.
"Yes."
"You threatened Susan."
"Yes."
Claire leaned forward.
"So don't sit there like this happened to you."
Rachel's eyes filled.
"I know."
For the first time, Claire believed she did.
Rachel explained how it began.
Four months earlier, she discovered Robert had opened an investment account in Noah's name.
There were eighty thousand dollars in it.
At first she thought it was a gift.
Then she learned the money came from North Hollow.
She confronted Robert.
He showed her documents.
He told her Daniel's construction company had unknowingly completed renovation work on properties connected to North Hollow.
If authorities investigated, Daniel's name could be dragged into the scandal.
"Was that true?" Claire asked.
"Partly."
Robert used Daniel's company for two projects without Daniel knowing the owners behind them.
Rachel panicked.
Robert offered protection.
In exchange, she began helping him retrieve old files.
"Why not tell Daniel?"
"Because I thought I could fix it first."
Claire shook her head.
"That's what everyone in this family says before making things worse."
Rachel accepted the judgment.
Then she explained the list.
Robert kept records of children connected to Briarwood.
Not all were kidnapped.
Some were placed through fraudulent foster arrangements.
Some came from hospitals.
Some were returned.
Some disappeared.
The six names in the cottage room belonged to children who remembered too much.
Claire felt sick.
"Why was my name there?"
"Robert said Victor used the room to test you."
"Test what?"
"Memory."
Rachel swallowed.
"He wanted to know whether you remembered Evelyn."
Claire looked away.
"Did Robert know she was my mother?"
"Yes."
The answer hurt despite everything.
"He knew my entire life."
"Yes."
"And Margaret?"
"No."
Claire believed that too.
"Where is Anna?"
Rachel hesitated.
"I don't know."
Claire stood.
Rachel said quickly, "But Robert does."
Claire stopped.
"He has been sending money to someone every month."
"Who?"
"I never saw a name."
"Where?"
"Montana."
Claire turned.
Rachel continued.
"There is a post office box in a town called Hollow Creek."
Mendez traced it before sunset.
The box belonged to a woman named Anne Mercer.
Age thirty-six.
The age Anna Bennett would be.
Daniel stared at the driver's-license photograph.
Dark hair.
Same eyes as Margaret.
Same jawline as Robert.
Claire whispered, "She's alive."
Daniel sat down.
For the first time since the birthday party, her brother cried.
Not loudly.
He simply covered his face.
His sister had been alive his entire life.
Claire was his sister too, no matter what DNA said.
But somewhere in Montana was another sister stolen from him before he was old enough to understand.
Margaret saw the photograph and nearly collapsed.
"That's my baby."
She touched the screen.
"That's Anna."
Mendez warned them.
Identity had not been confirmed.
Anna might not know who she was.
Someone else could be using the name.
Robert could have constructed another lie.
Daniel did not care.
"We're going."
Mendez objected.
"Police will make contact first."
"Then I'll follow."
Claire said, "So will I."
Margaret looked at them.
"I'm coming."
Daniel shook his head.
Margaret's expression changed.
For decades she had accepted commands.
Not anymore.
"She was my daughter before either of you knew her."
Daniel nodded.
The next morning, police in Hollow Creek approached Anne Mercer's home.
No answer.
The door was unlocked.
Inside they found coffee still warm.
A purse on the kitchen counter.
A jacket over a chair.
Anne Mercer was gone.
On the dining table sat a single envelope.
It contained a photograph of Robert Bennett.
His face had been crossed out in red ink.
May you like
On the back were six words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT US BURIED.
