Chapter 9 - Hollow Creek)
They flew to Montana anyway.
Daniel.
Claire.
Margaret.
Detective Mendez traveled separately with two federal investigators after the case expanded beyond state lines.
Hollow Creek was a town of fewer than three thousand people.
Anne Mercer had lived there for nine years.
She worked as a veterinary technician.
Neighbors described her as quiet, kind, private.
She volunteered at the animal shelter.
She never married.
She had no children.
And according to everyone who knew her, she had been afraid of cameras.
Claire stood inside Anne's small house.
A detective had already processed it.
Nothing appeared forced.
No sign of struggle.
The back door was open.
Daniel found a framed photograph near the bookshelf.
Anne stood beside an elderly woman.
The woman was Susan Hale.
Claire stared.
Susan had known where Anna was.
She called Susan immediately.
No answer.
Mendez sent officers to Susan's home.
Empty.
Claire felt fury rise.
"She lied to us."
Mendez said, "Or she was protecting Anne."
Margaret sat on Anne's couch.
She touched a knitted blanket.
"She made this."
Claire looked at her.
"How do you know?"
"Anna used to pull yarn too tight at the edges."
It seemed impossible to remember something so small after twenty-nine years.
Yet Margaret was certain.
The house contained no obvious clues until Claire noticed a row of children's books.
Most belonged to the same series.
The Little Lighthouse.
Anna had owned those books as a child.
Margaret began crying when she saw them.
Daniel pulled out the fourth book.
Something fell from inside.
A Polaroid photograph.
The hidden room beneath the cottage.
But newer.
The chain had been removed.
A table stood in the center.
On it were dozens of files.
The photograph was dated two months earlier.
Claire turned it over.
A message:
HE STILL GOES THERE.
Daniel looked at Mendez.
"Robert."
Police had assumed the hidden room had not been used in decades.
Apparently someone had been there recently.
Forensic analysis later found fresh fingerprints belonging to Robert.
And Rachel.
But a third set appeared too.
Unknown.
In Anne's bedroom, Claire found a map.
Six locations were circled.
Lake Briar cottage.
St. Joseph Medical Center.
A church outside Denver.
An abandoned children's clinic in Wyoming.
A warehouse near Salt Lake City.
And a remote property in Montana.
The property was only thirty miles away.
Federal agents obtained a warrant.
By sunset they reached it.
An old ranch house stood among dry hills.
No vehicles.
No movement.
Inside were medical files.
Hundreds.
Names.
Photos.
Treatment notes.
Adoption records.
Payments.
Briarwood had not ended when its original building closed.
It had moved.
Changed names.
Changed states.
But someone had continued preserving the records.
In a locked office, investigators found a wall covered with photographs.
Children became teenagers.
Teenagers became adults.
Claire saw herself.
School photographs.
College graduation.
Her first apartment.
Her business opening.
Someone had followed her for years.
Daniel found photographs of himself too.
Margaret.
Noah.
Rachel.
The entire family.
Then Claire saw a newer image.
Taken three days earlier.
Daniel loading luggage into his truck before leaving for his business trip.
Another photograph showed Claire entering the Bennett house the night she discovered the folder.
The final photograph had been taken that morning.
At the Denver airport.
Claire turned toward Mendez.
"Someone followed us here."
Mendez immediately ordered agents outside.
Then Daniel called from the next room.
"Claire."
His voice sounded wrong.
She found him standing beside a desk.
On it was a small television connected to an old digital video player.
A label read:
FOR CLAIRE.
Mendez stopped them from touching it.
Technicians checked the device.
No explosive.
No obvious trap.
They played the file.
A woman appeared on screen.
Anne Mercer.
Anna.
She looked directly into the camera.
"If Claire is seeing this, then Robert finally lost control."
Margaret covered her mouth.
Anna continued.
"My name is Anna Bennett, although I haven't used that name since I was a child."
Daniel whispered, "Jesus."
On screen, Anna looked tired.
"I know you're looking for me. Please don't."
Margaret cried.
"Anna..."
"I am not running from you."
Anna's eyes filled with tears.
"I am running because someone from Briarwood is still alive."
Claire stepped closer to the screen.
Anna continued.
"Robert was never in charge."
Daniel and Claire looked at each other.
"Victor wasn't either."
The recording flickered.
Then Anna said:
"The person who started all of this is still watching our family."
The screen went black.
A single final frame appeared.
A photograph.
Margaret Bennett.
Young.
Pregnant.
Standing outside St. Joseph Medical Center.
Beside her was a man Claire had never seen.
May you like
On the bottom someone had written:
PATIENT ZERO'S MOTHER.
