Chapter 11 - the place beneath the church)
Thomas regained consciousness at the hospital under police guard.
At first he refused to speak.
Then Ava placed the photograph of his blood covered body on the table.
"The date says today."
Thomas stared.
"Keene wants you dead."
Thomas said nothing.
Ava continued.
"Lydia can't protect you."
Still nothing.
Then Daniel entered.
Thomas looked at him.
Daniel placed Lily's freezer keyring on the table inside an evidence bag.
"The brass key led us to B17."
Thomas's expression changed.
Daniel continued.
"Mara is alive."
Thomas closed his eyes.
"Then you know enough."
"No."
Daniel leaned closer.
"I know you forged my signature."
Thomas looked away.
"I know you helped Lydia take Mara."
Silence.
"I know North House kept people hidden."
Thomas's breathing changed.
"But I don't know Room Six."
Thomas stared at the wall.
Daniel sat down.
"Keene is going to kill Ellen."
At the name, Thomas finally reacted.
"She's alive?"
"You tell me."
Thomas looked genuinely stunned.
"I thought she died."
Ava said, "Again?"
Thomas rubbed his face.
Then something inside him seemed to collapse.
"Room Six isn't a room."
Daniel waited.
"It's a file category."
"For what?"
Thomas swallowed.
"Founders."
Ava leaned forward.
"What founders?"
"The original Vale network."
Thomas began talking.
Decades earlier, several wealthy families created a private arrangement with doctors and attorneys.
They called it family preservation.
Embarrassing relatives could be placed in private institutions.
Addicted sons.
Abusive husbands.
Mistresses.
Children contesting estates.
Women threatening divorce.
Some cases were legitimate.
Others were not.
Eventually the system became criminal.
People disappeared because someone powerful wanted them gone.
Vale Industries provided money.
Lawyers provided documents.
Doctors provided diagnoses.
North House was one of several locations.
Room Six files documented the families who created the network.
"Where are the files?"
Thomas looked toward Daniel.
"Under Saint Gabriel's Church."
The abandoned church where Thomas had been found.
Police surrounded the property before sunset.
Beneath the old sanctuary they found a sealed staircase.
At the bottom was an archive.
Not a medical room.
A records vault.
Cabinet after cabinet.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Photographs.
Daniel walked through with Ava.
Twenty years.
Thirty.
Forty.
Then Ava stopped.
"Ellen Price."
A file.
Inside were surveillance photographs.
Medical reports.
Notes.
One final page.
TRANSFERRED.
Destination.
Hawthorne.
Daniel looked at Ava.
"What's Hawthorne?"
She searched.
An estate eighty miles away.
Abandoned for fifteen years.
Police teams were dispatched.
Daniel continued examining the files.
Then he found Mara's name.
Her file was thick.
The last document had been typed only one week earlier.
SUBJECT RECOVERED AT NORTH HOUSE.
DAUGHTER MEMORY ACTIVE.
MATERNAL CONTINGENCY FAILED.
PATERNAL CONTINGENCY PENDING.
Daniel stared.
"Paternal contingency?"
Ava read it.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel felt cold.
"I don't know."
Then he saw another folder.
His own name.
DANIEL REED.
Inside were photographs of him taken over the past five years.
Work.
Home.
Restaurants.
The hospital.
Lily's school.
Someone had been watching him long before Mara disappeared.
At the bottom was an unsigned medical evaluation.
Diagnosis.
Severe paranoid disorder.
Recommended action.
Emergency confinement.
Daniel looked at Ava.
"They were planning to erase me too."
A voice came from behind them.
"No."
Thomas Vane stood at the entrance between two officers.
"They weren't planning to."
Daniel turned.
May you like
Thomas looked at the file.
"They already tried once."
