Chapter 6 - the man who erased people)
Silas Keene had once been a respected psychiatrist.
Then patients began making accusations.
Sedation without consent.
Altered records.
Coercive treatment.
Families claimed he accepted private payments to diagnose inconvenient relatives.
A wealthy husband wanted control of his wife's estate.
A parent wanted an adult child declared incompetent.
A business partner needed someone temporarily removed.
Keene provided paperwork.
For a price.
He lost his license.
But he never went to prison.
His most serious accuser disappeared before trial.
Daniel read everything Ava sent him.
"How did this man stay free?"
"Money. Settlements. Missing witnesses."
"Where is he now?"
"Officially? Arizona."
"And unofficially?"
"We don't know."
Daniel looked toward Lily, sleeping on the sofa.
Since the freezer, she refused to sleep alone.
Mara's old red raincoat from storage had been returned after police photographed it.
Lily held it while she slept.
Daniel sat beside her.
"I should have seen this."
Ava shook her head.
"Seen what?"
"Lydia."
"People like Lydia survive because they know how to look respectable."
"I let her into my house."
"You thought she was grieving."
"She almost killed Lily."
Ava did not argue.
The freezer incident had changed the investigation.
Lydia was charged with child endangerment, unlawful restraint, and attempted aggravated assault pending further review.
Her attorney insisted the freezer had not been operating when Lily was placed inside.
Forensic testing proved otherwise.
Someone had turned it to its coldest setting thirty minutes before Daniel arrived home.
And Lydia's fingerprints were on the temperature control.
Ava placed another file on the table.
"We found Keene."
Daniel looked up.
"Where?"
"We didn't find him physically. We found a trail."
Bank records connected Northstar Residential Care to four properties.
Three had been sold.
One remained under a holding company.
A former treatment center near Blackwater Lake.
North House.
Daniel remembered Lydia's words from the garage.
You still don't understand.
Ava continued.
"We're requesting a warrant."
"How long?"
"Hopefully hours."
"Hopefully?"
"Daniel."
"If Mara is there, Thomas could move her."
"We have patrol units watching the property."
"Then why aren't they going inside?"
"Because if we enter illegally and destroy the case, Lydia walks."
Daniel hated that she was right.
That evening he took Lily upstairs.
He found her standing in front of Mara's closet.
"What are you doing?"
Lily held something.
A photograph.
It showed Mara and Daniel on their wedding day.
Lily pointed at the corner.
"Who's that?"
Daniel looked.
Behind Mara stood Thomas Vane.
Beside him was a younger man wearing wire framed glasses.
Daniel enlarged the photograph on his phone.
Silas Keene.
His stomach turned.
"He was at our wedding."
Lily looked at him.
"Is he the doctor?"
Daniel studied the face.
"Maybe."
Lily suddenly pointed toward another person in the photograph.
A woman stood behind Keene.
Blonde.
About thirty.
Daniel did not recognize her.
"Who's she?"
"I don't know."
Lily frowned.
"Mommy knew her."
"How?"
Lily touched the photograph.
"She came to our house."
"When?"
"Before Mommy disappeared."
Daniel knelt.
"What did she want?"
"She cried."
"Do you remember her name?"
Lily shook her head.
Then she turned the photograph over.
On the back, in Mara's handwriting, were four words.
ASK ELLEN ABOUT ROOM SIX.
Daniel immediately called Ava.
She came to the house within twenty minutes.
Neither Daniel nor Ava knew who Ellen was.
But the name appeared in one other place.
Inside Lydia's basement files.
Ellen Price.
Former Vale Industries accountant.
Status.
Deceased.
Cause of death.
Suicide.
Date of death.
Six years earlier.
Daniel stared at the wedding photograph.
May you like
The wedding had taken place four years ago.
Two years after Ellen Price was supposedly dead.
