Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN IN THE RECORDING
The police arrived with a court order.
Alana had obtained an emergency authorization claiming Dustin was in immediate danger because Clarissa was experiencing a psychological breakdown.
Judge Raymond Mercer had signed the order less than an hour earlier.
The speed alone revealed corruption, but corruption did not stop the officers from entering.
Evelyn opened a hidden tunnel leading away from the underground room.
“You need to go.”
Clarissa looked at the security screen.
Two uniformed officers searched the upper station.
Alana remained outside, speaking to a third officer.
“She wants them to take Dustin,” Clarissa said.
“If they find you, they will.”
“I won’t abandon him.”
“I am not asking you to.”
Evelyn opened a storage cabinet and removed two maintenance uniforms.
“You and Dustin leave through the drainage tunnel. I’ll remain here and delay them.”
“They’ll arrest you.”
“They already believe I died twelve years ago.”
Clarissa stared at her.
Evelyn smiled faintly.
“Your father was not the only person who learned the value of disappearing.”
There was no time for questions.
Clarissa and Dustin changed clothes, crawled into the narrow tunnel, and moved through darkness.
The passage smelled of wet stone.
Dustin crawled ahead with a flashlight.
After ten minutes, the tunnel opened behind a maintenance shed near the highway.
A truck waited.
Maya sat behind the wheel.
Clarissa nearly collapsed with relief.
Maya jumped out and embraced her.
“You look terrible.”
“You look perfect.”
They helped Dustin into the cab.
Maya drove toward a motel outside the county.
Jonah joined them there with two laptops, audio equipment, and a folder thick with public records.
He was younger than Clarissa expected, with tired eyes and a voice that never rose above a calm murmur.
He played the recording through specialized software.
“I isolated the woman’s voice.”
The sound became clearer.
“Parker promised he would keep the boy under control.”
Clarissa listened twice.
It was not Alana.
The voice seemed familiar, but she could not place it.
Jonah opened another file.
“I searched interviews connected to Hale Development.”
A video appeared.
A woman stood beside Victor Hale at a charity event.
She had dark hair, a graceful posture, and a scar near her right temple.
Clarissa recognized her.
Dr. Melissa Grant.
The surgeon who had operated on Clarissa’s appendix.
The woman who had controlled the medication that kept Clarissa unconscious while someone forged her signature.
The woman who told Clarissa she had experienced hallucinations after surgery.
The woman who had assured her that seeing her dead father outside the hospital room was a side effect.
Clarissa felt the room grow cold.
“Why would my surgeon be involved?”
Jonah opened a corporate registry.
“Melissa Grant owns a private medical consulting company. Hale Development transferred three million dollars to that company over four years.”
Maya whispered, “That’s not consulting.”
“No,” Jonah said. “It’s payment.”
Clarissa remembered Parker insisting she use Melissa’s clinic.
He had described Melissa as a family friend.
She had never questioned it.
“What does she mean about keeping Dustin under control?” Clarissa asked.
Jonah looked toward the child, who had fallen asleep on the second motel bed.
“Maybe she knew he saw Thomas after the funeral.”
Clarissa turned back to the screen.
“Can we prove the woman is Melissa?”
“With a full recording and professional analysis, probably.”
“We only have part?”
“Twenty-seven seconds. Whoever sent it may have the complete file.”
Clarissa checked the secure phone.
Another message had arrived.
THE FULL RECORDING IS UNDER THE RED DOOR.
Beneath it was a photograph.
The image showed the dining room inside Clarissa’s house.
It had been taken less than five minutes earlier.
Parker stood beside the table speaking to Melissa Grant.
Melissa was holding Mr. Rabbit.
Clarissa opened Dustin’s backpack.
The rabbit was gone.
Somehow, during their escape or before the taxi arrived, the toy had been switched.
The red cylinder in Clarissa’s pocket might be real.
Or it might be another trap.
Jonah zoomed in on the photograph.
Behind Parker and Melissa, Alana stood near the basement door.
May you like
A figure was visible in the darkness below the stairs.
A man wearing a brown coat.
