Chapter 5 - THE FILE WITH MY NAME ON IT
I didn't sleep that night.
Neither did Marcus.
We moved Lily and Anna into the safest part of the estate.
I assigned guards to every entrance.
Then I spent six hours watching the video.
Over and over.
My father's face.
His voice.
His words.
Someone had forged the recording.
But the technology didn't exist fourteen years ago.
At least not easily.
Marcus Hale had the answer.
“It's not a live recording.”
“What?”
“It's stitched footage.”
“What does that mean?”
“Old recordings. Different angles. Someone assembled them.”
“So someone wanted me to believe my father was alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcus placed a folder on the table.
“We found the source files.”
Inside were documents from fourteen years ago.
My father had been investigating something called the Bellhaven Initiative.
A private network designed to manipulate financial records.
Not steal millions.
Hide small amounts.
Thousands.
Hundreds.
Amounts that disappeared into different accounts without triggering alarms.
Exactly what had happened to my household.
I looked at him.
“So the $8,400 isn't the real theft.”
“No.”
“What is?”
Marcus pointed to the final page.
“Someone has been testing the system on you.”
“For how long?”
“Four months.”
I thought of the threshold.
The invoices.
The denied request.
Lily.
Then Anna walked into the room.
She looked exhausted.
“I need to tell you something.”
I turned.
She held an old envelope.
“Daniel gave me this.”
“When?”
“Two weeks before he died.”
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Daniel standing beside a hospital bed.
A little girl lay under a blanket.
Lily.
My heart stopped.
“How old was she?”
“Eight months.”
“Why was Daniel with her?”
Anna looked at Lily.
“Because he was trying to help her.”
“Help her with what?”
Anna swallowed.
“Her leg.”
I stared at Lily's brace.
“What happened?”
“She was born with a condition that affected the development of her leg. The doctors said she would need years of treatment.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
Anna shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“You don't know.”
“What?”
“The treatment was supposed to be paid for.”
I felt cold.
“By whom?”
“Daniel.”
I stared at her.
“My brother paid for Lily's treatment?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't I know?”
“Because he told me not to tell you.”
“Why?”
Anna's eyes filled with tears.
“He said someone in your house was trying to stop her care.”
I looked at Marcus.
The pieces were connecting.
Daniel had discovered something.
He had tried to protect Lily.
Then he died.
Evelyn buried the documents.
Someone kept stealing money.
And Lily had been forced to use the same painful doorway every morning.
I asked Anna one question.
“Who was Lily's doctor?”
She whispered the name.
“Dr. Samuel Voss.”
I knew him.
He had been one of my father's physicians.
And he had died eight years ago.
I stood.
“Get me his records.”
Marcus nodded.
Twenty minutes later, he returned.
“There is something strange.”
“What?”
“Dr. Voss didn't die eight years ago.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“The death certificate belongs to another man.”
“Then where is Voss?”
Marcus looked at the file.
“Alive.”
“Where?”
He gave me an address.
A small rehabilitation clinic three hours away.
I drove there myself.
When Dr. Voss opened the door, he looked at me for several seconds.
Then he whispered:
“Daniel told me you would eventually come.”
My heart pounded.
“What did he know?”
Voss looked behind me.
“Did you bring Lily?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
He stepped aside.
“Because whoever has been watching your house has been watching this clinic too.”
He led me into a room filled with old medical files.
Then he opened one.
Lily's name was on it.
But beneath her name was another.
PROJECT MOTHERLINE.
I stared at him.
“What is that?”
May you like
Voss closed his eyes.
“The reason your father was terrified of his own house.”
