Chapter 6 - THE PERSON BEHIND THE DOOR
The hospital security footage was reviewed within minutes.
Peter stood beside Detective Harper as the video played.
A figure entered the children’s hallway at 2:13 a.m.
A woman.
Dark coat.
Hat covering her face.
She walked directly toward Drew and Lily’s rooms.
Like she knew exactly where they were.
Harper paused the video.
“Can you identify her?”
Peter stared.
“No.”
Then the woman turned slightly.
A reflection appeared in the glass.
Peter’s face changed.
“Wait.”
Harper rewound.
Again.
The reflection became clearer.
Peter stepped closer.
“No…”
“What?”
Peter pointed.
“That necklace.”
Harper looked.
A small silver necklace around the woman’s neck.
Peter knew it.
Because Aaron had given one exactly like it to someone.
“Reena.”
Harper looked at him.
“What?”
Peter shook his head.
“No.”
He stared at the screen.
“That’s not Reena.”
The woman’s face became visible for one second.
And Peter recognized her.
The dead woman from the photograph.
Megan Collins.
Alive.
Detective Harper immediately reopened the old records.
The impossible became real.
Megan Collins was not dead.
The death certificate was fake.
The hospital records were altered.
Someone had erased her.
Just like someone had erased Noah.
Peter looked at Harper.
“How many people?”
She didn’t answer.
Because both of them knew.
This was bigger than Reena.
They found Megan three days later.
An abandoned farmhouse outside town.
She didn’t run.
She was waiting.
When Peter entered, she looked at him.
“You’re Aaron’s brother.”
Peter stared.
“You’re alive.”
Megan smiled sadly.
“Yes.”
“Why did everyone think you were dead?”
Her expression changed.
“Because Reena needed me gone.”
Peter stepped closer.
“Why?”
Megan looked toward the floor.
“Because I knew what she was doing.”
Megan revealed the truth.
She had worked with Aaron.
She discovered Reena had been creating punishment rooms for years.
Not only for her own children.
For children she controlled through fear.
Aaron found out.
He tried to expose her.
But Reena found out first.
“She knew Aaron was going to report her.”
Peter’s face hardened.
“So she killed him?”
Megan looked away.
“I don’t know.”
That answer bothered Peter.
“You don’t know?”
Megan whispered:
“Because Aaron wasn’t the only person in danger.”
She pulled out a file.
Inside were medical records.
Photos.
Notes.
And one final document.
A life insurance policy.
Peter stared.
The beneficiary wasn’t Reena.
It wasn’t the children.
It was someone else.
Someone Peter knew.
Peter’s hands went cold.
“Who?”
Megan looked at him.
“I think you already know.”
Peter opened the document.
The name stared back.
His stomach dropped.
May you like
Because the person who benefited from Aaron’s death…
was the last person he ever expected.
