Chapter 5 - The Funeral Without a Body
Daniel Bennett had attended two funerals in the same year.
His wife Rebecca.
And his father Robert.
He'd watched the coffins.
Listened to the prayers.
Shaken hundreds of hands.
He'd stood beside Margaret while reporters photographed their grief.
And he'd believed every word his mother said.
Now he sat in a police interview room staring at an old photograph of his father.
Robert Bennett smiled from the image.
He wore a navy suit.
His silver hair was carefully combed.
One hand rested on Daniel's shoulder.
The photograph had been taken three weeks before his reported death.
Daniel remembered that day.
His father had called him into the study.
He'd looked frightened.
"Daniel, there's something you need to know about the foundation."
Daniel had been late for a meeting.
He'd promised to return.
He never had.
Three weeks later, Robert was dead.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Claire sat across from him.
"You remembered something."
He nodded.
"What?"
Daniel swallowed.
"My father wanted to talk about the foundation."
Claire waited.
"He said there were things I didn't understand."
"What did you say?"
Daniel looked at her.
"I told him we'd discuss it later."
Claire's expression softened.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
"Later never came."
Detective Hayes entered with a folder.
"We found a discrepancy."
Daniel looked up.
"In what?"
"Your father's death certificate."
Hayes placed two documents on the table.
One was the official certificate filed with the state.
The other was a copy recovered from an internal foundation archive.
The dates matched.
The name matched.
But the physician's signature was different.
Claire leaned forward.
"Who signed the second one?"
Hayes pointed.
"Dr. Peter Mercer."
Daniel frowned.
"Mercer was our family physician."
"He's also connected to the medical trust that paid for Rebecca's confinement."
Daniel stared.
Hayes continued.
"We're investigating whether the death was fraudulently certified."
Claire looked at Daniel.
"Was the coffin open?"
He shook his head.
"Mom said his body was too damaged after the stroke and fall."
Hayes frowned.
"Stroke and fall?"
Daniel nodded.
"That's what she told me."
The detective checked the official report.
"Daniel, the certificate lists cardiac arrest."
Silence.
Claire stared at her husband.
Daniel's face went gray.
Hayes continued.
"And the funeral home says your mother instructed them not to permit viewing."
Daniel covered his mouth.
Claire reached for his hand.
He didn't pull away.
The next morning, investigators obtained an emergency order to examine Robert Bennett's burial records.
The coffin had been sealed.
The cemetery records showed an unusual private transfer before the funeral.
A body had been delivered from a medical facility owned by the Bennett Foundation.
No hospital had recorded Robert's death.
No independent medical examiner had seen him.
Hayes placed the evidence before Daniel.
"Your mother controlled the entire process."
Daniel nodded slowly.
"Yes."
"Did your father have any other illnesses?"
"High blood pressure."
"Anything that would explain a sudden death?"
"No."
Hayes studied him.
"Then we have to consider the possibility that he didn't die when you were told."
Daniel looked at Claire.
She could see the thought forming.
If his father was alive, then another man had been buried beneath Robert's name.
And somewhere, someone had helped make that happen.
That afternoon, Claire returned to Hannah's hospital room.
Her twin was sitting beside the window.
A notebook rested on her lap.
Claire approached.
"How are you?"
Hannah gave a tired smile.
"Better than yesterday."
Claire sat down.
"I need to ask you something."
Hannah nodded.
"Robert Bennett."
Hannah's expression changed.
Claire noticed.
"You know him."
Hannah looked down.
"Yes."
"How?"
Hannah swallowed.
"Margaret brought him downstairs."
Claire went still.
"When?"
"Twelve years ago."
Claire's heart pounded.
"Was he alive?"
Hannah nodded.
"Yes."
Claire leaned forward.
"Where is he now?"
"I don't know."
"Did you see him recently?"
Hannah hesitated.
"Not for three years."
Claire felt cold.
"What happened three years ago?"
Hannah looked toward the door.
"Robert tried to escape."
Claire stared.
"With you?"
Hannah nodded.
"He had found a way to open the service doors."
"What happened?"
Hannah closed her eyes.
"Arthur caught him."
Claire swallowed.
"And?"
Hannah's voice broke.
"They took him away."
Claire looked toward the window.
"Did Margaret say he died?"
Hannah shook her head.
"No."
Claire turned.
"What did she say?"
Hannah looked directly at her.
"She said he was being transferred somewhere Daniel would never think to look."
That evening, Claire returned to the photograph from her mother's album.
Blackthorn House.
The framed mountain lake.
She studied the background.
There was a clock on the wall.
A narrow hallway.
And a framed certificate.
She enlarged the image.
The certificate belonged to a medical organization.
The text was blurry.
But she could make out three letters.
MRC.
Claire searched the foundation archive.
MRC.
Medical Recovery Center.
A company owned by a subsidiary of Bennett Medical.
The same subsidiary had operated several rehabilitation facilities.
One had closed three years earlier.
The year Robert disappeared from Hannah's view.
Claire called Hayes.
"I found something."
The facility was called Stonebridge Recovery Center.
It stood outside Albany, New York.
Officially, it cared for patients with neurological conditions.
Unofficially, it maintained a restricted residential wing financed through private trusts.
When investigators arrived, the administrator refused to release patient records.
Hayes obtained a warrant.
Inside the restricted wing, officers found six patients.
Five were identified through ordinary medical records.
The sixth had no proper identification.
His chart listed him as Patient R-12.
He was seventy-nine years old.
White hair.
Sunken cheeks.
A scar above his right eyebrow.
Hayes sent Daniel a photograph.
Daniel stared at it.
For a long moment, he couldn't speak.
Then he whispered, "Dad."
Claire covered her mouth.
Daniel stood so quickly his chair fell backward.
"He's alive."
Hayes's voice came through the phone.
"We believe so."
Daniel began shaking.
"Can he talk?"
"He's weak."
"Does he know who he is?"
A pause.
Then Hayes said something that made Daniel grip the table.
"He asked for you."
When Daniel entered Stonebridge Recovery Center, his father was sitting beside a window.
Robert looked smaller than Daniel remembered.
His once-powerful shoulders had narrowed.
His hands trembled.
His hair was almost white.
But his eyes were the same.
Daniel stopped at the doorway.
"Dad?"
Robert turned.
For one second, he simply stared.
Then his face crumpled.
"Daniel."
Daniel crossed the room.
He dropped to his knees.
Robert reached for him.
They held each other.
And neither could stop crying.
"I'm sorry," Robert whispered.
Daniel shook his head.
"Dad, no."
"I'm so sorry."
Daniel pressed his forehead against his father's hand.
"You're alive."
Robert nodded.
"Yes."
Daniel looked up.
"Why didn't you come home?"
Robert's expression changed.
He looked toward the door.
Then whispered, "Because your mother told me she'd kill you."
Daniel froze.
May you like
Robert gripped his hand.
"And because I knew she meant it."
