Chapter 7 - THE BODY IN THE CAR
The fire department pulled the burned body from the wreckage just after midnight.
It wasn’t Celeste.
It was Mason Reed.
Daniel’s security chief.
Ruiz stared at the body bag.
“He was alive twenty minutes ago.”
Daniel looked toward the mansion.
“Celeste is cleaning up.”
“Maybe.”
“You still doubt me?”
“I doubt everybody.”
Ruiz turned.
“That’s my job.”
Daniel almost respected her for saying it.
Inside the mansion, officers photographed the hidden room.
Noah sat beneath a blanket while paramedics examined him.
“He’s dehydrated,” one said. “Signs of long-term sedative exposure. Old restraint injuries. Malnutrition.”
Daniel’s hands curled into fists.
“Can he stay with me?”
“For tonight, yes. Child services will want to evaluate everything in the morning.”
“He’s my son.”
“We still need DNA confirmation.”
Daniel stared at the paramedic.
“He has my face.”
Ruiz stepped in.
“And legally, Noah Mercer is dead.”
That sentence hit harder than Daniel expected.
Noah looked up.
“Am I dead?”
Daniel immediately knelt.
“No. Absolutely not.”
“But everybody thinks I am.”
“We fix that tomorrow.”
Noah touched his father’s cheek.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Across the room, Hannah was speaking with an officer.
Daniel watched her.
Six years.
She had entered his home carrying a secret he would have paid every dollar on earth to know.
He wanted to hate her.
But she had broken through the wall when everyone else froze.
Ruiz approached him.
“We found something else.”
She handed him a small plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a hospital bracelet.
NOAH MERCER.
Date of death: October 14.
Daniel stared.
“That was the day I lost him.”
“It was in Mason’s pocket.”
“So?”
“So maybe Mason was moving evidence.”
Daniel looked toward the body bag outside.
“Or somebody wanted you to think he was.”
Ruiz’s phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Then her expression changed.
“You’re sure?”
She hung up.
“What?”
Ruiz looked at Noah.
“We received confirmation from the cemetery.”
Daniel didn’t understand.
“What confirmation?”
“The coffin buried under your son’s name is still there.”
“Of course it is.”
“We need to open it.”
Daniel’s throat tightened.
“No.”
“If Noah is alive, someone or something was placed in that coffin.”
Daniel turned toward his son.
Noah was watching him.
“Dad?”
Daniel forced a smile.
“Everything’s okay.”
It wasn’t.
At 3:10 a.m., a judge signed the emergency exhumation order.
At 5:40, Daniel stood in a private cemetery while workers lifted the small white coffin out of the ground.
Hannah stood beside him.
Ruiz opened the lid.
Daniel turned away.
Then Ruiz said something strange.
“Mr. Mercer.”
He looked.
Inside the coffin lay the remains of a child.
Daniel’s knees nearly gave out.
Ruiz stared at the forensic pathologist.
“How old?”
“Approximately six or seven.”
Daniel whispered, “Who is that?”
The pathologist leaned closer.
Then he froze.
“What?”
The man pointed toward the child’s left wrist.
There was a faded hospital band still attached.
Not Noah’s name.
A different name.
ETHAN BLAKE.
Ruiz pulled out her phone.
Thirty seconds later, she looked at Daniel.
“Ethan Blake disappeared from St. Catherine’s Hospital three years ago.”
Daniel felt the world tilt.
“How many children did Pike have access to?”
Ruiz didn’t answer.
Because her phone was ringing again.
This time, when she answered, her face went hard.
“What happened?”
Daniel asked.
May you like
Ruiz slowly lowered the phone.
“The DNA sample taken from Noah tonight is gone.”
