Chapter 8 - THE DEAD BOY’S NAME
By sunrise, the mansion was a crime scene.
The DNA vial had vanished between the ambulance and the police lab.
Ruiz was furious.
“Only four people touched the evidence.”
Daniel said, “Then one of them works for Celeste.”
“Or Andrew.”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
He hadn’t slept.
Noah was curled up on a couch in Daniel’s office, finally asleep.
Hannah sat beside him.
Daniel watched her cover Noah with a blanket.
“You care about him.”
Hannah looked up.
“I spent six years wondering whether he was cold.”
Daniel had no answer to that.
Ruiz entered.
“We got Ethan Blake’s file.”
She placed a photograph on the desk.
A smiling six-year-old boy.
Brown hair.
Missing front tooth.
Daniel felt sick.
“What happened to him?”
“Appendicitis. Routine surgery at St. Catherine’s.”
Daniel already knew the rest.
“He died.”
“Yes.”
“Same week as Noah?”
“Same night.”
Silence.
Daniel stared at the photo.
“So Pike switched them.”
Ruiz nodded.
“Ethan’s body became Noah Mercer.”
“And Noah became?”
“A child who officially didn’t exist.”
Hannah whispered, “Oh God.”
Ruiz continued.
“Ethan’s mother was told a paperwork error delayed release of his remains. She was eventually given ashes.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Whose?”
“We don’t know.”
Noah stirred.
His eyes opened.
“Dad?”
Daniel went to him.
“I’m here.”
Noah looked at Ruiz.
“Is she nice?”
Ruiz raised an eyebrow.
“Depends who you ask.”
Noah almost smiled.
Then he noticed Ethan’s picture.
His smile vanished.
“I know him.”
Every adult in the room froze.
Daniel crouched.
“Noah, how?”
The boy pointed at the photograph.
“He was in the room next to me.”
Ruiz moved closer.
“When?”
“A long time ago.”
“At the hospital?”
Noah nodded.
“He was crying because he wanted his mom.”
Daniel couldn’t breathe.
“Was he alive?”
Noah looked confused.
“Yes.”
Ruiz and Daniel exchanged a glance.
If Noah’s memory was accurate, Ethan hadn’t died during surgery.
“What happened to him?”
Noah shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Try to remember.”
“A doctor came.”
“Pike?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Noah squeezed his eyes shut.
“Uncle Andrew.”
Daniel stiffened.
Noah whispered, “He told the nurse they only needed one dead boy.”
Daniel stood so fast the chair behind him fell over.
Ruiz said, “That recording. We need everything on it.”
Noah gave her the device.
She connected it to Daniel’s computer.
More than two hundred files appeared.
Most were short.
Voices.
Doors.
Arguments.
Names.
Dates.
Ruiz clicked a file recorded only forty-eight hours earlier.
Andrew’s voice filled the office.
“Grant has moved the money.”
Celeste answered.
“How much?”
“All of it.”
“Daniel will notice.”
“Not before the board vote.”
“What about the boy?”
A pause.
Then Andrew said:
“He’s not the only witness left.”
Celeste’s voice dropped.
“Who else?”
Andrew answered with two words.
“Hannah Cole.”
Hannah went pale.
Then the office window shattered.
May you like
Daniel threw himself over Noah.
A bullet slammed into the wall exactly where Hannah had been sitting.
