Chapter 16 - The House with the Open Door
Darlene refused to rush blindly home.
She called the police and gave them the live security feed.
Blake directed her to remain in a secure location while officers cleared the penthouse.
The camera showed a figure walking through Thomas's study.
The person paused at a portrait and placed something on the desk.
Then the feed went black.
Officers found no intruder when they arrived.
They did find a small parcel wrapped in brown paper.
Inside was Thomas's wedding ring and a photograph of Darlene holding newborn Blake.
She had never seen the picture before.
Her hands shook as she turned it over.
FORGIVE ME WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND.
Thomas's handwriting.
The envelope also contained a key card for an old private clinic outside Oakridge.
Naomi warned that it could be a trap.
The detective agreed and obtained the appropriate authorization before approaching the site.
Blake wanted to be there, but Abigail had just asked him to stay through the night.
He chose his daughter.
Darlene saw the decision and understood what thirty-nine stolen years had cost them both.
“You'll get a report,” she said.
“You don't have to come to prove anything.”
At the clinic, investigators found a recently abandoned medical records office.
Its cabinets were stripped, but a server rack still held one encrypted backup drive.
A wall photograph showed Thomas Stanley beside Dr. Kessler, Leonard Cross, and Eleanor Voss.
Beneath them stood an engraved plaque: HALCYON INITIATIVE.
The investigators sealed the premises and transported the drive for analysis.
By morning, a forensic analyst had recovered one accessible directory.
It contained letters Thomas wrote to Darlene but never sent.
In one, he claimed he had hidden Blake because he feared someone would use the child as a research asset.
In another, written years later, he admitted he had allowed Kessler to continue the program.
The letters contradicted each other.
The final document was dated two weeks before Julian's failed takeover.
Thomas wrote that he intended to turn over the complete Aurora archive to a federal investigator.
A second note appeared below it.
Delivery aborted.
Recipient compromised.
Naomi looked up.
“Someone within the investigation may be working for Halcyon.”
At the hospital, Blake checked the names of everyone who had accessed Abigail's room.
One appeared on the list twice under different employee numbers.
May you like
The name belonged to the same investigator who had escorted Julian out of the boardroom.
