Chapter 15 - The Fourth Star
Lily's fourth star pointed Nathan toward an unexpected ally.
Years earlier, Sarah had taught the child to draw a fourth star whenever someone named Iris was nearby.
Iris was a retired schoolteacher who lived in the same remote valley and had quietly provided food whenever Sarah was denied access to money.
Torres located Iris Bennett at a modest farmhouse and found her waiting with a packed suitcase.
Iris admitted she had known Marcus would eventually come looking for Lily.
She had spent years keeping records of suspicious deliveries, vehicles, and visitors to the Kane property.
Her notebooks named Lieutenant Bell, Douglas Whitcomb, and a private driver named Aaron Pike.
The fourth star meant Lily had seen Iris after being taken.
Iris had used a hidden access road to leave food and warn the child that help was coming.
But Marcus discovered her visits.
Iris believed Lily had since been moved to an old orchard house near the interstate.
Torres initiated surveillance rather than charging in blindly.
At the orchard, investigators saw a vehicle carrying crates of medical supplies.
The driver was Aaron Pike.
Records linked him to the burning at Evergreen Storage and to a service badge used at the hospital.
When officers stopped his vehicle, Pike offered to cooperate in exchange for protection.
He said he had never intended to hurt a child.
He had followed orders because Whitcomb held evidence of a past crime against him.
He named the place Marcus planned to transfer Lily at midnight.
Then Pike looked at Nathan and asked whether Sarah had told him the full truth.
Nathan answered that he had heard enough lies for a lifetime.
Pike shook his head.
'There's one person you've never suspected.'
May you like
He slid over a photograph showing Rosa entering Whitcomb's office five years earlier.
