Chapter 12 - THE BADGE IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Detective Ortiz did not react defensively.
That mattered.
A guilty person might have demanded to know which detective.
Ortiz simply took out a notepad.
“Ask her how she knows.”
I repeated the question.
Anna whispered, “Rebecca recognized him.”
“From where?”
“Bellhaven.”
Ortiz’s expression tightened.
“Name?”
Anna refused.
She said she would only tell me in person.
Ortiz wrote another note.
KEEP HER TALKING.
“Anna, Rebecca needs medical care.”
“She has care.”
“What kind?”
“I’m a nurse.”
My skin prickled.
“Where did you work?”
“Northbridge.”
Daniel looked up.
“Did you help keep Rebecca there?”
I asked.
Anna began crying again.
“At first.”
Lucy’s face hardened.
“At first?”
“She was listed as a protected patient with severe delusions.”
“You believed that?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Too long.”
“What changed?”
“She started telling me things she couldn’t possibly know if she was confused.”
“Like what?”
“She described my supervisor’s private conversations.”
“How?”
“She heard them through a vent.”
Daniel nodded slightly.
That sounded like something he understood.
Anna continued.
“She knew Vale moved patients when investigators were close.”
“She knew names.”
“Accounts.”
“She told me about Robert.”
“What did she say?”
“That he found her.”
“And?”
“That Vale let them meet because he wanted to know how much Robert had discovered.”
Dad’s visits to the rural property.
Maybe they were not secret rescues.
Maybe Vale knew.
Maybe he used Rebecca as bait.
Anna arranged a meeting.
Not with me alone.
Despite her request, I would not go without police.
Ortiz compromised.
I entered a quiet diner near the state border wearing no wire that Anna could see.
Officers remained outside.
Daniel and Lucy stayed at a secure location.
Anna arrived wearing a baseball cap and oversized jacket.
She looked about forty.
Exhausted.
She sat across from me.
“Where is Rebecca?”
“Safe.”
“I need more than that.”
“You’ll see her tonight.”
My throat tightened.
“Why not now?”
“Because I need to know whether the detective followed you.”
“Which detective?”
Anna took out a photograph.
She slid it across the table.
It showed a younger man outside Bellhaven.
Gavin stood in the background.
Kessler beside him.
In front was a uniformed police officer.
The face was familiar.
Detective Paul Harlan.
Ortiz’s partner on several interviews.
He had been inside our house the first night.
He had handled evidence from the basement.
He had attended meetings.
He had driven Daniel back from one appointment.
My stomach turned.
“How old is this?”
“Twenty years.”
“Harlan would have been barely twenty-five.”
“He worked private security before joining the department.”
“What did he do for Vale?”
“Transport.”
“Patients?”
“Sometimes.”
“Rebecca?”
Anna nodded.
I felt sick.
“Does Ortiz know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why didn’t you tell police directly?”
“Because Harlan called me after Rebecca disappeared from House Twelve.”
“How did he get your number?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
“That helping a confused patient flee was kidnapping.”
“Was it?”
“Rebecca walked out with me.”
“Where is she?”
Anna looked through the window.
Then at me.
“She’s afraid of everyone with a badge.”
I understood.
A badge had helped trap her before.
We left separately.
Ortiz listened to everything.
She did not defend Harlan.
She called internal affairs.
Harlan’s access was quietly suspended before he knew why.
Then they checked evidence logs.
Several items from Dad’s basement search had passed through Harlan’s custody.
One envelope disappeared.
No one noticed because the original search inventory listed it only as miscellaneous paper.
Security footage showed Harlan carrying it from the evidence room.
He never returned it.
By the time officers reached his home, Harlan was gone.
His department vehicle was abandoned near a highway.
A note lay on the seat.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT VALE OWNS.
Ortiz looked furious.
Not embarrassed.
Furious.
She had trusted him.
That evening, Anna gave us a location.
An old farmhouse owned by her aunt.
Police stayed far enough away not to frighten Rebecca.
Lucy went first.
I stood behind her.
Daniel chose to wait in the car.
Too many unknown people.
Too much emotion.
The farmhouse door opened.
Anna appeared.
Then a woman stepped into the hallway.
Red hair streaked with white.
Thin body.
Deep lines around her mouth.
A scar across her forehead.
Lucy stopped breathing.
The woman looked at her.
Her hand rose to her mouth.
“Lucy?”
My sister made a sound I had never heard from another human being.
Half sob.
Half gasp.
She ran forward.
Rebecca caught her.
They held each other in the doorway.
Nineteen years disappeared and did not disappear.
Nothing could return what was stolen.
But Rebecca was alive.
I stood ten feet away crying.
Then she saw me.
Her expression changed.
“Claire.”
I couldn’t move.
She released Lucy slowly.
“You’re beautiful.”
That sentence destroyed me.
I stepped forward.
She touched my cheek.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For letting them keep you.”
“You didn’t let them.”
“I should have fought harder.”
“You survived nineteen years.”
Her eyes filled.
“I tried to get back.”
“I know.”
“I wrote.”
“We found them.”
“All of them?”
“Hundreds.”
She laughed weakly.
“I wrote too much.”
“Not enough.”
Then Daniel entered.
He had changed his mind.
Rebecca saw him.
Her face softened.
“Daniel.”
He remained near the door.
She did not move toward him.
Good.
She understood.
He typed.
“You warned me.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
Rebecca smiled through tears.
“You heard the recording?”
“Yes.”
“Then Robert found it.”
“Police found it.”
Her smile vanished.
“Robert is really dead?”
We all went still.
Lucy looked at her.
“Mom.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“I knew.”
“You saw him at the hospital.”
“Yes.”
Monica was right.
Rebecca had been the red-haired woman.
Vale brought her there.
“He wanted Robert to stop investigating.”
“How?”
“By showing him I was alive.”
I felt cold.
“Why would that make Dad stop?”
“Vale said if Robert went to federal investigators, I would disappear permanently.”
“Dad still planned to go.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca’s eyes filled.
“He told Vale he would burn the whole system down.”
“What happened at the house that night?”
“I wasn’t there.”
“Then how did you reach the hospital?”
“Vale brought me later.”
“Why?”
“He wanted Robert to see what would happen if he spoke.”
“Dad was conscious?”
“Briefly.”
“What did he say?”
Rebecca looked at me.
“He apologized.”
“For what?”
“For not finding me sooner.”
She looked at Lucy.
“He told me Lucy was alive and strong.”
Then at Daniel.
“He said Daniel had evidence.”
Finally she looked at me.
“He said Claire knew nothing.”
I swallowed.
“What happened after Dad woke at 3:14?”
Rebecca’s hands began trembling.
“Vale told everyone to leave.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I hid behind the curtain.”
My heart pounded.
“You saw what happened.”
She nodded.
“Who was in the room?”
“Elaine.”
“Gavin.”
“Vale.”
“Anyone else?”
Rebecca looked away.
“Harlan.”
The corrupt detective.
He had been there before becoming involved in our current investigation.
Or perhaps he had been involved all along.
“What did they do to Dad?”
Rebecca’s voice broke.
“Gavin wanted to call a doctor.”
“Vale said no.”
“Elaine was crying.”
“Harlan stood by the door.”
“Then Robert opened his eyes again.”
“What did he say?”
“He said one word.”
“What word?”
“Recorder.”
My heart jumped.
“Dad knew something was recording?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened next?”
“Vale leaned over the bed.”
Rebecca stopped.
I waited.
She couldn’t continue.
Lucy took her hand.
Finally Rebecca whispered.
“The monitor alarmed.”
“Did anyone help him?”
“Gavin moved forward.”
“Vale stopped him.”
“How?”
“He told him it was already done.”
My throat closed.
“What was done?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Mom touch Dad?”
Rebecca nodded.
“When?”
“Before the alarm.”
“What did she do?”
“She kissed him.”
I felt confused.
“That’s all?”
“No.”
Rebecca’s face went pale.
“She whispered something.”
“What?”
“She said, ‘You should have left Claire with me.’”
I felt cold.
“Then?”
“Robert looked at her.”
“And?”
“He said, ‘She was never yours.’”
Mom’s motive.
My identity.
Rebecca’s survival.
Everything collided.
Rebecca said the room became chaotic.
Gavin argued with Vale.
Harlan dragged Rebecca out.
She never saw Dad again.
Vale moved her to another facility the next morning.
Years later, Anna helped her escape.
Ortiz asked the question I had almost forgotten.
“Why did Anna warn us that a detective worked for Vale?”
Rebecca looked at her.
“Because Harlan isn’t the only one.”
Ortiz stiffened.
“Who else?”
Rebecca reached into her bag.
She removed an old photograph.
Several law enforcement officers stood beside Vale at a charity event.
One face was circled.
I did not recognize him.
Ortiz did.
Her chair scraped backward.
“No.”
“Who is it?”
She stared at the photograph.
“My captain.”
Captain Aaron Doyle.
The man supervising the entire investigation.
The man who approved warrants.
The man who knew where witnesses were staying.
The man who knew Monica’s flight.
The man who knew Lucy’s hotel.
The man who knew every move we made.
Ortiz pulled out her phone.
Before she could call anyone, her phone rang.
Doyle.
She answered on speaker.
“Ortiz.”
His voice sounded calm.
“I need you to bring Rebecca Cole in.”
Ortiz looked at us.
“Why?”
“Protective custody.”
“Where?”
“Central headquarters.”
Rebecca began shaking her head violently.
Doyle continued.
“And Lena.”
“Yes?”
“Do not involve federal agents.”
Ortiz’s expression changed.
“Why not?”
A pause.
Then he said.
“Because this is a family matter.”
The same phrase Mom had used from the beginning.
Ortiz ended the call.
We all understood at once.
Captain Doyle knew Rebecca had been found.
May you like
But only six people knew our location.
And none of us had told him.
