Chapter 9 - The Visitor My Mother Let In
I had never been so angry at my mother.
She sat opposite me in the hospital, twisting a tissue until it split into white threads.
"You told the police nobody came to the house," I said.
"I was frightened."
"Lily is missing because someone came to the house. I need the truth."
Elaine looked at the floor.
A man had arrived before Lily went to bed, claiming to be an old friend of Ben's.
He wore a military-style jacket and carried a sealed envelope addressed to me.
He knew the private nickname Ben used for Lily: Firefly.
Elaine let him into the foyer.
He asked to use the bathroom.
When he came out, he was holding Lily's rabbit and laughing about how children never throw anything away.
Elaine told him to put it down.
He did.
Then he left.
Two hours later Lily vanished.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I let him inside."
For a moment, I wanted to shout so loudly the windows shook.
Instead I asked her to describe his hands, shoes, voice, and posture.
She remembered a pale scar across his chin and a slight limp.
Ellison produced a photo array containing contractors who worked with Ben.
Elaine pointed to the fourth photograph without hesitation.
The man was Victor Sloane.
The supposedly deceased founder of Meridian Tactical Materials.
Dom leaned against the wall, studying the picture.
"We need to verify this independently," he told Ellison.
He was right.
A frightened witness could be mistaken, and a photograph could be outdated.
But the scar matched the blurred passenger in Mercer's vehicle.
I faced my mother again.
"If he calls, you tell Ellison first. Not me. And you do not meet him."
Elaine nodded.
Then she reached into her purse and handed me the envelope the visitor had left.
She had been too ashamed to mention it.
Inside was a photocopy of Ben's last handwritten note.
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At the bottom, in his unmistakable handwriting, were seven words: KATE, DO NOT TRUST THE OFFICIAL REPORT.
