Chapter 4 - Nobody moved.The barn seemed to shrink around them.
Everett stared at the deputy.
“What did you say?”
The deputy looked around nervously.
“I said your daughter is alive.”
Claire stepped backward.
“No.”
The deputy nodded.
“Her body was never recovered.”
Everett remembered the funeral.
The closed casket.
The police report.
The official statement.
The insurance paperwork.
The grave.
He suddenly understood.
They had never actually seen Lily.
They had been shown a body.
But nobody had identified it properly.
Everett's voice became dangerously quiet.
“Who are you?”
“Deputy Samuel Price.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn't.”
Price lowered his gun.
“That's why we're out of time.”
He pulled out a photograph.
Lily stood beside an abandoned farmhouse.
She looked older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably alive.
The date on the photograph was six months ago.
Everett stared.
His eyes filled.
“She was alive six months ago?”
Price nodded.
“She contacted me once.”
“What happened?”
“I tried to protect her.”
Price looked away.
“Someone inside the department found out.”
Everett's jaw clenched.
“You're telling me the sheriff's department is compromised.”
“Yes.”
Claire whispered:
“Then why did you come here?”
“Because Victor found out about Junie.”
Everett stepped closer.
“How?”
Price stared at Junie.
“Someone gave him the original birth certificate.”
Claire's face went white.
“I destroyed it.”
“You destroyed the copy.”
Price reached into his jacket.
He pulled out a folder.
Inside was an original document.
Everett looked at it.
Mother: Lily Knox.
Father: Unknown.
Child: June Elizabeth Knox.
Everett looked up.
The world tilted.
“Knox?”
Price nodded.
“Lily listed Everett Knox as emergency guardian.”
Everett's breathing stopped.
She had planned to give him Junie.
But she never got the chance.
Claire whispered:
“She begged me to keep Junie away from him.”
Everett turned.
“Why?”
“Because Lily knew Victor believed the child was yours.”
“What?”
Claire shook her head.
“Victor thought you knew about his operation.”
Everett frowned.
“What does Junie have to do with me?”
Price answered.
“Everything.”
He opened a second folder.
Inside were bank records.
A list of names.
And one account number repeated more than thirty times.
Everett recognized the bank.
It belonged to an investment company.
One that had been established by his late business partner.
His father's closest friend.
A man Everett had trusted for twenty years.
The name was Richard Knox.
Everett's uncle.
His face went cold.
“Richard died three years ago.”
Price nodded.
“Officially.”
Claire whispered:
“Unofficially?”
Price looked toward the highway.
“He's the one paying Victor.”
Everett felt something inside him break.
His own family had funded the operation.
Then Junie pointed toward the folder.
“Mister Bear?”
Everett looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed at a photograph.
“That's the man who comes to Grandma's house.”
Claire froze.
“What man?”
“The man with the silver watch.”
Everett grabbed the photograph.
Richard Knox stood beside Victor Hale.
Alive.
Smiling.
And wearing the exact silver watch Junie had described.
Everett looked at Price.
“You knew?”
Price shook his head.
“Not until tonight.”
A gunshot cracked through the barn.
Price dropped.
Claire screamed.
Everett grabbed Junie.
A bullet punched through the wooden wall.
Another followed.
The shooter was outside.
Everett shouted:
“DOWN!”
He crawled toward Price.
The deputy was bleeding from his shoulder.
Claire grabbed his hand.
“Can you move?”
Price nodded.
Everett looked outside.
Three figures moved between the trees.
Then a voice called from the darkness.
“Everett!”
Victor Hale.
“You spent six years mourning your daughter.”
A pause.
“Tonight, you get to meet the woman who replaced her.”
Everett's blood ran cold.
Then Victor shouted:
May you like
“Come out, Knox.”
“Or we start with the child.”
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