CHAPTER 10: THE DETECTIVE'S SECRET
The gunshot echoed through the hidden chamber.
For several seconds...
Nobody understood what had happened.
The fallen guard lay motionless on the stone floor.
Smoke curled from the weapon in Detective Daniel Hayes' hand.
Marina screamed.
"Hayes!"
The detective didn't answer.
He stood completely still.
His expression was empty.
Not angry.
Not afraid.
Almost...
Broken.
Richard stared at him.
The man who had helped protect his family.
The man who had investigated the bombing.
The man who had seemed like the only person searching for the truth.
Now stood holding a gun.
"Why?"
Richard's voice was barely a whisper.
Hayes looked at the body on the floor.
"He wasn't a guard."
Richard frowned.
"What?"
Hayes slowly kicked away the fallen man's jacket.
A hidden device was attached beneath it.
Not a weapon.
A transmitter.
Everyone froze.
"He was sending everything we said to someone outside."
Marina looked confused.
"Then why did you shoot him?"
Hayes lowered the gun.
"Because he was about to activate it."
A small red light blinked on the device.
Everyone stared.
Hayes continued:
"That wasn't a communication system."
"It was a trigger."
Richard's eyes narrowed.
"For what?"
Hayes looked upward.
"The entire mansion."
A terrible silence followed.
The hidden chamber suddenly felt much smaller.
Richard stepped closer.
"Explain."
Hayes took a deep breath.
"I wasn't investigating the bombing."
Richard's face hardened.
"Then what were you doing?"
"Looking for survivors."
"Survivors of what?"
Hayes looked toward Luna.
"Of the Sterling project."
The little girl's expression changed.
She knew that name.
Richard noticed.
"You've heard of it."
Luna slowly nodded.
"My mother told me never to say that word."
"What project?"
Hayes looked at the walls covered with names.
"Your father wasn't just building ships."
"He was building something else."
Richard stared.
"My father was a businessman."
"No."
Hayes shook his head.
"He was a man who discovered a secret hidden inside his own company."
He pointed toward the photographs.
"Those children weren't chosen randomly."
"They were connected to something."
Richard's patience broke.
"Stop speaking in riddles."
Hayes looked directly at him.
"They were witnesses."
"Witnesses to what?"
"The disappearance of people inside Sterling Industries."
Richard felt the room spinning.
"Then why are you here?"
The detective remained silent.
Finally...
He removed his police badge.
Placed it on the ground.
"I joined the police because of my sister."
Nobody moved.
"My sister disappeared fifteen years ago."
Hayes looked at the names on the wall.
"Her name is on that list."
Richard's eyes followed his gaze.
Near the bottom...
A name written in faded ink.
EMILY HAYES
Detective Hayes swallowed.
"Your father tried to find her."
"Then why didn't he tell anyone?"
"Because he discovered the people responsible were protected by people in power."
Richard looked at Luna.
"And you knew all of this?"
The little girl shook her head.
"I only knew my mother was looking for someone."
"Who?"
She looked at Richard.
"You."
The answer stunned him.
"Me?"
"She said if anything happened..."
"...I had to find Mr. Sterling."
Richard stepped back.
"Why?"
Luna's eyes filled with tears.
"Because she said you were the only person who could stop them."
A sudden metallic sound interrupted them.
Everyone turned.
The old iron door behind them slowly opened.
Nobody touched it.
Nobody stood there.
Yet it opened.
Cold air rushed into the chamber.
And from the darkness beyond...
A voice spoke.
"Everyone has finally gathered."
Richard froze.
He knew that voice.
The same voice from the phone.
The Collector.
A figure stepped forward.
Gray suit.
Silver cane.
Calm smile.
The old man from the photographs.
The man who had been watching the Sterling family for years.
Edward Sterling's greatest enemy.
Or perhaps...
His greatest secret.
Richard raised his weapon.
"Who are you?"
The old man smiled.
"That depends."
"Are you asking who I am..."
"...or who your father believed I was?"
Nobody understood.
Except Mr. Collins.
The old butler suddenly dropped his head.
"No..."
The old man's eyes moved toward him.
"Hello, Collins."
The servant's face went pale.
Richard noticed.
"You know him."
Collins whispered:
"Yes."
"Who is he?"
The old butler closed his eyes.
Then said the name that changed everything.
"The first owner of Sterling Industries."
Richard stared.
"That's impossible."
Collins shook his head.
"Your grandfather didn't build the company."
"He stole it."
The old man's smile disappeared.
"And your family spent fifty years pretending the truth was buried."
He lifted his cane.
Inside the handle...
A hidden compartment opened.
A small photograph slid out.
He threw it toward Richard.
Richard caught it.
One glance was enough.
His entire world collapsed.
The photograph showed Edward Sterling.
Standing beside the old man.
And between them...
Was a little girl.
A little girl wearing a yellow dress.
The same dress Luna wore tonight.
On the back of the photograph were four words:
SHE WAS NEVER LOST.
Richard slowly looked at Luna.
Then at the old man.
And for the first time...
He wondered if the biggest mystery of the night...
May you like
Wasn't who wanted his family destroyed.
But who had spent years trying to bring them back together.
