I SPENT 3 YEARS IN PRISON FOR A CRIME I NEVER COMMITTED. WHEN I RETURNED HOME, MY STEPMOTHER SAID MY FATHER WAS DEAD AND THREW ME OUT. THEN A CEMETERY GUARD REVEALED THE SECRET MY FATHER HAD LEFT BEHIND…

Evelyn called an old colleague at the Pennsylvania State Police, but she refused to reveal our location until she could verify that he wasn't connected to Reed. I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at Silas's notebook.

The phrase the chairman wants to speak to his son kept repeating in my head.

“Could Julian Cross be my father?” I finally asked.

Evelyn shook her head.

“Camden's records are clear. You were his biological son. But there may be another connection.”

“What kind of connection?”

“Years ago, Cross and Camden were business partners. They founded a small investment firm together before Camden bought him out. Their relationship ended over a disputed acquisition.”

“So Cross wants revenge?”

“Possibly. But revenge doesn't explain a forged will, a missing body, and a man being held in a private facility.”

At dawn, Evelyn received a call from an unknown number.

She answered cautiously.

A woman's voice came through the speaker.

“My name is Mara Ellis. I worked at Bellweather until last year. I understand you're looking for Camden Dennis.”

Evelyn glanced at me.

“Who gave you this number?”

“Someone who doesn't want another innocent person to disappear. I know what they did to him, and I know where the medical records are hidden.”

“Why should we believe you?”

“Because I was the nurse who changed his medication.”

I stood up.

“What?”

The woman heard me.

“My orders came from Dr. Cross. They told me Mr. Dennis was suffering from severe anxiety and needed sedation. But when I reviewed his chart, I discovered the medication wasn't prescribed for his condition.”

“What did it do?”

“It made him confused, weakened his memory, and left him unable to make decisions consistently. He could speak, but he struggled to stay awake long enough to finish a sentence.”

My stomach tightened.

“Why didn't you report it?”

“I tried. The next morning, my supervisor accused me of stealing medication. I lost my license, and the police threatened to charge me. I kept quiet because I was afraid.”

“Where are you now?” Evelyn asked.

“An apartment near the old railway station. I'll meet you there, but you must come alone.”

She gave us an address and disconnected.

Three hours later, Evelyn and I stood outside a tiny apartment above a closed bakery. Mara opened the door with a baseball bat in her hand.

She was in her early forties, with tired eyes and a trembling jaw.

“Show me proof you're really Finnley Dennis.”

I showed her the photograph from the hospital.

She lowered the bat.

“You look like him.”

“Was my father alive when you worked there?”

“Yes. His real name wasn't on the hospital register. They called him Charles Dawson. He was transferred to Bellweather after Briarwood closed.”

“Why keep him alive?”

Mara hesitated.

“Because he refused to sign a document transferring his shares to Northstar Meridian. They wanted his signature, but he kept insisting the company belonged to you.”

She went to a drawer and removed a small paper envelope.

Inside was a photograph of Camden sitting beside a hospital window. On its back, somebody had written a date from the previous week.

“He gave me this,” Mara said. “He told me to find you if he ever stopped asking for his son.”

I had to turn away.

For three years, I'd imagined my father dying alone, believing I was a criminal. Now I understood that he had spent those same years fighting to keep me from losing everything.

Mara handed me a folded floor plan.

“Bellweather has two entrances. The front is guarded around the clock. The records room is in the old basement wing, which is supposedly sealed.”

“Supposedly?”

“There's a service tunnel beneath the east staircase. It connects to the old laundry room.”

Evelyn studied the plan.

“We can enter through there.”

Mara nodded, then caught my arm.

“There's something else. When I left Bellweather, I overheard Dr. Cross speaking to Reagan.”

“What did they say?”

Mara's voice shook.

“They weren't just keeping your father sedated. They were waiting for him to die.”

I stared at her.

“Why?”

“Because if he dies before the final sale, the transfer becomes easier to defend in court. But if he survives long enough to challenge the documents, everything falls apart.”