Chapter 6 - I couldn't sleep.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the drawing.
A red hoodie.
A little girl.
Vincent Kane.
And underneath them:
SHE WILL BRING HIM TO US.
Mom sat beside me in the safe room.
“Do you remember drawing it?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
I nodded.
She kissed my forehead.
Then she looked toward the closed door.
“Rory, whatever happens, you stay beside me.”
“Okay.”
She hesitated.
“I need to tell you something.”
Vincent entered before she could.
“Actually, you need to hear it from both of us.”
He placed a file on the table.
Inside were records about Daniel.
Marriage documents.
Bank statements.
Employment history.
And one document dated six years earlier.
A death certificate.
Vincent slid it toward Mom.
“Officially, your husband died in a car accident.”
“I know.”
“Unofficially, he disappeared.”
Mom's eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Vincent opened another file.
“His car was found.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
“His body was never recovered.”
Mom stared at him.
“I was told he was burned beyond recognition.”
“That's what Sterling told you.”
Mom's hands began to shake.
“He came to my hospital room.”
Vincent looked at her.
“What?”
“He told me Daniel had died.”
“When?”
“Two days after the accident.”
Vincent leaned back.
“Did you see the body?”
“No.”
“Did you see photographs?”
“No.”
“Did you sign anything?”
Mom nodded.
“One document.”
Vincent looked at me.
Then at her.
“Was it a settlement?”
Mom froze.
“Yes.”
“For how much?”
“Twenty-five thousand dollars.”
Vincent's expression hardened.
“And where did that money go?”
Mom looked confused.
“I used it for the funeral.”
“There was no funeral.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“There's no record of one.”
Mom stood.
“You're lying.”
Vincent didn't react.
“I'm not.”
She slammed the file shut.
“I buried my husband.”
“No.”
Vincent's voice was quiet.
“You buried an empty coffin.”
The room went silent.
Mom stared at him.
Then she whispered:
“Why?”
Vincent pushed another document forward.
A transfer.
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
From a Sterling account.
To a company called Kane Security International.
Mom looked up.
Vincent's expression didn't change.
“My company.”
Her face went white.
“You paid yourself?”
“No.”
“Then why does your name appear?”
Vincent looked at the document for several seconds.
“I don't know.”
For the first time, he looked genuinely disturbed.
He called one of his men.
“Pull every financial record from six years ago.”
The guard nodded.
Mom sat down.
“I thought you knew everything.”
“I usually do.”
A pause.
“Someone used my company.”
Then his phone buzzed.
A message.
CHECK THE BASEMENT.
Vincent looked toward the door.
“What basement?”
The guard answered:
“The old Carter property has one.”
Mom stared at him.
“Our old house was sold.”
“Not according to county records.”
“What?”
Vincent opened the tablet.
The property was still owned by Daniel Carter.
Mom's voice became barely audible.
“I signed the sale papers.”
“To whom?”
She looked at the screen.
Her face drained.
“David Sterling.”
Vincent stood.
“Get the cars.”
Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the abandoned house where Mom had lived with Daniel before he died.
The windows were boarded.
The garden was overgrown.
The place looked dead.
Vincent opened the front door.
Inside, dust covered everything.
Mom stepped forward.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“This was our kitchen.”
Vincent walked toward the hallway.
“Basement?”
Mom nodded.
He opened the door.
The stairs descended into darkness.
A guard went first.
Then another.
Then Vincent.
I held Mom's hand.
We reached the bottom.
There was an old wooden shelf.
Vincent moved it.
Behind it was a steel door.
He pulled it open.
Inside was a room.
A desk.
A chair.
A wall covered in photographs.
And seventy-seven folders.
Mom stepped forward.
Folder number one.
Folder number two.
All the way to seventy-seven.
Vincent opened folder number one.
It contained an employee file.
Then folder number twenty.
Then forty.
All Sterling employees.
At folder seventy-seven, Vincent stopped.
He opened it.
Inside was one photograph.
Me.
Sleeping.
May you like
In my own bedroom.
Mom screamed.
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