Chapter 6 - THE LISTThe ledger contained forty-seven names.
Children.
Most were between two and six years old.
Beside each name was a date and a number.
Some had handwritten notes.
Delivered.
Rejected.
Transferred.
Family secured.
Daniel felt sick reading it.
Then he found something worse.
Seven names had been crossed out in red.
The first six had no explanation.
The seventh was Eli Ward.
Under his name was a note.
RECOVERED.
Lena stared at the page.
“Someone expected him to disappear again.”
They traced the ledger to an office supply company.
The paper had been purchased six months earlier by a private security firm.
Blackridge Protective Services.
The owner was Adrian Voss.
A wealthy businessman with contracts at hospitals, schools, and private residential facilities.
The problem was that Voss had no criminal record.
None.
Not even a traffic citation.
He had lawyers who made paperwork disappear.
Companies that owned other companies.
And enough money to make questions uncomfortable.
Daniel sat across from Voss that afternoon.
Voss looked calm.
“You believe I'm involved in child trafficking?”
“I believe your company bought the paper used in a trafficking ledger.”
“That is a very different statement.”
“Your employees had access to the Mercer property.”
“My company secures hundreds of properties.”
“Did you know Noah Ward?”
Voss smiled faintly.
“Who?”
Daniel slid the child's photograph across the table.
Voss glanced at it.
Nothing.
Then, for the first time, his expression shifted.
Only slightly.
“You know him.”
“No.”
“You recognized him.”
“I recognize many people.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Where is Aaron Mercer?”
“I have no idea.”
“Where is Elena Ward?”
Voss's eyes hardened.
Daniel noticed.
“That's an interesting reaction.”
“She died.”
“You're certain?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how do you know?”
Silence.
Lena entered the room.
“Daniel.”
She handed him a phone.
“We have something.”
A former Blackridge employee had agreed to speak anonymously.
He claimed the company had been hired to transport children from an unauthorized facility.
“Who ran it?”
“I never knew the name.”
“What did he look like?”
“Tall. Gray hair. Expensive watch.”
“Adrian Voss?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
The employee hesitated.
“He called himself the Director.”
Daniel's phone buzzed.
A message.
No sender.
Only a photograph.
It showed Eli asleep in the hospital.
Taken that morning.
The message underneath contained six words.
STOP LOOKING FOR THE BOY'S MOTHER.
Daniel stared.
Then another message appeared.
SHE'S ALREADY DEAD.
He looked toward the interrogation room.
May you like
Voss was still sitting there.
Smiling.
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