Chapter 4 - Richard Denied Ethan Ever Survived
Detective Lena Ortiz asked Daniel not to confront Richard alone.
Daniel wanted to ignore her.
He didn’t.
By noon, Ortiz had confirmed that Anna Bell was exactly who Rachel said
she was.
Former college roommate.
Former best friend.
No criminal record.
For the last eight years, she had worked as an investigative paralegal
in Baltimore.
That explained the metal document box.
It did not explain the wall.
Anna was stable enough to speak that afternoon.
Rachel wanted to attend.
Anna refused.
Daniel went with Detective Ortiz.
“Is Ethan really alive?”
Anna looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
Daniel stared.
“You came into my house, involved my seven-year-old daughter, and
announced my wife has a living son. Start giving complete answers.”
Anna accepted the anger.
“Twelve years ago, Rachel’s father paid to make Ethan disappear.”
“Why?”
“Because Ethan was born with something Richard couldn’t control.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“An inheritance.”
Rachel’s maternal grandfather had created trusts for future
great-grandchildren.
Rachel never knew.
If she had a child, certain shares in a family manufacturing company
would eventually pass to that child.
Richard had spent years trying to consolidate those shares.
Ethan’s birth complicated that.
Daniel struggled to believe it.
“So he stole a baby for stock?”
“Not exactly.”
Anna explained that Richard had also discovered Lucas Grant came from a
family he despised.
There had been an old business feud.
Richard wanted Lucas gone and the child erased from Rachel’s life.
Anna had been at the clinic.
She saw Ethan alive after Rachel was taken into surgery.
She saw Richard speaking with a private adoption attorney.
The next morning, Anna confronted him.
Richard threatened her.
She went to police but had no documents proving a crime.
Then money disappeared from a family account.
Richard accused Anna.
Rachel believed him.
Anna left Virginia.
“Where did Ethan go?”
“A private adoption.”
“To who?”
“I found that eight years later.”
Anna looked toward Ortiz.
“A couple named Caroline and Mark Bennett.”
“Where are they?”
“Mark died. Caroline raised Ethan.”
“And Ethan knows?”
“Some of it.”
Daniel felt dizzy.
“How old is he?”
“Twelve.”
Rachel had a twelve-year-old son.
Maya had a half-brother.
“Why come back now?”
Anna’s face tightened.
“Because Caroline contacted me six months ago.”
“Why?”
“She found something in Mark’s papers after his death.”
“What?”
“Proof the adoption was arranged using falsified consent.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Rachel had never consented.
Anna continued.
“Caroline wanted to tell Rachel. She was terrified Ethan would be taken
from her.”
“That’s understandable.”
“I told her truth didn’t automatically mean someone would take him
away.”
“What happened?”
“Someone started following us.”
“Richard?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why hide in my house?”
“Because I was supposed to meet Rachel here.”
Daniel stared.
“Rachel knew?”
“No.”
Anna explained she had mailed Rachel a letter.
No return address.
Inside was a time, the photograph, and one sentence:
If you want to know what happened to Ethan, be in Maya’s room at
midnight.
Daniel’s skin prickled.
“Why Maya’s room?”
“Because the old passage has an exterior access point behind the garden
wall.”
“You knew that?”
“Richard did.”
Anna had found architectural plans in records tied to the property’s
previous owner.
She entered through the passage to avoid being seen.
But Rachel never came.
“I never got a letter,” Rachel said later.
Someone had intercepted it.
And someone else had entered the passage and threatened Anna.
Detective Ortiz visited Richard Hale that evening.
He denied everything.
He claimed Ethan died at birth.
He claimed Anna was unstable.
Then Ortiz asked for Ethan’s death certificate.
Richard produced one within minutes.
That seemed helpful.
May you like
Until the state vital-records office confirmed something disturbing.
The certificate number belonged to a different infant.
