Chapter 9 - EVERYTHING I SIGNED
The house was no longer mine.
At least, not entirely.
Thomas Reed had prepared fraudulent transfer documents six months earlier.
My signature appeared on every page.
It looked real.
Because parts of it were.
Vanessa had slipped signature pages into a stack of legitimate insurance documents.
I had signed without reading closely.
The property had then been transferred to a private company.
That company belonged to another shell company.
And behind that company?
Michael Lane.
I felt like the world’s biggest idiot.
Hale didn’t let me stay there.
“These people are professionals.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“No. It’s supposed to stop you from blaming yourself long enough to think.”
Noah was drawing at a small table in the hotel room.
A house.
Two stick figures.
Me and him.
No Vanessa.
I noticed something strange in the corner.
A red box.
“What’s that?”
He covered the drawing.
“Nothing.”
“Noah?”
He hesitated.
“The room.”
“What room?”
“At the lake.”
I sat beside him.
“There was another room?”
He nodded.
“Behind the cabin.”
“What was inside?”
“I didn’t go in.”
“Why not?”
“Because Vanessa screamed when I got close.”
My pulse increased.
“Did you see anything?”
“A red door.”
Hale heard us.
“What cabin?”
Noah gave him everything he remembered.
Blue roof.
Broken wooden dock.
A metal deer decoration near the driveway.
Hale pulled property records.
Several cabins matched.
One had been purchased through the same shell company that now owned part of my house.
Police obtained a warrant.
We were moved again for safety.
This time to my mother’s house under police watch because Noah was becoming increasingly distressed by unfamiliar places.
Mom opened the door and wrapped him in her arms.
“My baby.”
Noah finally cried like a child instead of someone trying to be brave.
I walked outside.
I couldn’t let him see me fall apart.
Mom followed ten minutes later.
“You missed it,” she said.
I stared at her.
“What?”
“She tried to tell you.”
The words cut.
“When?”
“Christmas.”
I turned.
“What are you talking about?”
“Noah told me he didn’t like being alone with Vanessa.”
My mouth went dry.
“You never told me.”
“I asked him why. He wouldn’t say.”
“You should have told me!”
“I did!”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I told you Vanessa was too strict with him.”
“That is not the same thing!”
Her eyes filled.
“You said I never gave her a chance. You said I was comparing her to Rachel.”
The memory hit me.
She was right.
I had said that.
I stepped back.
God.
How many signs had I explained away?
Mom touched my arm.
“Daniel, she fooled all of us.”
“Not Noah.”
“No.”
That hurt the worst.
My phone rang.
Hale.
“We found the cabin.”
My heart stopped.
“And?”
“There’s a hidden room behind the rear wall.”
I gripped the phone.
“What’s inside?”
Silence.
“Hale?”
His voice lowered.
“Photographs.”
“Of what?”
“Families.”
I looked through the window at Noah.
“How many?”
“Daniel…”
“How many families?”
“At least nine.”
May you like
Then Hale said the sentence that changed the entire case.
“And you’re not the newest one.”
