Chapter 4 - Three Knocks, Two
Ben radioed for medical help and reached Nora at the landing. She was conscious again but shivering, her wrists marked red where tape had held them. She pushed his hand away when he checked for injuries.
"My son?"
"Safe outside with Officer Grant."
"Don't let Vale near his bag."
Ben looked up. The basement smelled of damp plaster and bleach; a disconnected extension cord lay by a folding chair. In one corner sat a portable filing case, empty except for a torn green tab.
"What happened here?" Ben asked.
Nora searched his uniform for a name. "Mercer. Can you listen without telling anyone else until you understand?"
"I'm listening."
"The county hired my engineering firm to test well water after children at Ash Creek School kept getting sick. My results were replaced. I made copies. Then someone started removing names from the enrollment records."
"Removing children?"
"Moving them on paper. Families weren't told. Three kids didn't come back after being referred to a county support program."
"Are they missing?"
"I know their parents are looking. I know the files say those children were transferred. And I know the transfer signatures are fake."
Ben felt the weight of each careful distinction. This was not a frightened person guessing at monsters. This was a person identifying what she could prove.
"Where are your copies?"
"Not here. Eli knows a game. Three knocks, two."
Ben heard movement above them: boots moving quickly across the kitchen.
"Vale?" he called.
No answer.
He escorted Nora upstairs. The back door stood open, admitting leaves. Vale was gone. On the counter, where Ben had seen the untouched glass, lay a small white card.
Stop looking for children who were never yours.
Nora saw it and stumbled. "They found my sister," she said.
"What sister?"
"The one I told everyone died twenty years ago."
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Outside, Eli's school backpack lay on the curb. Tessa stood beside it, staring down the street.
"He was right here," she said. "A woman pulled up and told him she was his aunt.
