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Chapter 10 - What His Father Left Behind

By noon, police had a warrant for storage unit B-17.

Arthur stood beside Collins as the steel door rolled upward.

Dust floated through the narrow beam of fluorescent light.

At first, the unit looked ordinary: old furniture, sealed boxes, framed paintings, financial files from Arthur's father's business years.

Then Elena pointed to the back wall.

"That cabinet is newer than everything else."

She had come because Leo refused to let her out of his sight for more than twenty minutes. He was waiting in a police family room with a victim advocate only two buildings away.

Arthur unlocked the cabinet with the brass key.

Inside were six file boxes.

Each one carried a year.

The newest box had Victoria's handwriting on it.

Arthur opened it.

Bank statements.

Trust documents.

Copies of his signature.

Photographs of his passport.

A notebook containing passwords he had never written down.

"Identity package," Collins said. "They were building the ability to act as you."

Elena lifted another folder.

"What's this?"

Arthur read the label.

LEO — CONTINGENCY.

His hands went numb.

Inside were printed maps of three states, a forged birth certificate under another child's name, and a passport photograph of Leo taken without Arthur's knowledge.

There was also a prepaid phone.

Collins powered it on.

One message appeared on the lock screen.

FROM V: IF THE WALL FAILS, USE PLAN B. TAKE HIM NORTH.

Arthur gripped the cabinet so hard his knuckles whitened.

"She had a backup plan to take my son."

"Looks that way," Collins said.

Elena stared at the file boxes. "Why would Blake have the key?"

Arthur looked around the unit again.

Because Blake wasn't just a contractor.

He was their courier.

Collins opened another folder and pulled out photographs.

One showed Victoria meeting Pike at a restaurant.

Another showed Blake carrying a black duffel bag into the mansion.

A third showed someone Arthur didn't recognize.

A woman in hospital scrubs.

On the back, someone had written:

DR. NORA KENT — CERTIFICATE.

Collins's face changed.

"A death certificate requires medical certification."

Arthur stared at the photograph.

They had not only planned to hide Leo.

They had planned to prove he was dead.

Then the prepaid phone rang.

May you like

The caller ID displayed one word.

VICTORIA.

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