Chapter 13 - The First Child

Dr. Kent gave her statement from a hospital bed.

"Two years ago," she said, "Graham asked me questions about emergency death certification for minors. I thought it was estate planning."

Collins sat beside the bed. Arthur and Elena listened from across the room.

"Did he mention Leo?"

"Not then. He mentioned a girl named Sophie Mercer."

Arthur frowned. "I know that name."

He searched his memory.

Then it hit him.

Sophie Mercer was the daughter of a former Bennett Foundation trustee. She had vanished during a family vacation eighteen months earlier.

The case had never been solved.

"Her father died three months after she disappeared," Arthur said. "Heart attack."

Dr. Kent nodded weakly. "Graham handled the estate."

Collins's expression became grim.

They pulled the Mercer estate records.

The pattern was almost identical.

Missing child.

Emergency guardianship petition.

Trust assets redirected.

A charitable foundation created afterward.

And one of its early directors had been Victoria Bennett.

Arthur stared at the screen.

"She learned this from Graham."

"Or helped him refine it," Collins said.

Back at the station, Victoria refused to speak without counsel.

Pike had already hired separate representation and was blaming everything on her.

Blake claimed he had only built a "panic room."

But the hidden-room camera changed that.

The memory card Elena saved contained eleven hours of footage.

Most of it showed Leo alone, crying, sleeping, and calling for his father.

Then, at 9:14 p.m., Victoria entered.

Arthur watched from behind the glass in the evidence room.

Victoria crouched in front of Leo.

"Your dad chose his company over you," she told him on the recording. "If you want him to come back, you have to say exactly what Uncle Graham wrote."

Leo shook his head.

Victoria grabbed his chin.

Arthur turned away.

Elena put a hand on his arm.

"You don't have to watch every second."

"Yes, I do. He lived every second."

The footage continued.

Near midnight, Pike appeared.

He placed a folder beside Victoria.

"Once Arthur signs the emergency authority, we move the boy," he said.

Victoria asked, "And if he refuses?"

Pike looked directly toward the camera.

"Then we use the Mercer solution."

Collins stopped the video.

Nobody spoke.

May you like

She Tried to Kill a Disabled Woman at a Billionaire’s Pool Party—But One...

She had already lost her leg. Now, they were trying to take her life.At a luxury mansion filled with millionaires, a terrified you...

THEY DECLARED HER DEAD—THEN ORDERED HER CREMATED WHILE SHE WAS STILL ALI...

They were about to burn her alive.Her death certificate had already been signed. Her body was scheduled for immediate cremation. A...

She Pushed a Pregnant Woman in a Wheelchair Into the Pool—Then Her Husba...

She was pregnant. She was in a wheelchair. And the woman standing behind her was smiling.Seconds later, one brutal shove sent her...

Because for the first time, they had evidence linking Graham Pike to another missing child.

And Sophie Mercer had never been found.