Michael refused to use the front entrance, insisting that Bell would expect them to leave through the same route they entered. Behind the building was a narrow alley filled with trash containers and old delivery crates. Jason moved first, followed by Eleanor and Thomas, while Michael remained several steps behind.
When they reached the street, the black sedan was gone.
That frightened Michael more than if it had remained.
“He doesn't need to stay,” Michael said.
Jason looked back.
“Why?”
“Because now he knows where I am.”
They returned to the hotel before opening the notebook again. Michael insisted that no photographs be taken of the pages.
“Daniel believed digital copies could be traced,” he explained. “He trusted paper because paper doesn't announce where it has been.”
The first section of the notebook contained dates from more than twenty years earlier.
Daniel had recorded hospital admissions, newborn transfers, and discrepancies in medical files.
One entry stopped Eleanor cold.
A child's name had been erased from a hospital registry.
Beside it Daniel had written:
TRANSFERRED WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT.
Below that was another sentence.
BELL SIGNED THE AUTHORIZATION.
Jason looked at Michael.
“You knew this existed?”
“I knew Daniel was documenting it. I didn't know how much he had.”
Michael turned several pages.
Then they found the reference to Sophie.
Her name was not written directly.
Instead, Daniel had used a coded entry.
S.P.
Protected.
Jason felt his stomach tighten.
“Why would my father protect Sophie?”
Michael shook his head.
“That's what you have to find out.”
Thomas stared at the page.
“Could Sophie have been one of the children moved?”
“No,” Michael said. “Not necessarily. Daniel may have protected her because she was connected to someone else.”
Eleanor remembered Margaret's strange behavior. She remembered how Margaret had once looked at Sophie with an expression that seemed almost like recognition.
“What about Margaret?” Eleanor asked.
Michael's face became guarded.
“She knew more than she admitted.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“Then who does?”
Michael didn't answer immediately.
Finally, he said, “Richard Bell.”
The room fell silent.
Jason turned another page.
A handwritten note appeared in Daniel's handwriting.
MARGARET KNOWS ABOUT THE SECOND LEDGER.
Thomas leaned forward.
“Second ledger?”
Michael nodded.
“Daniel believed Bell kept two sets of records. One was designed to survive an audit. The other contained the real transactions.”
“Transactions?” Eleanor asked.
“Payments,” Michael replied. “Transfers. Favors. Names.”
Jason looked at him.
“And where is the second ledger?”
Michael pointed to the notebook.
“Daniel never wrote that down.”
A knock came at the hotel door.
Everyone froze.
Three knocks.
Then silence.
Jason slowly approached the door.
He looked through the peephole.
No one stood outside.
He waited.
Another knock came.
This time from the connecting room.
Thomas stepped backward.
“There are two doors.”
Jason opened the connecting door.
The hallway beyond was empty.
On the floor lay a brown envelope.
There was no name on it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Daniel.
Standing outside the hospital.
Beside him was Margaret Bell.
And behind them, partially hidden by a parked vehicle, stood Emily.
Eleanor stared at the photograph.
“Emily knew?”
Jason shook his head.
“We don't know that.”
Michael took the photograph.
“She may not have known what she was seeing.”
On the back, written in red ink, were six words.
ASK HER ABOUT THE NIGHT DANIEL DIED.
Jason immediately called Emily.
She answered on the fourth ring.
“Jason?”
“Where are you?”
There was a pause.
“At home.”
“Are you alone?”
Another pause.
“No.”
Jason's expression changed.
“Who is with you?”
Emily whispered a name.
“Margaret.”
The call ended.
Jason immediately stood.
“We're going back.”
Michael grabbed his coat.
“You can't.”
“My wife is with the woman who disappeared.”
“Exactly.”
Eleanor stepped between them.
“If Margaret came to Emily willingly, she may finally be ready to talk.”
Michael shook his head.
“Or she's being used.”
The hotel room phone rang.
Everyone looked at it.
Jason answered.
A man's voice said only one sentence.
“Daniel never died when you were told he did.”
The line went dead.
Michael closed his eyes.
Jason stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Michael slowly sat down.
“It means the story you were given about your father's death was false.”
Eleanor felt the weight of those words settle over the room.
For years, Daniel had been a dead man.
A memory.
A photograph.
A collection of unanswered questions.
Now, suddenly, even his death was uncertain.
Jason looked at the notebook.
Then at the photograph.
Then at Michael.
“Tell me everything.”
Michael nodded.
“But once I start, you won't be able to pretend this is only about your family.”
Jason answered quietly.
“It stopped being only about my family a long time ago.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: Emily opened the door before Jason could knock.
My Brother Accused Me Beside Our Father’s Coffin, but the Lawyer Arrived Carrying a Key Dad Had Hidden for Years
Part 10 of 15
