Chapter 6 - The Man at the Door
The police arrived first.
The hallway was empty.
No footprints.
No fingerprints.
No man.
But someone had left a package outside Hannah's door.
Inside was a Christmas ornament.
A tiny silver angel.
Hannah recognized it immediately.
It had belonged to her mother.
“How did they get this?”
Ethan stared at the ornament.
“Because someone knows your mother.”
Hannah's voice trembled.
“My mother is dead.”
“Dead people leave evidence.”
She looked at him.
“You really believe she was telling the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because someone is trying to stop us from finding out.”
Hannah looked down at Ellie.
Ethan noticed the baby was crying.
He reached out.
Hannah hesitated.
Then allowed him to take Ellie.
Ethan held her awkwardly.
Ellie immediately stopped crying.
He looked down at her.
Something inside him softened.
“She likes you.”
He whispered:
“Claire did too.”
Hannah's heart broke for him.
“You never got to say goodbye.”
“No.”
“Maybe that's why you're still angry.”
Ethan looked at her.
“I don't know how to stop.”
Hannah stepped closer.
“You don't have to stop loving her.”
His eyes filled.
“You sound like my mother.”
“She sounds wise.”
“She was.”
Silence.
Then Ellie touched Ethan's face.
He closed his eyes.
For a moment, the CEO disappeared.
There was only a grieving father holding a child.
Daniel entered.
“We found the person who left the package.”
Hannah stiffened.
“Who?”
“Former hospital employee.”
Ethan stood.
“Name?”
“Rachel Mercer.”
Hannah's face went white.
“My mother?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
He handed her a photograph.
It was another woman.
Same surname.
“Your mother's sister.”
Hannah stared.
“My aunt Linda?”
“She disappeared four years ago.”
Hannah couldn't speak.
Ethan looked at Daniel.
“Where is she?”
“That's the problem.”
Daniel showed them a surveillance photograph.
Linda Mercer was alive.
And she had recently entered the Whitmore headquarters.
Hannah's hands began shaking.
“She was there?”
“Last night.”
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
Daniel's answer came slowly.
“She was looking for something.”
“What?”
“A key.”
Ethan looked at Hannah.
The silver key.
Then at the ornament.
Everything was beginning to connect.
But there was one question left.
Why had Linda disappeared?
The answer came three hours later.
A security recording showed Linda entering the old executive archive.
She opened a locked cabinet.
Inside was a box labeled:
CLAIRE WHITMORE — PRIVATE.
She removed a cassette.
May you like
Then turned toward the camera.
And smiled.
