Chapter 8 - THE RED PHONE
Father Ben was eighty, half deaf, and completely unsurprised to see two identical grown men standing in his church at midnight.
"I wondered which one of you would come first," he said.
Ryan stared. "You knew Owen was alive?"
The priest locked the door.
"Your mother knew for six months before she died."
Owen sat down hard.
Father Ben opened an old metal cabinet and removed a sealed envelope.
Inside was a letter written by their mother.
Ryan read aloud.
Your father took Owen. He staged the river accident because he wanted to punish me for leaving him. Victor helped him change the records. I found out too late.
Ryan's voice broke.
The letter continued.
If anything happens to me, do not trust Victor Shaw.
Owen covered his face.
"She knew."
"She was trying to bring you home," Father Ben said. "She died before she could."
Ryan remembered the car crash that killed his mother two weeks after his thirteenth birthday.
Victor had handled that case too.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Caroline.
RED PHONE IS IN VICTOR'S OFFICE. SAFE CODE 0412. DON'T TRUST THE CLOUD BACKUP.
Then another message arrived.
I'M SORRY.
Owen snorted. "Convenient."
Ryan looked at Lily, asleep against Emma on a church pew.
"She might be trying to help."
"Or sending us into another trap."
Father Ben handed Ryan a small brass key.
"Your mother left this too."
It opened a bank box Ryan had never known existed.
Before Ryan could ask more, headlights swept across the stained-glass windows.
Three vehicles stopped outside.
Father Ben's expression changed.
May you like
"They found you."
Then the church doors shook beneath the first blow.
