Chapter 16 - TEN MINUTES
The meeting happened through glass.
Conrad sat in a wheelchair with his shoulder bandaged.
Ryan sat across from him beside Daniel.
"You look like Noah," Conrad said.
Ryan answered, "You look smaller than I thought."
Daniel almost smiled.
Conrad did not.
He slid a sealed letter through the evidence slot.
"I wrote that the night you were born."
Ryan opened the letter.
It was not an apology.
It was a plan.
Names of doctors.
Amounts paid.
Instructions to create Mara's death certificate.
A note to arrange Noah's disappearance.
And one sentence underlined twice:
Daniel must never know the child survived.
Ryan looked up.
"You were scared of him."
Conrad's eyes moved to Daniel.
"I was scared of what he'd choose."
Daniel stared.
"What?"
Conrad's voice was tired now.
"You always chose people over the family. Your mother admired it. I considered it weakness."
Ryan folded the letter.
"You were wrong."
Conrad looked at him.
"About what?"
"He chose us."
For the first time, Conrad had no answer.
As officers rolled him away, he turned back.
"Mara kept something from all of you."
Daniel's body tensed.
Conrad smiled faintly.
"Ask her why Ryan came to your house carrying a brick."
Outside, Daniel found Mara in the corridor.
"What did he mean?"
Mara closed her eyes.
Ryan stepped between them.
"I'll tell him."
He looked ashamed.
"The man following me wasn't Miles."
Daniel frowned.
"Who was it?"
Ryan swallowed.
"Mom told me to run if I saw him."
Mara whispered, "Ryan."
"No. They should know."
He looked at Claire.
"I hit Lily because I saw the SUV and thought he was getting out."
"Who?"
Ryan reached into his pocket and unfolded a photograph he had never shown them.
A man stood beside Mara outside a grocery store.
Claire recognized him first.
She stared at Daniel.
May you like
The man was Graham.
And according to Ryan, Graham had been following them for months.
