Chapter 6 - The House on Peachtree
Detective Brooks sent officers to every motel matching Anna's description.
Ryan wanted to go himself.
I grabbed his hand.
"You have a wife in labor and a mother who has been missing for twenty-six years. You cannot be everywhere at once."
His eyes were red.
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Choose the thing only you can do."
That was how Ryan and Jessica ended up driving to Thomas Carter's mansion with Detective Brooks while I stayed under observation.
Ryan called me from the driveway.
"Dad's here."
"And Margaret?"
"Her car is gone."
Thomas Carter opened the front door in a robe, looking twenty years older than he had at Thanksgiving.
"What is this?"
Ryan walked past him.
"Where's the red ledger?"
Thomas stopped.
That was answer enough.
"Ryan—"
"Where is it?"
Jessica pushed into the study and pulled the portrait from the wall.
Behind it was a small steel safe.
Thomas sat heavily in a chair.
"You don't understand what you're opening."
Ryan turned.
"My wife was pinned down today. My mother was locked away for twenty-six years. I'm done hearing that sentence."
Thomas gave Brooks the safe combination.
Inside were contracts, bank statements, and a red leather notebook.
Jessica opened it.
Payments appeared beside initials: M.C. and D.H.
Some dated back to the week Anna gave birth.
Others continued every month for twenty-six years.
Then Ryan found a newer entry.
Three weeks earlier.
A payment to Dr. Harlan.
Beside it Thomas had written:
EMILY - SAME PROTOCOL. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN.
Ryan looked at his father.
"You knew?"
Thomas began to cry.
"I found out too late."
Brooks asked, "Where is Dr. Harlan now?"
Thomas looked toward the dark window.
"If Margaret knows Anna contacted you, he's probably already moving her."
Ryan's phone rang.
It was one of the officers searching for Anna.
They had found her motel room.
May you like
Empty.
On the bed was a fresh syringe.
