Chapter 11 - The Man With the Cane
Ethan had been three when Julia died.
Everyone had assumed he was too young to remember that night.
They were wrong.
At the child advocacy center, Ethan described a man coming to the house before Julia left.
"He smelled like smoke," Ethan said. "And he tapped the floor."
"With his cane?" the interviewer asked.
Ethan nodded.
"Mommy told him to get out."
Alexander watched behind one-way glass with Maria.
His hands stayed clenched the entire time.
Ethan continued.
"The man said Daddy would be next."
Alexander closed his eyes.
Maria reached for his arm, then stopped herself.
He noticed anyway.
"You can," he said quietly.
She touched his sleeve.
It was the first time he had looked less like a billionaire and more like a father barely holding himself together.
The interview gave police probable cause to reopen Julia's crash as a homicide investigation.
It also created a new problem.
Martin Sterling might be alive.
Owen found a trail through shell companies in Canada, Nevada, and the Cayman Islands.
One Nevada company had purchased a lake house outside Lake Geneva.
Two weeks earlier.
Paid cash.
Owner hidden.
Alexander wanted to go immediately.
Brooks refused.
"If Sterling is alive, we do this legally."
"He threatened my son."
"And if you walk into that house angry, he wins twice."
Alexander hated it.
But he listened.
The warrant came at 2:14 a.m.
The house was empty.
Yet the fireplace was warm.
On the kitchen table sat a single photograph.
Maria picked it up with gloved hands.
It showed Ethan leaving school three days earlier.
On the back, one sentence was written in block letters.
THE BOY REMEMBERS TOO MUCH.
Alexander turned toward Brooks.
"Double his security."
Owen's phone rang.
He answered, listened, and went pale.
"Sir... Ethan isn't at the safe house."
Alexander's face changed.
"What do you mean he isn't there?"
May you like
Owen swallowed.
"Mrs. Bell took him out the back door twenty minutes ago."
