Chapter 6 - THE LIST
Ramirez called immediately.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Police reached his house before sunset. The door was unlocked, the television still playing, but Aaron and Noah were gone.
On the kitchen counter lay a Hearth brochure.
FAMILY RESET WEEKEND.
Ramirez called the number.
Disconnected.
We searched the binder.
Each family had a sequence of coded steps.
OBSERVE.
INTRODUCE.
ATTACH.
ISOLATE.
TRANSFER.
Michael's file had stopped at TRANSFER.
Mine was marked ISOLATE.
Aaron's was marked TRANSFER — 09/28.
Tomorrow.
I felt sick.
"What happens at transfer?" I asked.
Ramirez looked at Vanessa through the interview-room glass.
"She's going to tell us."
Vanessa had stopped pretending innocence.
But she still refused to speak without a lawyer.
When her attorney arrived, Ramirez placed Aaron's photograph on the table.
"A child is missing."
Vanessa looked away.
"If something happens to Noah, that silence becomes part of what happens next."
Her attorney whispered to her.
Vanessa shook her head.
Then I saw something I had not expected.
Fear.
Not for herself.
For Owen.
"My brother doesn't hurt children," she said.
Ramirez leaned forward.
"He surveils them, manipulates them, and arranges false placements."
"That's not what Hearth was supposed to become."
The room went still.
"What was it supposed to be?" Ramirez asked.
Vanessa closed her eyes.
"Research."
My stomach turned.
"Research on what?"
"Attachment after parental loss."
"Using hidden cameras?"
"At first, families consented."
"Did I?"
"No."
"Did Michael?"
"No."
Vanessa's attorney tried to stop her.
She kept talking.
"Owen became obsessed with proving that young children could be redirected from a deceased parent to a new caregiver if the surviving parent reinforced the transition."
"You used my daughter to test a theory?"
Vanessa looked at me.
"I was supposed to help her attach."
"You locked her in a laundry room."
"That was not part of the protocol."
The word protocol made my hands shake.
Ramirez asked, "Where is Aaron Bell?"
Vanessa swallowed.
Then whispered an address.
A farmhouse in upstate New York.
Before police could move, her phone began ringing inside the evidence bag.
May you like
Caller ID:
OWEN.
