Chapter 8 - INSIDE THE DEPARTMENT
Emily ran upstairs.
Ethan and Lucy were safe.
Sarah sat between them.
But someone inside the building had photographed them without permission.
Sergeant Collins locked the floor.
"No one leaves."
Emily hated suspecting cops.
She hated ignoring it more.
Access logs showed seven officers entered the family room corridor.
One was Captain Howard Bell.
Emily's supervisor.
Bell had approved the original accident closure on Daniel Grant's death.
He also signed off on Harbor's police-service contracts.
Emily confronted him.
Bell laughed.
"You think I joined a child-theft ring?"
"I think you had access."
"That's your evidence?"
"No."
She placed a bank statement on his desk.
A shell company connected to Harbor paid Bell's consulting LLC $120,000 over five years.
Bell's face hardened.
"Security training."
"Then explain why Judge Reed called you six times this morning."
Bell stood.
"You're suspended."
Collins stepped into the doorway.
"No, she's not."
Bell reached for his desk phone.
Emily saw his other hand move toward the drawer.
Gun.
"Hands!"
Bell stopped.
Three officers entered.
Bell was disarmed.
His phone contained the photograph of Ethan and Lucy.
He admitted warning Reed about police moves.
He claimed he never knew children were physically hidden.
Emily stared.
"You knew families were being broken with fake evidence."
Bell said nothing.
Again, a line someone tried to draw after profiting from everything before it.
Then Bell gave up Reed.
A farmhouse outside Franklin.
Police surrounded it.
Empty.
But they found Daniel Grant's briefcase under the floorboards.
Sarah recognized it.
Inside was his unfinished audit.
On the final page:
BELL IS PAID.
HALE CREATES DIAGNOSES.
RYAN MOVES CHILDREN.
REED SIGNS.
Then one more line:
THE MONEY ENDS WITH CATHERINE VALE.
Emily frowned.
"Who's Catherine Vale?"
Sarah looked confused.
"I don't know."
Collins did.
His face went pale.
"Catherine Vale is the chair of the Tennessee Children's Protection Foundation."
May you like
One of the most powerful child-welfare donors in the state.
And Emily's godmother.
