Chapter 5 - The Missing Father
The photograph changed the investigation.
Marcus showed it to Emily.
She stared.
"I don't know that man."
"Look carefully."
Emily studied the image.
Then her face went pale.
"Wait."
"Who?"
"My father's business partner."
"Name?"
"Jonathan Pierce."
Marcus frowned.
"Pierce?"
Emily nodded.
"Harold Pierce's brother."
Everything suddenly became complicated.
Jonathan Pierce had disappeared six months before Daniel Walker died.
Officially, he had left the country.
But Marcus discovered something else.
Jonathan had never boarded a plane.
He had vanished.
His passport had been used.
But airport cameras showed another man.
Someone had stolen his identity.
Marcus tracked Jonathan's financial records.
Nothing.
Then he found a storage unit.
Inside were boxes of medical research.
Documents.
Contracts.
And a handwritten notebook.
The first page said:
"Daniel discovered the patent was being stolen."
Marcus read faster.
Jonathan had discovered that several executives were secretly selling pieces of Daniel's research.
Daniel planned to expose them.
Before he could, he died.
The official cause had been a heart attack.
But the autopsy had been rushed.
Jonathan had suspected murder.
Then he disappeared.
Marcus looked at the final entry.
"Emily and the children are next."
His blood ran cold.
He called Elena.
"Get the children into secure protection."
But the warning came too late.
Sophie had disappeared from the hospital.
The room was empty.
The window was open.
Her blanket was on the floor.
Noah was still in the pediatric ward.
Marcus felt his stomach drop.
"Find her."
Security footage showed a woman entering.
Not Melissa.
A nurse.
The nurse carried Sophie out through a service corridor.
Marcus froze the hospital.
Police sealed every exit.
Then Sophie was found in an ambulance bay.
She was hiding beneath a parked vehicle.
A nurse was unconscious nearby.
Sophie had escaped.
Marcus crouched beside her.
"Sweetheart, what happened?"
Sophie was shaking.
"She came for me."
"Who?"
"The nurse."
"What did she say?"
"She said Aunt Melissa sent her."
Marcus stared.
"Did she hurt you?"
Sophie shook her head.
"She tried to make me go."
"How did you get away?"
Sophie held up a small plastic card.
"I took this."
It was an access badge.
Marcus looked at the name.
"Dr. Paul Grant."
Not a nurse.
A hospital administrator.
Someone had given him access.
The conspiracy was bigger than anyone imagined.
And now there was one person who might know everything.
Jonathan Pierce.
The missing man.
Marcus found him two days later.
Alive.
Living under another name.
Jonathan agreed to return.
When he saw Emily, he cried.
"I'm sorry."
Emily stared.
"You knew?"
"I knew they were coming for you."
"Then why did you disappear?"
"Because they killed Daniel."
Emily froze.
"Who?"
May you like
Jonathan looked at Marcus.
"Harold."
