Chapter 7: The Name on the Missing Page
Detective Brooks called me at 7:12 the following morning.
“Mr. Bennett, I need you to come to the station. Bring anything you received from that unknown sender, and don't contact your brother.””
“Did you identify the person who sent the email?””
“Not yet. But we've found something you need to see.””
I arrived forty minutes later carrying a printed copy of the mysterious document. Brooks met me in the lobby and led me to the same interview room where Vanessa had admitted giving Daniel access to her tablet.
A thick folder lay on the table.
“Before we discuss the document,” Brooks said, “I want to establish something. Have you contacted Daniel since yesterday?””
“No.””
“Has he contacted you?””
“No.””
“Good. We have officers attempting to locate him.””
He opened the folder and slid a photograph toward me.
It showed my father standing outside a hospital entrance six years before his death. Beside him was a woman in a dark coat, holding a manila envelope.
I recognized my father immediately.
The woman took me longer.
Then my stomach tightened.
“That's Eleanor Price.””
Brooks nodded.
“Who is she?””
“She was my father's attorney. She handled his estate.””
“Is she still alive?””
“As far as I know.””
“Do you know whether she was at the hospital when Lily was born?””
I stared at the photograph.
“I don't know. Why?””
“Because the name on the missing page is Eleanor Price.””
I sat back.
My father's attorney had somehow become connected to the hospital incident that had haunted Danielle for eight years. The same woman had also handled my father's estate, which Daniel and I had fought over after his death.
“What did she do?”” I asked.
“We don't know yet. We're trying to verify the document's authenticity and determine who sent it.””
Brooks tapped the folder.
“The original hospital records indicate the identification error was corrected before discharge. However, the page you've received suggests someone requested additional confidentiality measures. That doesn't automatically mean there was wrongdoing. We need the full record.””
“Can you contact the hospital?””
“We have.””
I looked at the photograph again.
“Why would my father be there?””
“That's what I'd like you to help us establish.””
I thought back to the day Lily was born.
My father had arrived late, wearing his old brown overcoat and carrying a bouquet of white roses. He'd hugged me, asked how Danielle was doing, and then disappeared down the corridor.
I'd assumed he'd gone to speak with the doctors.
When he returned, he seemed unusually quiet.
I'd asked whether everything was all right.
He'd patted my shoulder.
“Some things are better left to people who know what they're doing, son.””
At the time, I'd thought he meant the medical staff.
Now I wasn't sure.
“I remember him leaving the maternity ward,” I said.
“He was gone for about twenty minutes.””
“Did he say where he was going?””
“No.””
“Did he speak to Eleanor Price that day?””
“I don't know.””
Brooks wrote something down.
“Do you have any records from your father's estate?””
“Some. Daniel handled most of the paperwork.””
“Why did he handle it?””
“Because I was working. He said he'd take care of everything.””
“And you trusted him?””
I gave a humorless laugh.
“Until we started fighting over the inheritance.””
Brooks closed the folder.
“I'd like you to review the estate documents you still have. Look for payments involving the hospital, Eleanor Price, or any account you don't recognize. Don't interpret the records yourself. Just identify anything unusual and let us examine it.””
I nodded.
Before leaving, I asked the question that had been tormenting me.
“Do you think Lily's birth has something to do with her death?””
Brooks took a moment to answer.
“Right now, we have evidence of threatening messages, unauthorized account access, and possible attempts to conceal information. We have not established that the hospital incident caused or contributed to Lily's death. We must keep those questions separate until the evidence connects them.””
His caution was reasonable.
It didn't make the uncertainty any easier to bear.
That afternoon, I returned to my father's old house.
The property had been sold after his death, but I still had several boxes of documents in my garage. Danielle had insisted I keep them because she believed family records might be important one day.
I'd never bothered to organize them.
Now I opened every box.
There were tax returns, insurance policies, old photographs, and letters written in my father's cramped handwriting. Near the bottom of the second box, I found a black binder marked *ESTATE—FINAL ACCOUNTS*.
Inside were dozens of invoices.
One caught my attention immediately.
*Eleanor Price Legal Services — Special Disbursement.*
The amount was $84,000.
The payment had been made two weeks after Lily's birth.
I checked the attached accounting sheet. It listed a transfer from my father's private investment account to an account managed by Eleanor Price's firm.
The description read:
*CONFIDENTIAL FAMILY MATTER.*
I photographed the pages and sent them to Brooks.
Then I continued searching.
Behind the binder was a sealed envelope with my name written on it.
My father's handwriting.
I sat on the garage floor and opened it.
Mark,
If you are reading this, then Daniel has probably found something he believes he cannot forgive me for.
I made decisions when you and your brother were young that I thought would protect this family. I now understand that protecting a family and hiding the truth are not the same thing.
If Daniel ever asks you about the hospital, do not assume he understands what happened. He has been carrying a suspicion for years, and suspicion has become a kind of truth to him.
Speak to Eleanor before you make any accusations.
Your father.
I read the letter three times.
My father had known Daniel was suspicious about the hospital incident. He'd anticipated that the question might return after his death.
But he'd never explained what he'd done.
I called Eleanor Price's office.
Her assistant told me she was unavailable.
I left a message and waited.
At 5:40 p.m., she called back.
“Mark,” she said, her voice formal and controlled.
“I received your message.””
“I found a payment in my father's estate records. Eighty-four thousand dollars, marked as a confidential family matter.””
Silence.
“I'd like to understand what it was for.””
“Those records are confidential.””
“I'm his son and a beneficiary of the estate.””
“That does not give you unrestricted access to every matter your father entrusted to me.””
“Was the payment connected to Lily's birth?””
Another silence.
Then Eleanor said, “You should not be asking me questions about that over the telephone.””
“Then meet me.””
“I don't think that's advisable.””
“Ms. Price, my daughter is dead. Someone used her illness to threaten my wife and send cruel messages to my child.
My brother is missing, and an old hospital record has appeared in my email. I need answers.””
Her voice softened slightly.
“I'm sorry about Lily.””
“Then help me.””
“I can't discuss privileged matters without understanding precisely what you have received and whether other parties are involved.””
“Was my father paying someone to keep a secret?””
“I did not say that.””
“You didn't deny it.””
“Mark, listen carefully. Your father loved you and Daniel. Whatever mistakes he made, he believed he was protecting both of you.””
“From what?””
She took a slow breath.
“Meet me tomorrow morning. Bring the documents you found. And come alone.””
Before I could ask anything else, she hung up.
I called Brooks immediately.
He instructed me not to attend the meeting alone or confront Eleanor without coordinating with the investigation. He also asked me to send the original estate documents for examination.
I agreed.
That evening, I sat in Lily's bedroom for the first time since her funeral.
Her stuffed animals were lined up on the bed. A small lamp shaped like a moon stood beside a stack of picture books. On the wall hung a drawing of our family beneath a rainbow.
I picked up her favorite book.
A folded piece of paper slipped from between the pages.
It was a note written in Lily's handwriting.
Daddy, when you come home, can we make pancakes? Mommy says you make the best ones.
I pressed the paper against my chest.
I had made pancakes with her only a handful of times. She liked too much syrup and always insisted on breaking the eggs herself, even though she dropped pieces of shell into the bowl.
I'd promised to teach her how to flip them without making a mess.
I had never kept that promise.
My phone vibrated.
A message from Detective Brooks appeared.
*We've identified the sender of the anonymous email. The account was accessed using credentials associated with Eleanor Price's former office assistant. We're attempting to contact her.*
A second message arrived seconds later.
*We also located Daniel's vehicle outside a storage facility. Officers are on their way.*
I stood up so quickly the book fell to the floor.
Then my phone rang.
It was Brooks.
“We've found your brother,” he said.
“Where is he?””
“At the storage facility. He's alive, but he has a tablet in his possession that appears to match the device registered to Vanessa Cole.””
My throat tightened.
“Has he admitted sending the messages?””
“Not yet.””
“Then what has he admitted?””
Brooks paused.
“He says he knows why your father paid Eleanor Price eighty-four thousand dollars.””
“What was the money for?””
“He won't tell us until he speaks to you.””
I looked around Lily's bedroom.
The moon lamp cast a soft glow over her empty bed.
For eight years, I had believed my family was ordinary, even when we were hurting each other.
Now I understood how little I'd known.
“Tell him I'll come,” I said.
Brooks's voice sharpened.
“No. You will not meet him without us. Whatever your brother wants to say, he'll say it through the proper process.””
I agreed, though my heart was pounding.
Then Brooks added one final sentence.
“Mark, your brother says the money wasn't paid to hide a mistake at the hospital.””
I gripped the phone.
“Then what was it paid to hide?””
May you like
His answer made the room seem suddenly colder.
“According to Daniel, your father paid Eleanor Price to keep the truth about Lily's biological father out of the public record.””
