CHAPTER 7 — THE OLD PHOTOGRAPH
The phone slipped slightly in my hand.
I stared at the wall.
I heard Ethan breathing on the other end.
Then I finally asked the question that had been forming in my mind.
"Are you absolutely sure?"
"About the bodies?"
"Yes."
"I'm standing at the warehouse right now."
My stomach tightened.
"You went there?"
"I had to."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't know who else was listening."
That sentence silenced me.
Ethan continued.
"Ryan, I need you to understand something. This isn't a normal crime scene."
"What did you find?"
"Three vehicles."
"Three?"
"One belonged to Daniel."
"Claire's?"
"Yes."
"And the third?"
A pause.
"Registered to a company connected to your family."
I closed my eyes.
"Which company?"
"Carver Holdings."
My father's company.
"Is Richard there?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"I checked."
"Then where is he?"
"I don't know."
I looked toward the kitchen.
Vanessa was standing beside Lily.
She had her arms wrapped around my daughter.
For the first time, she looked less like my enemy and more like someone who was completely terrified.
Ethan said:
"Ryan, don't come here."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Good."
"What did you find?"
"Daniel was shot."
My jaw tightened.
"And Claire?"
"Same."
"Same weapon?"
"We're waiting on the forensic report."
"Anything else?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"Someone removed their fingerprints."
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"They were wearing gloves."
"Professional."
"Very."
I looked at the USB drive.
BIRTH.
"Did you find any files?"
"One."
"What?"
"A photograph."
"Of whom?"
"Your father."
I froze.
"Where?"
"In Daniel's hand."
"What kind of photograph?"
"You need to see it yourself."
"I can't come."
"I know."
"I'm sending you a copy."
A few seconds later, an image appeared.
I opened it.
My breath stopped.
It showed my father standing in front of an old brick building.
Beside him was a woman.
Emily.
She looked younger.
Healthy.
And pregnant.
But that wasn't what made my hands shake.
There was someone else in the photograph.
A man standing behind them.
My uncle.
Richard.
I zoomed in.
Richard was holding a folder.
And on the folder was the same symbol I'd seen in the basement.
A circle.
Three lines.
I turned toward Vanessa.
"Do you recognize this?"
She looked at the screen.
Her face went pale.
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"The Carter Foundation."
I frowned.
"My father's foundation?"
"Yes."
"What did it do?"
"I thought it was charity."
"So did I."
Vanessa shook her head.
"It wasn't."
"What was it?"
She looked toward Lily.
"It was created to help families with children who had... unusual circumstances."
"Define unusual."
"Missing children."
My chest tightened.
"What does that have to do with Emily?"
"Everything."
I opened the photograph again.
"Look at Emily."
Vanessa did.
"She was pregnant."
"Yes."
"Why was she with my father and Richard?"
"I don't know."
"She must have been involved."
"Maybe."
I zoomed in.
There was a sign behind them.
I could barely read it.
CARTER FAMILY RESEARCH CENTER
I searched the name.
Nothing.
I tried old newspaper archives.
Nothing.
I looked at the photograph's metadata.
The original file had been scanned from a physical photograph.
The date was printed on the back.
March 17, 2018.
I stared at it.
That was six months before Lily was born.
But Emily hadn't been pregnant with Lily yet.
According to her medical records, Lily had been conceived later.
I looked at Vanessa.
"Was Emily pregnant before Lily?"
"I don't know."
"Did she have another child?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Then why is she pregnant here?"
Vanessa didn't answer.
I opened the birth records.
Emily had one pregnancy.
One birth.
Lily.
But the photograph suggested otherwise.
Unless...
I stopped.
"What if Lily wasn't conceived when we thought?"
Vanessa looked at me.
"What do you mean?"
"What if the pregnancy in this photograph was Lily?"
She shook her head.
"The dates don't match."
"Exactly."
I looked at the image again.
"Then who was Emily carrying?"
Vanessa whispered:
"Another baby."
My heart sank.
I picked up the black USB.
"Let's see what's on this."
I connected it to my laptop.
A password screen appeared.
I tried Lily's birthday.
Wrong.
Emily's.
Wrong.
My birthday.
Wrong.
My father's.
Wrong.
I tried the word Carver.
Wrong.
Vanessa watched silently.
"Try the symbol."
I typed it.
Nothing.
Then I remembered something.
The pendant.
I pulled it from my pocket.
The engraved numbers.
I entered them.
The screen unlocked.
A single folder appeared.
PROJECT ECHO
I opened it.
There were 47 files.
Most were audio recordings.
The first file was dated four years ago.
I clicked.
A man's voice filled the room.
My father's voice.
I froze.
"Ryan, if you're hearing this, then something has happened to Emily."
I couldn't move.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
My father's recording continued.
"I need you to understand that the accident was not an accident."
I stared at the screen.
"I discovered a program operating inside the Carter Foundation."
A pause.
"They call it Project Echo."
My heart pounded.
"It involves children."
The recording crackled.
"Children whose identities can be altered."
Vanessa whispered:
"Oh God."
My father's voice continued.
"Birth records can be changed. Medical histories can be rewritten. Families can be separated. Money can be redirected."
I looked at Lily.
My daughter was coloring on the floor.
Completely unaware.
My father's voice became quieter.
"I tried to stop them."
A pause.
"Richard found out."
I froze.
"He confronted me."
Another pause.
"I thought I had more time."
The recording ended.
I immediately opened the second file.
My father's voice returned.
"If Emily is missing, do not trust the police immediately."
I stared.
"Some of them are involved."
Vanessa looked at me.
My father continued:
"Find Miriam Hale."
I remembered the name.
"The woman who controls the Carter Family Trust."
The recording stopped.
I opened the third file.
This time, Emily's voice.
I hadn't heard it in four years.
My knees nearly gave out.
"Ryan..."
Her voice sounded weak.
But it was unmistakably hers.
"If you're listening to this, I'm sorry."
I covered my mouth.
"I didn't know who else to trust."
She took a breath.
"I found out that Richard was using the foundation to move children between families."
My heart broke.
"At first, I thought it was about money."
A pause.
"Then I discovered the babies."
My eyes moved toward Lily.
"They weren't always replacing children."
Emily's voice trembled.
"Sometimes they were replacing identities."
I stopped the recording.
Vanessa whispered:
"Ryan."
I couldn't answer.
I restarted it.
Emily continued.
"Your father found evidence that Richard had arranged a series of illegal transfers."
A pause.
"One of the babies disappeared."
My chest tightened.
"Her name was Anna."
I looked at Lily.
The name.
The same name Vanessa had heard during Lily's missing week.
Anna.
Emily continued:
"Anna was supposed to be transferred to another family."
"But someone stopped the transfer."
"The baby disappeared."
I looked at Vanessa.
"Who?"
She shook her head.
The recording continued.
"Your father believed Anna was still alive."
I felt a chill.
"She was hidden inside the foundation's private records."
"Richard wanted to find her."
"Because Anna was the key to exposing everything."
The recording ended.
I stared at the laptop.
My mind was racing.
Anna.
Lily.
The missing week.
The altered birth certificate.
The trust.
The money.
Everything was suddenly connected.
But one question remained.
Who was Anna?
I opened the next file.
It contained an audio recording of my father and another man.
I recognized the second voice.
Richard.
"You can't do this."
My father's voice was furious.
"I already did."
"You'll destroy the family."
"You destroyed it when you started selling children."
A long silence.
Then Richard said:
"You're forgetting who owns the hospital."
My father's voice dropped.
"I know exactly what you own."
"Then you know what happens if you interfere."
"You'll kill me?"
"No."
Richard laughed.
"I'll make Ryan believe Emily betrayed him."
My blood went cold.
The recording ended.
I looked at Vanessa.
"Richard planned to make me hate Emily."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because if you believed she abandoned you, you'd stop looking."
"And Lily?"
Vanessa swallowed.
"She was leverage."
I looked at the laptop.
Then another file caught my eye.
SUBJECT A — FINAL IDENTIFICATION
I clicked.
A medical report opened.
Patient:
ANNA M.
Date of birth:
October 3.
I stopped breathing.
October 3.
Lily's birthday.
I looked at Vanessa.
"What's her full name?"
Vanessa didn't answer.
I scrolled.
Mother:
Unknown.
Father:
Unknown.
Biological status:
Pending verification.
Location:
Saint Mary's Neurological Recovery Unit.
I stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
"Lily."
Vanessa grabbed my arm.
"Ryan."
I looked at her.
"That's Lily."
"We don't know that."
"October 3."
"Lots of children are born October 3."
"Not at the same hospital."
She shook her head.
"Ryan..."
"What?"
"Look at the next line."
I looked.
SUBJECT A — DNA SAMPLE MATCHED TO EMILY CARTER.
My heart stopped.
Lily's DNA matched Emily.
So she was her biological daughter.
The baby wasn't switched.
Then why was she called Anna?
I opened another file.
SUBJECT A — ORIGINAL IDENTIFICATION
There was a photograph.
A newborn baby.
A tiny red birthmark on her left shoulder.
I looked at Lily.
She had that birthmark.
I'd seen it hundreds of times.
I suddenly felt dizzy.
Then the report showed another line.
Official identity: Lily Emily Carter.
Original designation: Anna M.
I stared at the screen.
Someone had changed her identity.
Not because she wasn't my daughter.
Because someone wanted to hide who she was.
I read further.
Reason for identity modification: Protective transfer.
Authorized by: Thomas Carter.
My father's name.
I couldn't breathe.
My father had changed Lily's identity before she was even old enough to understand her own name.
But why?
Then I saw the next line.
Subject contains biological evidence related to Project Echo.
I whispered:
"What evidence?"
Vanessa leaned closer.
The answer was in the final document.
Bloodline marker.
I looked at her.
"What is that?"
"I don't know."
I clicked.
A genetic report appeared.
There was a sequence of letters and numbers.
And beneath it:
Marker associated with hereditary neurological condition.
My heart sank.
"What does that mean?"
Vanessa shook her head.
"I don't know."
I read the next paragraph.
The marker is shared by Thomas Carter and Richard Carter.
I froze.
My father.
My uncle.
And Lily.
The report continued.
Subject A represents a direct genetic link between the Carter brothers and the original research population.
I couldn't understand.
Research population?
Children?
What had my family been doing?
I scrolled again.
There was one final note.
If Project Echo becomes public, the Carter family will lose control of the foundation, hospital, trust, and associated assets.
Then another line:
Subject A must remain under observation until age five.
Age five.
Lily was four.
I stared at the date.
Her fifth birthday was less than a year away.
Then I understood.
They hadn't been hurting her randomly.
They had been watching her.
Testing her.
Waiting.
And the date September 14 suddenly mattered.
I opened the calendar.
September 14.
Exactly three weeks away.
I looked at Vanessa.
"What happens on September 14?"
She whispered:
"The transfer."
"What transfer?"
"Children are moved."
"Where?"
"Different facilities."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
I pointed at the report.
"Lily."
Vanessa nodded.
"Yes."
"They're planning to transfer her."
"Yes."
"To where?"
She looked at me.
"Northstar's private research facility."
I felt rage rise through me.
"No."
Vanessa stepped closer.
"You can't stop them alone."
"I won't be alone."
"Who will help you?"
I looked at the screen.
My father's recording.
Emily's voice.
Miriam Hale.
Ethan.
Daniel.
Claire.
I realized something.
Everyone who had tried to expose Project Echo had either disappeared or died.
My father.
Emily.
Daniel.
Claire.
Maybe even Miriam.
And now they were coming for Lily.
I closed the laptop.
"We find Miriam."
Vanessa nodded.
"How?"
"The trust."
"What about it?"
"She's still the trustee."
"She may be dead."
"Then we find out."
I called Ethan.
He answered immediately.
"Ryan?"
"I know what Project Echo is."
Silence.
"What?"
"I found files."
"Where?"
"At my house."
"Don't open anything else."
"Why?"
"Because I just got the forensic report."
"What did it say?"
"The fingerprints on Daniel's body don't belong to Daniel."
I frowned.
"Whose?"
Ethan took a breath.
"Richard Carter."
My blood went cold.
"Richard killed Daniel?"
"No."
"What?"
"The prints were planted."
"By who?"
"I don't know."
"Then why—"
"Ryan, there's something else."
"What?"
"The man in the black car."
My heart stopped.
"What about him?"
"We found his vehicle."
"Where?"
"Outside your house."
I looked toward the window.
My blood turned cold.
"What?"
"It's gone now."
"Then how—"
"Because we found the driver."
I stared at the window.
"Who?"
Ethan's voice became very quiet.
"Your uncle."
I couldn't speak.
"Richard Carter is alive."
"I know."
"No, Ryan."
A pause.
"We found him."
"Where?"
"He's standing outside Saint Mary's."
My heart stopped.
"With whom?"
Ethan hesitated.
"Emily."
I dropped the phone.
For four years, I had dreamed of seeing my wife again.
Now that the moment had finally come...
I was terrified.
Because Emily wasn't alone.
May you like
She was standing beside Richard Carter.
And she was holding a gun.
