Chapter 7 - THE NAME ON THE RECORD
We returned to the family house before sunrise.
The police were already there.
I almost relaxed.
Then I noticed who was standing beside the sheriff.
Victor Kane.
He smiled.
"Michael."
I stopped.
"You."
Sheriff Miller stepped forward.
"Mr. Bennett, I need you to come with us."
"For what?"
"We have evidence connecting you to an armed incident."
Vanessa whispered:
"Run."
I didn't.
"Where are my parents?"
Miller avoided my eyes.
"Your parents are safe."
"Where?"
No answer.
Kane stepped closer.
"You should come peacefully."
I looked at him.
"You've been looking for the archive."
He smiled.
"You've been reading too much."
Then he whispered:
"Your father taught you one thing well."
"What?"
"Never trust the person standing closest to you."
I looked at Sheriff Miller.
Then Vanessa.
Then Kane.
Someone was lying.
Maybe everyone.
Suddenly my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I answered.
My mother's voice came through.
"Michael."
"Mom!"
"Don't trust the sheriff."
The line went dead.
I looked at Miller.
He saw my expression.
Then he reached for his gun.
Vanessa grabbed my shoulder.
"Now!"
We ran.
Miller shouted.
The police opened fire.
We escaped through the back entrance.
Minutes later, we were hiding in a frozen drainage tunnel.
I called the number back.
Disconnected.
Vanessa looked at me.
"Your mom?"
"Yes."
"She's alive."
I nodded.
"Where?"
"I don't know."
We needed evidence.
The brass key.
The drive.
The letter.
I remembered the safe.
My childhood bedroom.
Vanessa's room.
We returned after dark.
The house was empty.
The bedroom looked untouched.
I searched the walls.
Nothing.
Then I noticed the floor.
One plank was newer than the others.
I pried it up.
A steel safe was hidden beneath it.
The brass key opened it.
Inside were dozens of files.
At the top was a folder labeled:
BENNETT FAMILY — INTERNAL
I opened it.
The first page was about me.
My birth.
My school.
My childhood.
Then a page dated fourteen years ago.
It said:
SUBJECT MICHAEL BENNETT — THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME
I stared.
"Why would I be a threat?"
Vanessa looked over my shoulder.
Then she froze.
"What?"
She pointed to a line.
Michael witnessed the original exchange.
I shook my head.
"I was eighteen."
"You were there."
"No."
Vanessa whispered:
"Think."
And suddenly I remembered.
A winter night.
A black car.
My father arguing with someone outside the garage.
I had been eighteen.
I had seen Victor Kane.
But there was another man.
Someone standing behind him.
Someone whose face I couldn't remember.
I turned the page.
The name was blacked out.
Only two letters remained.
D.R.
Vanessa's face drained of color.
"Who is D.R.?"
She didn't answer.
"Vanessa."
She looked at me.
Then whispered:
"Our mother."
I stared at her.
"What?"
"Her maiden name."
"That's impossible."
Vanessa shook her head.
"No."
She pointed to another document.
Our mother's maiden name was Diane Ross.
D.R.
I felt the room tilt.
"Mom?"
May you like
Vanessa whispered:
"She was the one who betrayed Dad."
