Chapter 10 - ETHAN’S PLANEthan called for a nurse, but the overnight staff assumed the tracker alert was part of a game.
He called Richard.
No answer.
He called again.
Richard had fallen asleep in a chair outside Ruth’s temporary hotel room after spending hours with attorneys.
On the fourth call, he answered.
“Ethan?”
“Mia is gone.”
Richard stood immediately.
“What happened?”
“Captain Orion says she’s near the library, but then the signal stopped. She wouldn’t leave him.”
Richard contacted Sharon Bell and the Cambridge police.
Officers reached the foster home and discovered Mia’s empty room.
The Pages were horrified.
They had heard nothing.
Security footage showed Mia leaving voluntarily. A second camera captured the black sedan, but its license plate was concealed.
Richard sent the image to his investigators.
They identified Rebecca Vale within six minutes.
Ruth listened from the hotel doorway.
“You said you would keep her safe.”
Richard took the accusation without defending himself.
“I’m going to bring her home.”
Ruth grabbed her coat.
“I’m coming.”
At the same time, Rebecca’s sedan entered an underground garage beneath an abandoned publishing building.
Mia was taken to a room containing dusty shelves, broken furniture, and a single metal table.
Rebecca removed Mia’s backpack.
“Where is the robot?”
“I dropped it.”
Rebecca slapped the table, making Mia jump.
“Angela hid a recording inside that toy.”
“I don’t know about recordings.”
“You activated one tonight.”
Mia said nothing.
Rebecca crouched in front of her.
“I loved Ethan. I cared for him every day after the accident.”
“Then why did you leave?”
“Because Richard blamed everyone except himself.”
“He doesn’t blame everyone.”
“He will.”
Rebecca unzipped the backpack.
“Your mother and Natalie were foolish women. They believed truth mattered more than survival.”
“My mom wasn’t foolish.”
“She left you with nothing.”
“She left me Grandma.”
Rebecca’s mouth tightened.
“She also left the notebook.”
Mia looked toward the boarded windows.
Rebecca noticed.
“You cannot escape.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me where it is.”
“I don’t know.”
Rebecca placed Angela’s photograph on the table.
“Victor Shaw may spend the rest of his life in prison because of one mistake. But he is not the only person who benefited from MedAxis.”
“You did.”
Rebecca smiled faintly.
“I invested money. I followed instructions. I kept Ethan’s schedules predictable.”
“You let someone hurt his mom.”
“I did not know they planned to kill her.”
It was the same excuse Colin had given.
Adults who helped terrible people always claimed they misunderstood the final step.
Mia remembered Angela saying that wrongdoing rarely began with a monster. It began with ordinary people agreeing not to ask questions.
Rebecca leaned closer.
“Where did Angela teach you to read?”
Mia’s face betrayed her before she could stop it.
“The library,” Rebecca said.
She stood and called someone.
“She knows.”
Richard and Ruth reached the East Boston Community Library before dawn.
The building was closed, but police opened it after Richard explained the recording.
The children’s section smelled of paper, dust, and old carpet.
Ruth remembered the book immediately.
“The Rabbit Who Repaired the Stars.”
They searched the shelves.
The book was missing.
A librarian arrived and checked the digital records.
Angela Carter had donated a replacement copy three weeks before her death. The book had never circulated.
“It may be in archives,” the librarian said.
They found it inside a storage box marked MEMORIAL DONATIONS.
Ruth opened the cover.
Angela had hollowed a space beneath the binding.
It was empty.
A handwritten note remained.
MIA KNOWS THE REAL HIDING PLACE.
Ruth covered her mouth.
“She made Mia the key.”
Richard looked at the note.
“Would Angela tell a five-year-old where she hid dangerous evidence?”
“Not directly.”
Ruth sat among the storage boxes.
“She used stories. Songs. Games.”
“What did she teach Mia here?”
“Letters. Numbers. How to find books.”
Ruth closed her eyes.
“She made Mia memorize the library call number for that rabbit book.”
“Why?”
“She said every important story has an address.”
The librarian searched the number.
J398.2 C278.
Richard’s investigator entered it into property databases, storage facilities, bank accounts, and company archives.
Nothing appeared.
Ruth stared at the digits.
“C278.”
Her expression changed.
“Carter family cemetery plot.”
Richard looked at her.
“Angela bought a burial plot?”
“After Mia’s father died. She said she wanted to be buried beside him.”
Angela’s grave stood in a small cemetery outside Chelsea.
Police arrived with search dogs and ground-scanning equipment.
They did not disturb the grave.
A metal detector located a sealed container beneath the stone bench beside it.
Inside were the original red notebook, MedAxis test reports, photographs, and an encrypted drive.
Richard held the evidence his wife and Angela had died protecting.
His phone rang.
Rebecca’s voice came through.
“You found it.”
Richard motioned for investigators to trace the call.
“Where is Mia?”
“Safe for the moment.”
“Let me speak to her.”
Mia’s voice appeared in the background.
“Don’t give her the notebook!”
Rebecca pulled the phone away.
“You have one hour. Bring the notebook to the Harrison Foundation gala venue. Come alone.”
“The gala was canceled.”
“The building is still prepared.”
“If you hurt her—”
“You will do what every rich father does when someone finally names the correct price.”
The call ended.
Ruth seized Richard’s arm.
“You cannot give them the original.”
“We’ll make a copy.”
“They’ll test it.”
Richard looked at the red notebook.
He would surrender his company, his money, and every building carrying his name.
But Angela’s evidence might protect hundreds of children.
Rebecca had forced him to choose between one life and many.
Then Ethan called again.
“Dad, I know where Mia is.”
Richard stared at the phone.
“How?”
“Captain Orion was under a car. Someone found him.”
“Who?”
“A boy sent me a picture through the tracker app. There’s a reflection on the robot.”
The image showed Captain Orion in a stranger’s hand.
In the toy’s silver chest plate, the black sedan could be seen entering a garage.
Above the entrance was a faded sign.
SHAW EDUCATIONAL PRESS.
Victor Shaw’s abandoned publishing building.
Rebecca’s gala instructions were a trap.
Mia was somewhere else.
May you like
For the first time since the nightmare began, Richard smiled.
Victor and Rebecca had underestimated Ethan too.
Related Stories
