Daniel searched his pockets twice.
Nothing.
“I had it.”
The detective looked at him.
“When did you last see it?”
“Here.”
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
She turned toward the officers.
“Lock down the floor.”
My mind went immediately to Emily.
Someone had been close enough to take the key.
Close enough to hear us talking.
Close enough to know what we were planning.
I pulled Emily closer.
“Did you see anyone?”
She shook her head.
“Think carefully.”
“I was looking at the picture.”
“What picture?”
“The bird.”
She pointed toward the table.
The photograph was still there.
I picked it up.
There was something strange about the edge.
A faint smear.
Blue ink.
Daniel noticed it.
“That wasn't there before.”
The detective examined it.
“Could be anything.”
Emily touched the corner.
“That's from the clinic.”
“How do you know?”
“They used blue gloves.”
Dr. Harris looked at her.
“Mercer used blue nitrile gloves.”
Emily nodded.
“He always wore them.”
I felt sick.
“Always?”
“Yes.”
The detective placed the photograph into an evidence bag.
“Tell me about the clinic.”
Emily hesitated.
“It had two floors.”
Daniel nodded.
“Correct.”
“There was a front desk.”
“Yes.”
“A room with toys.”
“Yes.”
“And downstairs there was a long hallway.”
Daniel's face tightened.
“What else?”
“A red door.”
“There was no red door.”
Emily shook her head.
“There was.”
Daniel stared at her.
“I never saw it.”
“You weren't allowed downstairs.”
“I went downstairs.”
“Not all the way.”
Daniel looked at Dr. Harris.
The doctor said nothing.
Emily continued.
“The red door had a number.”
“Which number?”
She frowned.
“I can't remember.”
Then she touched her temple.
“Wait.”
The room became silent.
“Two.”
She paused.
“One.”
“Twenty-one?” the detective asked.
Emily shook her head.
“Two hundred fourteen.”
Daniel whispered, “Room 214.”
The detective looked at him.
“So the room exists.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Below the old clinic.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Because I never found it.”
The detective frowned.
“You had a key.”
“To the building.”
“Not the room.”
Dr. Harris spoke.
“The lower level was never on the official floor plan.”
I looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because Mercer showed me once.”
Daniel stared.
“You've been there?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before I knew what he was doing.”
“What did you see?”
“Storage.”
“Anything else?”
“Children's files.”
The detective immediately reached for her phone.
“We need a warrant.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You don't have time.”
“You're not going without one.”
“Mercer is already there.”
The detective looked at him.
“How do you know?”
Daniel pointed to the blue smear.
“He took the key because he needs access.”
The detective considered him.
Then her phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
“Repeat that.”
She listened.
“Are you certain?”
A pause.
“Send me the location.”
She hung up.
“Mercer's car has been found.”
“Where?”
“Three miles from the clinic.”
Daniel stood.
“He left it there.”
The detective nodded.
“Exactly.”
We went in two police vehicles.
Emily remained at the hospital with a nurse.
I hated leaving her.
But she caught my hand before I left.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“Bring back the names.”
I didn't understand.
“What names?”
“The children.”
I promised.
The clinic looked abandoned.
The paint had peeled from the front doors. Weeds pushed through cracks in the pavement. One window was broken.
Daniel unlocked the front entrance.
Inside, the air smelled stale.
Dust covered the reception desk.
The children's waiting room still contained toys.
A plastic kitchen.
A wooden puzzle.
A stuffed rabbit with one ear missing.
I stood there imagining Emily sitting among them years earlier.
“She remembers this place,” I whispered.
Daniel nodded.
We moved downstairs.
The hallway was darker than I expected.
A police flashlight swept across the walls.
Room numbers appeared.
201.
202.
203.
Then 214.
The door was red.
Daniel stopped.
“This wasn't here.”
I looked at him.
“You said you had been downstairs.”
“I had.”
“You missed it.”
“I couldn't find this hallway.”
The detective tried the handle.
Locked.
Daniel handed her the key.
It fit.
The door opened.
Inside was a small room filled with filing cabinets.
No windows.
No furniture except a desk.
On the desk sat a computer.
The detective immediately called for evidence technicians.
Daniel moved toward the cabinets.
I grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
“You said you wanted evidence.”
“I know.”
“Then don't touch anything.”
He nodded.
The detective opened the first cabinet.
Files.
Dozens.
She pulled one.
A child's name.
Another.
Another.
Emily Bennett.
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
The file was thick.
Much thicker than the others.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Don't.”
I opened it.
Medical notes.
Dates.
Symptoms.
Medication.
Photographs.
Then something caught my eye.
A page near the back.
My signature.
I stared at it.
“I never signed this.”
Daniel looked over my shoulder.
His face drained of color.
“What?”
“This is my signature.”
The detective took the page.
It contained consent for experimental treatment.
Authorized by Claire Bennett.
Dated three years earlier.
I shook my head.
“I never signed this.”
Daniel whispered, “Mercer forged it.”
“No.”
I looked at the signature again.
The handwriting was mine.
But the signature wasn't.
Someone had copied it perfectly.
Then I saw the final page.
It wasn't a medical record.
It was a letter.
Addressed to Daniel.
The detective read it aloud.
“If Claire discovers the truth, the child will be transferred.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Transferred where?”
He didn't answer.
The detective turned the page.
There was an address.
A rural facility outside the city.
And beneath it, a handwritten note:
SUBJECTS ARE MOVED AFTER MEMORY RETURN.
My blood ran cold.
Emily hadn't simply remembered.
She had become a problem.
The detective's radio crackled.
“Unit at the hospital reporting.”
She answered.
Then her face changed.
“What happened?”
She listened.
“Repeat that.”
She looked at me.
“Someone has entered Emily's room.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 8: We Rushed Back to the Hospital, but the Security Camera Showed That the Person Entering Emily’s Room Was Someone I Trusted
The Moment My Daughter Stopped Crying, She Looked Past Me and Whispered Something That Made the Emergency Room Go Quiet
Part 7 of 12
