Chapter 5 - The Package
The package had arrived eleven days earlier.
No return address.
Inside:
brass 27 tag.
Photograph of Daniel Mercer.
Copy of Thomas Bennett payment ledger.
Two notes.
Eleanor had destroyed envelope.
Police recovered fragments from office shredder.
Postmark local.
Paper commercially available.
No immediate identity.
Eleanor admitted she attached fake tag to chain after receiving it.
Why?
She wanted Ethan to find connection if something happened to her.
Again bizarre.
“You could leave note,” Maya said.
“I wasn't thinking clearly.”
Clearly.
Then Ethan revealed he received package too.
Emma stared at him.
“What else haven't you told me?”
His contained:
photograph of Eleanor at Mercer House.
Copy of complaint involving Resident 14.
Message:
ASK YOUR MOTHER WHAT SHE DID AFTER THE REPORT.
Eleanor was not Ethan’s mother.
She was his mother-in-law? Wait prompt calls Noah grandmother, could be Emma's mother or Ethan's mother. Ethan said "Your mother wasn't supposed to find out" to Emma likely Eleanor is Emma’s mother. Important! We need fix earlier use: We referred Eleanor maybe as Ethan's family? We said Thomas Bennett, Eleanor tied? Prompt only grandmother, Ethan says "your mother" meaning Eleanor = Emma's mother. So Eleanor is Emma's mother, not Ethan's. Yet Mercer House and Bennett connections possible as administrator. Good. Ensure no contradictory calling Eleanor Ethan's mother. We did not explicitly except "family administrator"? In current story Eleanor is Emma's mother, surname maybe Cole? We called Eleanor 68 no surname. Great.
Emma turned toward her mother.
“You worked at a facility funded by Ethan’s family and never told me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I met your father there.”
Emma’s father, David Cole, had been maintenance contractor at Mercer House.
They married 1996.
David died seven years ago from stroke.
No suspicious death.
He had helped Eleanor report Resident 14 abuse.
After investigation, both left Mercer House.
So anonymous sender knew histories of both families.
Ethan’s package was why he secretly investigated.
He thought someone was threatening Eleanor.
He did not tell Emma because note warned:
IF EMMA LEARNS BEFORE YOU FIND 14, SHE WILL NEVER FORGIVE HER MOTHER.
Manipulation worked because Ethan obeyed.
“Why would you obey anonymous blackmailer?”
“I thought I could protect you.”
Emma laughed once without humor.
“Everybody in this house protects me by lying.”
Then Noah whispered:
“Daddy cried downstairs.”
Emma looked at Ethan.
He had.
Because second part of his package contained old photograph of his father Thomas holding Resident 14.
The child’s face blurred.
On back:
THOMAS TOOK 14 HOME.
Was Thomas involved?
Records showed after abuse report, Resident 14 was removed from Mercer House and placed temporarily with licensed emergency foster family.
Could Thomas have taken child illegally?
No evidence.
Bennett residence logs might.
Ethan searched.
1995 household payroll included temporary caregiver payment for “M.C.”
Three weeks.
No child name.
Then Eleanor admitted:
“Thomas did take Fourteen home.”
“To Bennett mansion?”
“Yes.”
“Legally?”
“With emergency placement approval.”
“Why?”
“No foster bed available that night. Bennett family was registered emergency sponsor household through foundation.”
So not kidnapping.
Resident 14 stayed there three weeks.
Then moved to permanent guardian.
Who?
Sealed juvenile record.
Why sender wants reveal?
Maybe Resident 14 now adult.
Maya petitioned archive access due current harassment and child abuse link.
Before court response, Daniel Mercer called again.
He had remembered something.
When he arrived Mercer House in 1997, staff still talked about “Fourteen.”
Not because abuse.
Because Resident 14 had accused someone of stealing a red notebook.
“What notebook?”
“Incident log.”
Unofficial handwritten log kept by Eleanor.
Eleanor looked shocked.
“That notebook disappeared.”
Daniel said:
“No. My mother found it.”
Rachel Mercer had found notebook two years later behind loose wall panel.
She gave it to Thomas.
Thomas locked it away.
Where?
Bennett mansion.
Ethan searched father archive.
No notebook.
But inventory showed:
RED LEDGER — transferred to D. COLE, 2007.
D. Cole.
Emma’s father David.
Eleanor stood.
“David had it?”
Apparently.
And after David died, personal effects went to Eleanor.
She claimed never saw.
Emma remembered red book in father’s old workshop.
She had donated boxes after his death.
Recipient:
St. Anne Community Thrift.
Years ago.
Impossible likely gone.
Then Maya’s phone rang.
Thrift archive had unusual donation recovery? Too convenient.
Instead an unknown person sent photograph to Ethan that minute.
Red notebook on marble island.
Current kitchen.
Taken from inside house.
Timestamp seconds earlier.
Everyone turned toward island.
No notebook.
May you like
Someone had photographed same kitchen while they were all present.
The hidden watcher was closer than they thought.
