Chapter 3 - The Fifth Child
My son Ethan was twelve.
When Catherine died, he was five.
I called home immediately.
“Where's Ethan?”
Vincent answered.
“With Daniel and Ross. Home-school tutor left twenty minutes ago.”
“Lock the house.”
“Boss?”
“Now.”
I looked at Mercer.
He was watching me.
Not Claire.
Not the girls.
Me.
That changed everything.
“You knew who I was.”
Mercer smiled faintly.
“I recognized you eventually.”
Lie.
Morales ordered him taken in.
As officers moved him toward the exit, he stopped beside me.
“You should ask Ethan about the blue room.”
My blood went cold.
I grabbed his coat.
Morales immediately stepped between us.
“Hayes.”
Mercer smiled.
“What blue room?”
“Ask your son.”
They took him away.
I drove home with Claire and the girls behind me under escort.
I didn't invite them because I trusted Claire.
I invited them because someone had photographed her daughters inside their own home, and Mercer was somehow connected to my dead wife.
My estate became the safest location available.
Ethan met us in the foyer.
Tall for twelve.
Dark-haired.
Catherine's eyes.
He saw the girls.
Then Claire.
Then my expression.
“What happened?”
“What's the blue room?”
Everything about my son changed.
Tiny movement.
One step backward.
“Ethan.”
“I don't know.”
“Don't lie.”
Claire touched my arm.
“Alexander.”
I looked down at her hand.
She removed it.
Fair.
I softened my voice.
“I'm not angry.”
Ethan stared at the floor.
“When I was little, Mom took me somewhere.”
Catherine?
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
He remembered blue walls.
No windows.
Other children.
A woman asking him questions.
Questions about me.
Did Daddy shout?
Did Daddy carry a gun?
Did strangers visit at night?
Did Daddy ever hurt Mommy?
“Who was the woman?”
“I don't remember.”
“Mercer?”
Ethan looked at the photograph.
His face tightened.
“No.”
“Did you see him?”
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
“He brought snacks.”
Claire sat down.
The four girls had become unusually quiet.
Then Mia whispered:
“We know the blue room.”
Claire turned.
“What?”
“We've been there.”
Her voice cracked.
“When?”
Chloe answered:
“School trips.”
Claire stared.
“What school trips?”
The girls attended a private elementary academy.
Twice each semester, parents received notices about enrichment assessments at an educational center.
Claire had signed permission.
The facility had blue rooms.
Mercer sometimes appeared there.
“I thought he worked with the school,” Lucy said.
Claire looked sick.
“He told me he was introduced by the school.”
Ethan walked toward the girls.
“Was there a moon on the wall?”
Ellie nodded.
“A silver moon.”
Ethan's face went white.
Same place.
Seven years apart.
Then Chloe said:
“There were five chairs.”
“Five?”
She nodded.
“Four for us.”
“And the fifth?”
Chloe pointed at Ethan.
“For him.”
Nobody spoke.
My phone rang.
Morales.
Her voice was tight.
“Alexander, Mercer escaped.”
“What?”
“Transport vehicle was hit at an intersection. Professional extraction.”
Then another call arrived.
My home security system.
Unknown access detected.
One camera activated by itself.
The feed showed Ethan's bedroom.
Empty.
Then the camera slowly turned.
Someone was controlling it remotely.
On Ethan's pillow sat a cream-colored ribbon identical to the ones worn by Claire's daughters.
Under it was a card.
Five children.
One father.
I looked toward Ethan.
May you like
Someone hadn't brought those four girls into my life accidentally.
Someone had spent years arranging for all five children to meet.
