Chapter 3 - Jonathan’s Second Watch
Ethan remembered no rescue.
In 2004 he had been eighteen, finishing high school and preparing for college.
Nothing dramatic had happened.
No kidnapping.
No serious accident.
No mysterious hospitalization.
At least, nothing he remembered.
Jonathan Bennett had died five years earlier from an ordinary stroke. His estate records were extensive, but no document mentioned a second Heritage No. 8 watch.
Then Bennett & Rowe located the original purchase invoice.
Jonathan bought two identical watches on November 18, 2004.
Serial numbers consecutive.
One was Ethan’s current watch, presented to him on his twenty-first birthday three years later.
The second went to:
A. REED.
No full name.
No address.
Ethan had never heard of A. Reed.
Eleanor had.
Her reaction betrayed her before she spoke.
“Adam.”
“Adam who?”
“Adam Reed.”
“Who was he?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“A security consultant.”
“For my father?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why did Dad say he saved me?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan slammed his palm against table.
“You knew enough to recognize his name.”
Eleanor admitted Adam worked for Jonathan during a private family matter in 2004.
What matter?
She refused to speculate.
That evening police recovered part of deleted phone recording from Eleanor’s cloud cache.
Only seventeen seconds.
The hidden man entered.
Rope in left hand.
Toy gun in right.
Claire said:
“You’re late.”
The man answered:
“Do exactly what we discussed.”
Voice distortion from distance prevented immediate identification.
Then Claire asked:
“Where’s Eleanor?”
“She’ll understand when she sees it.”
That contradicted Claire’s claim that man said Eleanor had authorized everything.
He never said that on recovered recording.
Claire had lied.
Maya confronted her.
Claire finally admitted she already knew Eleanor had not authorized restraint.
She had been paid.
Ten thousand dollars.
Half before.
Half after she completed what man called “the demonstration.”
“Why Lily?”
“He said Ethan would only listen if it involved someone he loved.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“Listen to what?”
Claire said the man never explained.
She claimed Lily was supposed to be tied loosely for less than a minute before Ethan entered.
But Ethan arrived later than expected.
Claire became angry when Lily kept screaming.
She fired toy dart.
That escalation was Claire’s own decision.
“Who paid you?”
A consulting company:
Raven Hill Advisory.
Corporate records led to a mailbox.
No employees.
No active website.
But the company had existed since 2004.
Its first registered agent:
Adam Reed.
Ethan stared at name.
“So Adam’s alive?”
Maybe.
Public records showed an Adam Reed, fifty-eight, who died in Arizona two years earlier.
Was it same man?
Unknown.
Then Officer Hayes returned.
He had recognized suit in Eleanor’s video not because of brand.
Because of a distinctive cuff seam.
He had seen same suit three days earlier.
On surveillance footage from police headquarters.
A man had entered lobby asking to speak with him.
He left before meeting.
Hayes pulled footage.
The man’s face was hidden by camera angle.
But wrist was visible.
Same watch.
And he had left an envelope addressed:
OFFICER HAYES — OPEN ONLY AFTER BENNETT HOUSE CALL.
Inside:
a single sentence.
WHEN YOU SEE THE WATCH, DO NOT ARREST ETHAN.
Ethan looked at Hayes.
“He knew police would be called.”
“Yes.”
“He knew you would respond?”
“Yes.”
“Then tonight wasn’t spontaneous.”
“No.”
Maya placed the envelope beside Eleanor’s recovered video.
“Someone choreographed the entire confrontation.”
Ethan looked toward Claire.
“Including what she did to Lily?”
Claire whispered:
“Not all of it.”
“What does that mean?”
“The man told me one thing before he left.”
“What?”
Claire looked toward Lily sleeping in adjoining room.
“He said, ‘Whatever happens, make sure Ethan sees the chair.’”
Everyone turned.
The armchair had been removed as evidence.
Underneath its seat, investigators found an envelope taped to wood.
May you like
On front:
ETHAN — THIS IS WHERE YOUR FATHER HID THE TRUTH.
