Chapter 11: The Man at Her Mother’s Door
Leah called her mother immediately.
Grace Bennett did not answer.
She called again.
Still nothing.
Daniel grabbed his coat.
“I’m going to her apartment.”
“We’re all going,” Leah said.
Adrian ordered two security vehicles to meet them outside.
Grace lived in a quiet apartment building fifteen minutes from the Courage Fund offices. Leah had moved her there after the Caldwell scandal, believing the secured entrance and nearby medical clinic would keep her safe.
When they arrived, the front desk was empty.
The security monitor had been turned off.
Adrian motioned for Leah and Daniel to remain behind him as they entered the elevator.
Grace’s apartment door was unlocked.
“Mom?” Leah called.
No answer.
The living room lights were on.
A cup of tea sat on the table, still warm.
A chair had been knocked over near the kitchen.
Daniel found Grace’s phone beneath the couch.
Leah’s last four calls glowed on the screen.
“Someone was here,” Daniel said.
Adrian searched the bedrooms.
Empty.
Then they heard movement from the hallway closet.
Daniel pulled the door open.
Grace was sitting on the floor with her hands bound in front of her.
A strip of cloth covered her mouth.
Leah dropped beside her.
“Mom.”
Grace began shaking as Leah removed the gag.
“He came back,” she whispered.
“Who?”
“The man from the clinic.”
“Silas Ward?”
Grace nodded.
Adrian cut the plastic restraint from her wrists.
“What did he want?”
Grace looked toward Leah.
“He asked about the night you came to me.”
Leah froze.
“What night?”
Grace’s breathing became uneven.
Daniel knelt beside her.
“Mom, what are you talking about?”
Grace closed her eyes.
“I should have told you years ago.”
Before she could continue, Adrian’s phone rang.
It was corporate security.
Silas Ward had been found inside his vehicle in an underground parking garage.
He was unconscious.
A typed confession had been placed on the passenger seat.
According to the letter, Silas admitted forging Leah’s authorization, leaking Nora’s address, stealing the ledger, and attacking Grace.
It also claimed he had acted alone.
“Convenient,” Eleanor said when Adrian placed the call on speaker.
The security officer continued.
Silas was alive but unresponsive.
Doctors believed he had been poisoned.
Leah looked at her mother.
“Did Silas write that confession?”
Grace shook her head.
“He wasn’t alone.”
“Who was with him?”
“A woman.”
“Did you recognize her?”
Grace’s eyes filled with fear.
“No. But she knew my name. She knew Daniel’s college. She knew which medications I take.”
Leah took her mother’s hand.
“What did she look like?”
“She wore a black coat and gloves. I couldn’t see her face clearly.”
Grace hesitated.
“But she had a ring.”
“What kind of ring?”
“Gold. With a black stone.”
Eleanor, who had joined them by phone, stopped speaking.
Adrian heard the silence.
“Mother?”
Eleanor answered carefully.
“That ring belonged to the original Ashford board.”
“The original board?” Leah asked.
“There were seven members,” Eleanor said. “They called themselves the Stewardship Council.”
“What did they control?”
“Everything the public was never supposed to know.”
Grace suddenly tightened her grip on Leah’s hand.
“There’s something else.”
She pointed toward the kitchen.
“She left a box on the counter.”
Adrian opened it.
Inside was a child’s blue sweater, blackened by smoke.
A hospital bracelet was pinned to the fabric.
The bracelet carried a date from twenty-nine years earlier.
The patient’s name was Leah Bennett.
Daniel stared at his sister.
“That’s impossible.”
Leah read the birth date.
It was hers.
May you like
Grace began to cry.
“I didn’t give birth to you, Leah.”
