Chapter 4 - The House with the Bricked Window
Thomas gave the threatening message to Detective Lena Ortiz, who was already investigating the dinner incident. Ortiz asked whether he had reason to believe Rosie was in immediate danger.
“Yes,” Thomas said. “And I want the threat documented before I do anything else.”
Police arranged additional protection while Rosie stayed with Ellen. Thomas did not tell his daughter the details. He told her adults were sorting out a problem and that she would not be sent back to Meredith.
Rosie asked whether she could hang Ellen’s little silver bell on the tree.
“Of course,” Ellen said.
Rosie held it in her palm. “Mommy had one like this.”
Thomas thought of the bell in Anna’s shoebox. He took it out and compared them. Ellen’s was plain; Anna’s had a tiny star etched inside.
On the back of Anna’s bell were initials: H.F.S.
Hearthstone Family Services.
Grace searched public filings. Hearthstone claimed to provide temporary housing to families in crisis. Its listed director was Meredith’s aunt, a woman named Beverly Crane. Its registered office was the farmhouse in Anna’s photograph.
Ortiz obtained the relevant records and coordinated a visit with county authorities. Thomas waited nearby, resisting the urge to drive through the gate himself.
The farmhouse stood behind a row of bare apple trees. The front porch displayed a wreath that had lost half its berries. The basement window had indeed been bricked over.
Inside, investigators found an office, an empty dormitory, and filing cabinets full of invoices. The beds were made. The kitchen was clean. Nobody appeared to live there.
Beverly Crane arrived in a red pickup truck and demanded to know why strangers were on her property.
Ortiz introduced herself.
Beverly looked toward Thomas. “You shouldn’t have brought him.”
“Why?” Ortiz asked.
“Because he never understood his wife.”
Thomas stepped forward. “Tell me what happened to Anna.”
Beverly shook her head. “She wanted to be a hero.”
“And you wanted to steal from children?”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
Grace held up a copy of the ledger. “Then explain why Hearthstone billed the fund for forty-two families the county cannot locate.”
Beverly’s expression changed. “Those families moved.”
“All forty-two?”
She demanded an attorney.
During the search, Ortiz found a door behind the basement shelving. It opened onto a short passage leading to a locked exterior hatch. The space contained old blankets, a child’s mitten, and a Christmas card signed LOVE, MIA.
Thomas recognized the name from Unit Nine.
Mia Saunders was supposed to be living with her grandmother in Indiana.
Ortiz called the grandmother. She had not seen Mia in eighteen months.
“She’s with her foster family,” the woman said.
“What foster family?”
“Hearthstone arranged it.”
Ortiz looked at Thomas.
Hearthstone had not merely invented beneficiaries. It had taken responsibility for real children and concealed where some had gone.
Outside, Thomas found Henry sitting in his truck at the edge of the property. His brother looked ten years older than he had at dinner.
“Why didn’t you answer my calls?” Thomas asked.
Henry stared at the steering wheel. “They have my grandson’s adoption file.”
“Who?”
“Meredith. Beverly. Maybe others.”
“What does that have to do with Anna?”
Henry finally looked up. “Anna discovered that the same children were being billed to three different charities. When she asked where they lived, Beverly told her to stop asking.”
“And you?”
“I told Anna I’d help. Then Meredith showed me documents claiming my daughter’s adoption was illegal. I was afraid they’d take the boy away.”
Thomas’s voice went flat. “So you let them take Rosie’s childhood instead?”
Henry began to cry.
Thomas did not comfort him.
From the farmhouse, Ortiz called out that they had found a locked cabinet.
Inside lay a recent photograph of Mia Saunders, standing beside a Christmas tree.
May you like
On the back was a date from last week and an address in Thomas’s hometown.
The address belonged to the church where Rosie attended Sunday school.
