Chapter 13: The Girl in the Back Seat
Chapter 13: The Girl in the Back Seat
Detective Marcus Hale replayed the traffic camera footage.
Then he replayed it again.
No one in the room spoke.
Ryan Foster leaned closer to the screen.
"Zoom in."
Rachel Kim enhanced the image.
The grainy footage slowly sharpened.
Charles Bennett sat behind the wheel.
Judge Harold Whitaker occupied the passenger seat.
And in the back...
A little girl sat perfectly still.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't struggling.
She simply stared out the window.
Her expression was empty.
Marcus frowned.
"Can you sharpen the rear window?"
Rachel adjusted the image again.
Pixel by pixel.
The child's face became clearer.
Ryan's eyes widened.
"She really does look like Sophie."
Marcus shook his head.
"No."
"She doesn't just look like Sophie."
He pointed to the screen.
"Same hairstyle."
"Same pink jacket."
"Same backpack."
Rachel whispered,
"Almost like someone wanted her to."
Marcus immediately called the traffic division.
"I need every camera that picked up this vehicle."
"Track it from the country club."
"Don't lose it."
Meanwhile...
At the safe house...
Officer Melissa Grant had just finished checking every door and window.
"We're secure."
I nodded.
"Thank you."
Sophie sat on the couch watching cartoons.
For the first time since the wedding...
She looked like a normal eight-year-old again.
That simple sight almost made me cry.
Then...
Someone knocked on the front door.
Three slow knocks.
Officer Melissa immediately reached for her sidearm.
"No one should be here."
She checked the security monitor.
The porch was empty.
"What?"
She carefully opened the door.
No one.
Only a small cardboard box.
No return address.
Melissa picked it up cautiously.
"Stay back."
She carried it inside.
Bomb squad protocol.
X-ray scanner.
Chemical detector.
Everything came back clear.
Only then did she open it.
Inside...
Was a single stuffed rabbit.
Old.
Worn.
White fur with one missing button eye.
The moment Sophie saw it...
She gasped.
"Bunny!"
She jumped off the couch.
I stopped her before she could reach it.
"Wait."
"Do you know this toy?"
She nodded eagerly.
"Uncle Michael gave it to me when I turned five."
I froze.
I remembered it.
She had slept with that rabbit every night.
Until...
It disappeared.
Nearly a year ago.
I looked inside the box again.
There was also an envelope.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
Inside...
One handwritten sentence.
She isn't the only little girl they're watching.
No signature.
No explanation.
Only those words.
Officer Melissa immediately radioed headquarters.
"We received another anonymous package."
Marcus answered personally.
"What was inside?"
I read him the note.
Silence.
Then Marcus said quietly,
"Don't let Sophie out of your sight."
At police headquarters...
Traffic cameras traced Charles Bennett's sedan across the city.
Marcus watched the digital map.
The vehicle never stopped.
Until...
It entered the underground parking garage beneath the Bennett Family Foundation.
Ryan frowned.
"The charity building."
Marcus nodded.
"No cameras after that."
Rachel looked confused.
"Why?"
Marcus zoomed in.
"Because the underground garage is private."
"No city surveillance."
Ryan crossed his arms.
"So we need a warrant."
Marcus didn't answer.
Instead...
He remembered Michael's final words.
Pier Seven.
The warehouse.
The foundation.
Charles.
Whitaker.
Somehow...
Everything connected.
He just couldn't see how.
Then an evidence technician hurried toward him.
"Detective."
"We restored another deleted file from Daniel Ruiz's flash drive."
Marcus looked up.
"What is it?"
"A security clip."
"From where?"
"The Bennett Family Foundation."
Marcus's heartbeat quickened.
"Play it."
The footage filled the screen.
Timestamp...
Six months earlier.
A fundraising gala.
Politicians.
Business leaders.
Celebrities.
Charles Bennett stood at the podium giving a speech.
Judge Whitaker applauded.
Victor Sloan smiled beside him.
Nothing unusual.
Then...
The camera shifted toward a service hallway.
A little girl wandered away from the ballroom.
She looked lost.
Seconds later...
Charles Bennett followed her.
He looked around carefully.
Then disappeared into the hallway behind her.
Ryan frowned.
"What happened next?"
The hallway camera froze.
Static filled the screen.
The recording skipped forward exactly eleven minutes.
When the picture returned...
Charles walked out alone.
Adjusting his suit jacket.
The little girl was gone.
Rachel looked sick.
"Where did she go?"
Marcus rewound the footage.
Again.
Again.
Every time...
The same eleven minutes were missing.
Someone had deliberately deleted them.
Across town...
Charles Bennett stood inside the foundation's executive office.
Victor Sloan entered quietly.
"They're getting closer."
Charles looked out the window.
"They're looking in the wrong direction."
Victor handed him a folder.
"The girl has been moved."
Charles nodded.
"And Michael?"
"Still alive."
Charles sighed.
"I underestimated him."
Victor hesitated.
"What about Preston?"
Charles smiled faintly.
"My son has always believed he was the mastermind."
Victor understood immediately.
"He isn't."
"No."
Charles turned away from the window.
"He was simply the distraction."
Late that evening...
Marcus received another emergency call.
This time...
From Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
The nurse sounded terrified.
"Detective..."
"What happened?"
"The man you identified as Michael Bennett..."
Marcus's heart pounded.
"What about him?"
"He's gone."
Marcus stood.
"What do you mean gone?"
"His room is empty."
Ryan grabbed his jacket.
"He escaped?"
The nurse swallowed.
"No."
"The security cameras show two men wearing paramedic uniforms."
"They rolled him out on a stretcher."
Marcus froze.
"They weren't paramedics."
"No."
"We checked."
"They never worked here."
Marcus closed his eyes.
"They kidnapped him."
The nurse's voice trembled.
"It gets worse."
"What?"
"They left something."
Marcus felt another knot form in his stomach.
"What did they leave?"
"A note."
He grabbed a pen.
"Read it."
The nurse unfolded the paper.
Her voice shook.
"It says..."
She stopped.
"Go on."
"It says..."
The wrong brother has been running.
Marcus's pulse raced.
"There’s more."
"What?"
May you like
The nurse read the final sentence aloud.
Now it's Evelyn's turn.
