Daniel straightened.
"Did you keep the envelope?"
"Yes. I thought it might be important."
"Please don't throw anything away. I'll come and collect it."
Grace hesitated.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"Mr. Bennett told me that if anything happened to him, I should call a man named Thomas Reed."
Daniel felt a chill.
"Thomas is dead."
"I know. That's why I'm calling you."
Daniel was silent.
Grace continued.
"Mr. Bennett had another contact written underneath Thomas's name. It was a phone number. I called it yesterday."
"Who answered?"
"A woman."
"Did she give you her name?"
Grace lowered her voice.
"She said her name was Margaret."
Daniel stopped breathing for a moment.
"Margaret Bennett?"
"Yes."
"That's impossible. She's dead."
"I know what the records say."
Grace paused.
"But the woman on the phone sounded very much like someone who knew Arthur personally."
Daniel felt the floor shift beneath him.
"Did she say anything else?"
Grace read from her notes.
"She said, 'Tell Arthur that the truth is finally ready to come home.'"
Daniel immediately called the number.
It rang four times.
Then a woman's voice answered.
"Hello?"
Daniel swallowed.
"May I speak with Margaret Bennett?"
There was silence.
Then the woman replied:
"Who is asking?"
"My name is Officer Daniel Brooks. I'm investigating the accident that killed Margaret Bennett eleven years ago."
A long pause followed.
Finally, the woman whispered:
"Then you should know that Margaret Bennett did not die that night."
The call ended.
Daniel stared at his phone.
He immediately tried calling back.
The number was disconnected.
He turned toward Arthur's room.
But before he could move, a nurse rushed out.
"Officer Brooks!"
"What happened?"
"Mr. Bennett is asking for you."
Daniel hurried inside.
Arthur was sitting upright, breathing rapidly.
He looked terrified.
"She called," he whispered.
"Who?"
Arthur grabbed Daniel's sleeve.
"My wife."
Daniel froze.
"How do you know?"
"Because she used the name only Margaret and I knew."
"What name?"
Arthur looked toward the door.
Then he whispered:
"Little Sparrow."
Daniel felt his stomach tighten.
The woman on the phone had used the same name.
Arthur began to cry.
"She's alive."
Daniel knew he needed evidence before believing the impossible.
A person could imitate a voice.
A phone call could be staged.
And grief could make someone hear what they desperately wanted to hear.
But Arthur was not behaving like a man imagining things.
He was frightened.
Not hopeful.
Frightened.
Daniel contacted the department's investigative division and requested assistance locating the phone number Grace had provided.
The number was registered to a prepaid device.
Its last known location was a small town nearly two hundred miles away.
The name attached to the account was false.
Daniel then contacted the hospital where Margaret had supposedly been treated after the accident.
The records were incomplete.
But he found something.
The emergency report listed Margaret as deceased at the scene.
However, the ambulance transport record contained a different entry.
PATIENT TRANSFERRED TO REGIONAL MEDICAL FACILITY β STATUS UNCONFIRMED.
Daniel read it again.
The transfer had been made at 11:48 p.m.
The death certificate had been issued at 2:15 a.m.
Why would a woman officially pronounced dead at the scene be transported to another hospital?
He called the regional facility.
A records clerk searched the old database.
After several minutes, she returned.
"Officer, I found an admission under the name Margaret Bennett."
Daniel gripped the phone.
"Was she alive?"
"According to the record, yes."
"Where was she transferred afterward?"
"There's no discharge destination."
"Who authorized the transfer?"
The clerk hesitated.
"An officer named Thomas Reed."
Daniel closed his eyes.
Thomas.
Again.
He thanked the clerk and hung up.
Then he searched for Thomas's old case notes.
Most had been archived after his death.
But one folder contained a handwritten page.
Margaret is alive. Arthur must not know until I understand who arranged the transfer.
Daniel stared at the words.
The note was dated two days after the accident.
A second line had been written beneath it.
Someone inside the department is watching the case.
Daniel felt cold.
He knew Thomas had been a careful officer.
If he had written something like that, there had to be a reason.
He returned to Arthur's room.
The old man was awake.
"Did you find something?" Arthur asked.
Daniel pulled a chair closer.
"I found a hospital record suggesting your wife may have survived the accident."
Arthur's mouth opened.
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know yet."
Arthur covered his face.
"Eleven years."
Daniel nodded.
"I'm going to find out what happened."
Arthur looked at him.
"Why are you doing this?"
Daniel thought about the photograph, the letter, and Thomas Reed.
Then he answered honestly.
"Because I think someone stole eleven years from both of you."
Arthur began crying.
Daniel placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Get some rest. We have work to do."
As he stood, Arthur suddenly grabbed his wrist.
"Officer."
"Yes?"
"There's something I never told anyone."
Daniel sat down again.
"Tell me."
Arthur took a deep breath.
"The night of the accident, just before the truck appeared, Margaret said something."
"What?"
"She said, 'Arthur, if anything happens to me, find the blue notebook.'"
Daniel frowned.
"Where is it?"
Arthur shook his head.
"I never found it."
"Did you look?"
"Everywhere. The police searched the car. I searched the house. But it disappeared."
Daniel wrote it down.
"What's in the notebook?"
Arthur looked toward the photograph.
"Names. Payments. Dates. Everything Margaret had discovered."
He swallowed.
"She told me it was enough to destroy the people who were following her."
Daniel stood.
Now he understood why someone might have wanted Margaret silenced.
But he still didn't understand why she had been kept alive.
Emily returned to her apartment that evening.