Chapter 9 - THE MAN WHO CAME FOR MY DAUGHTER'S ELEPHANT
Victor had not seen Mia by accident.
That was the conclusion investigators reached after reviewing the security footage and Owen Marsh's access records.
Owen had entered the grounds on a delivery assignment.
Victor arrived shortly afterward using his family access privileges.
The two men had spoken near the garden before Victor approached Mia.
He hadn't touched her.
He hadn't threatened her directly.
But he had tried to persuade her to hand over Captain Peanut.
Mia refused because the elephant belonged to her father.
That refusal may have saved the evidence.
When I learned what happened, I held my daughter so tightly that she protested.
“Mommy, you're squishing me.”
I loosened my arms.
“Sorry, sweetheart.”
She studied my face.
“Are you sad again?”
I swallowed.
“A little.”
She touched my cheek.
“Mr. Adrian says being brave doesn't mean you never get scared.”
I looked at her.
“When did he tell you that?”
“When I asked if he was afraid of spiders.”
Despite everything, I almost laughed.
“And is he?”
She nodded seriously.
“He says the little ones are suspicious.”
That evening, Adrian came to the apartment with Rachel.
He didn't bring an entourage inside.
He didn't make announcements.
He simply asked whether Mia and I were comfortable.
Then he sat across from me.
“Victor has been removed from every position I had the authority to remove him from. His remaining access has been revoked, and the foundation's independent directors have been notified.”
I watched him carefully.
“And?”
“Law enforcement and the financial investigators have the relevant records. They're examining the threats, the forged documents, and the transfers.”
“Do you think he'll try to reach Mia again?”
“I don't know.”
That answer frightened me.
But it was better than a promise he couldn't guarantee.
Then Adrian looked toward Captain Peanut.
“Victor wanted the memory card.”
“Why would he think it was still inside?”
“Perhaps he didn't know whether you'd found it.”
I looked down at the toy.
The stitching was slightly uneven where I had repaired it.
Then I remembered something.
Benjamin had purchased Captain Peanut shortly before he disappeared.
But the final seam had been stitched after I received the toy in the mail.
That detail suddenly bothered me.
“Adrian, Benjamin didn't give me the elephant directly.”
He looked up.
“What?”
“It arrived in a package after he disappeared.”
“Who sent it?”
“There wasn't a return address.”
Gabriel examined the photographs I still had of the original package.
The shipping label showed that it had been mailed from a post office near the first medical facility.
Six weeks after Benjamin's disappearance.
He had probably hidden the card inside the elephant while he was being held there.
Then someone had mailed it to me.
“Who helped him?” I whispered.
Gabriel studied the historical staffing records.
One name appeared on the facility's administrative team.
Owen Marsh.
The same man who had photographed Mia.
My stomach tightened.
“He worked at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
Six years earlier, Owen had been employed as a transport coordinator.
Later, he joined a security contractor associated with Victor.
He may have helped Benjamin send the toy.
Or he may have known what was inside it and spent years looking for it.
The investigators questioned him.
Initially, Owen denied knowing Benjamin.
Then he was confronted with old employment records and security images.
He admitted helping mail a package for a patient named Daniel Ward.
Benjamin.
He claimed he didn't know what it contained.
But he also admitted that Victor paid him to report on anyone connected to the Hayes family.
Then the investigators found something else.
Owen had preserved a copy of the original package receipt.
On the back was Benjamin's handwriting.
A short message.
If this reaches Elena, I still have a chance.
I stared at the words.
For six years, I had believed my husband died before our daughter was born.
In reality, he had been alive.
Hopeful.
Trying to reach us.
And someone had made sure he never came home.
Then Gabriel received a report from the telephone company.
On the night Benjamin disappeared, he made one final outgoing call from his personal phone.
The number belonged to Adrian Kane.
The call connected for forty-three seconds.
Adrian stared at the record.
“I never spoke to him.”
Gabriel checked the historical call-routing configuration.
Then his expression hardened.
“At that time, calls to your private number were forwarded through the security office whenever you were unavailable.”
I understood before he finished.
Victor and Daniel controlled the security office.
May you like
Benjamin had tried to call Adrian for help.
And someone else had answered.
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