Chapter 4 - THE FUNERAL WITHOUT A BODY
Leo didn’t sleep.
By sunrise, he was standing beside Detective Hale in a records room beneath Mercy Hospital, staring at documents from his father’s death.
Robert Bennett had supposedly died after his SUV crashed through a barrier and burned in a ravine nine years earlier.
Leo remembered the funeral.
Rebecca in black.
Sofia unable to stop crying.
An urn placed beside Robert’s photograph.
There had been no coffin.
He had never questioned it.
Now he did.
“Was there a body?”
Detective Hale flipped through the report.
“Human remains were recovered.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Hale looked at him.
“Identification was made through dental records.”
“DNA?”
“No.”
Leo felt cold.
“Why not?”
“The remains were badly burned. DNA processing wasn’t as routine locally then.”
“Who provided the dental records?”
Hale checked.
Then became silent.
Leo already knew he wouldn’t like the answer.
“Who?”
“Dr. Samuel Greene.”
Leo frowned.
“That was my father’s dentist.”
“Also Victoria Cole’s uncle.”
Leo turned sharply.
“What?”
Hale slid the report toward him.
Samuel Greene had signed the identification.
Leo stared.
Victoria had been connected to his family much longer than he realized.
“How old was she?”
“Seventeen.”
“She told me she met my family after college.”
“Apparently that wasn’t true.”
Leo paced away.
Hale continued.
“We found something else.”
He opened an archived insurance file.
“The burned SUV’s vehicle identification number did not match Robert’s primary car.”
“What does that mean?”
“It was an identical model purchased by Bennett Family Holdings three months before the crash.”
Leo stopped.
“A duplicate.”
“Yes.”
Someone had bought a second car.
Made it look like Robert’s.
Then burned it with human remains inside.
“Whose remains?”
“We’re reopening the case.”
Leo looked sick.
Behind them, Sofia entered.
She had changed into borrowed clothes.
Her injuries looked worse in daylight.
“You should be upstairs.”
She ignored him.
“Tell me.”
Leo looked at Hale.
The detective did.
Sofia listened without speaking.
When he finished, she whispered:
“So Dad may not be dead.”
Leo nodded.
Sofia laughed once.
A bitter, exhausted sound.
“And everyone wondered why I stopped trusting this family.”
Leo looked at her.
“I didn’t know.”
“No.”
“You didn’t.”
She met his eyes.
“You just believed everyone who told you not to believe me.”
He had no defense.
Five years earlier, Sofia had accused Victoria of manipulating family records.
Leo had called her jealous.
Four years earlier, Sofia said someone had accessed her trust account.
Leo told her to speak to an accountant.
Three years earlier, she warned him Victoria knew too much about their father’s private business.
Leo accused Sofia of trying to destroy his relationship.
Victoria had never needed to physically separate them.
Leo had helped.
“I’m sorry.”
Sofia looked away.
“Sorry matters later.”
It hurt because it was fair.
Detective Hale closed the file.
“There’s another issue.”
Sofia turned.
“What?”
“Robert Bennett’s old employee credentials were used three times in the last six months.”
“To buy the burner phone?”
“That’s one.”
“What were the others?”
“A private storage unit.”
Leo frowned.
“And?”
“A room at the Crescent Motor Lodge.”
Sofia went still.
“That’s where I stayed.”
Hale nodded.
“Someone using your father’s credentials rented the room directly across from yours.”
Sofia’s face drained.
Emma had told her someone was watching from the parking lot.
Now they knew from where.
Leo whispered:
“Dad was watching her.”
Hale shook his head.
“We know someone using his identity was.”
Sofia hugged herself.
“Can we search the storage unit?”
“Warrant is being processed.”
Leo’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He stared at it.
Hale motioned.
“Speaker.”
Leo answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a man’s voice.
Older.
Calm.
“Leo.”
Leo stopped breathing.
Sofia’s face changed.
She knew the voice too.
“No…”
Leo gripped the phone.
“Dad?”
Rebecca appeared in the doorway at that exact moment.
When she heard the voice, she nearly collapsed.
The man on the phone continued.
“If Sofia is alive, you need to get her out of that hospital.”
Leo looked toward Hale.
“Where are you?”
“Do not trust the police.”
Hale frowned.
Robert continued.
“Do not trust Victoria.”
Leo almost laughed from disbelief.
“That advice is a little late.”
“And Leo…”
The voice became quieter.
“Do not trust your mother.”
Rebecca whispered:
“Robert?”
Silence.
Then the line went dead.
Leo slowly turned toward her.
Rebecca’s face looked haunted.
He asked one question.
“When did you last speak to my father?”
She stared at him for several seconds.
May you like
Then whispered:
“Yesterday.”
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