Chapter 13 - THE MESSAGE UNDER THE TABLE
"That's a recording."
Audrey's voice cut through the room.
Maxwell turned.
"What?"
"Olivia is telling us the video isn't live."
The investigator immediately examined the transmission.
Audrey was right.
The footage had been prerecorded.
Adrian was somewhere else.
And the woman in the warehouse video might no longer be there.
"How did she know we'd understand?" Maxwell asked.
Audrey stared at the screen.
"Because she believed Charlie would eventually find someone who listened."
The investigators worked quickly.
They traced the transmission to a different location near the waterfront.
A private medical transport facility.
The same company that had once operated Pacific Harbor's patient transfer vehicles.
Audrey's stomach tightened.
"The medical records."
Maxwell looked at her.
"What about them?"
"Olivia discovered people being moved between facilities. That's how Adrian hid patients."
An investigator checked the records.
Then another.
Within minutes, the pattern became clear.
Adrian had been using medical transportation vehicles to move individuals without proper documentation.
The same vehicles were now being used to relocate Olivia.
Police intercepted one outside a closed industrial terminal.
Inside were two guards.
Medical equipment.
And Olivia Gallow.
She was frightened and weak, but conscious.
Paramedics immediately examined her.
When she learned that Maxwell and Charlie were safe, she began crying.
Adrian, however, was nowhere to be found.
The investigators questioned the guards.
One finally admitted that Adrian planned to leave the country.
He had arranged a private flight.
And he intended to take the foundation's remaining money with him.
But there was a problem.
The final transfer required an authorization code.
Only Olivia possessed it.
Maxwell contacted his wife through a secured hospital video call.
She smiled weakly when she saw him.
"Max."
He struggled to speak.
"I'm here."
Then Olivia saw Audrey standing beside him.
Her face changed.
"Audrey Bennett?"
Audrey nodded.
"Yes."
Olivia began crying again.
"I prayed Charlie would find you."
Audrey glanced toward Maxwell.
"Why?"
Olivia swallowed.
"Because I knew your sister."
"I know."
"No," Olivia whispered.
"You don't understand."
She looked directly into the camera.
"Amanda wasn't just helping me investigate."
Audrey felt her heartbeat quicken.
"Then what was she doing?"
Olivia closed her eyes.
"She was the person who hid the original evidence."
Then she whispered:
"Adrian has been searching for it for eighteen months."
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And when Audrey asked where it was hidden, Olivia gave an answer nobody expected.
"Inside Charlie's favorite stuffed bear."
