Chapter 5 - THE PRICE OF SPEAKING UP
Audrey's entire body went cold.
Amanda.
Her little sister.
The person she had spent most of her life protecting.
"That's her," Audrey whispered.
Maxwell looked at the photograph.
"Where is she?"
"At a clinic in Oakland. She had an appointment today."
Audrey reached for her phone.
Her hands shook so badly she nearly dropped it.
She called Amanda through a video service they used for signed conversations.
No answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
A terrible pressure formed inside her chest.
"She always answers."
Maxwell immediately contacted Raymond.
"Find Amanda Bennett. Quietly. Coordinate with local police. Make sure she's safe."
Audrey looked at him.
"Why are you helping me?"
Maxwell's expression softened.
"Because you helped my son when nobody else would."
Within fifteen minutes, Raymond located Amanda.
She was safe inside the clinic.
Two security officers remained nearby while staff contacted the authorities.
Audrey finally saw her sister's face on the video screen.
Amanda signed.
"WHAT HAPPENED? YOU LOOK TERRIFIED."
Audrey fought back tears.
"JUST STAY INSIDE. I'LL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING."
Amanda frowned.
Then signed something that made Audrey stop breathing.
"A MAN CAME HERE THIS MORNING."
Audrey leaned closer.
"WHAT MAN?"
Amanda described a tall man wearing a gray suit.
He had asked questions about Audrey.
Where she worked.
What time she finished.
Whether she lived alone.
Amanda had refused to answer.
The man had left a business card.
Audrey asked her to show it.
Amanda retrieved the card from her bag.
The name printed across the front was Adrian Cross.
Beneath it was the logo of a private medical organization.
PACIFIC HARBOR WELLNESS FOUNDATION.
Maxwell saw the card.
His face changed.
"That's impossible."
Audrey turned toward him.
"What?"
Maxwell stared at the logo.
"Olivia created that foundation."
He opened an old photograph on his phone.
It showed Olivia standing beside a hospital bed, smiling at a group of children.
Behind her was the same logo.
But Maxwell noticed something in the photograph he had never considered important.
A silver bracelet around Olivia's wrist.
It carried an engraved number.
417.
Charlie leaned forward.
His eyes widened.
He pointed at the bracelet.
Then he signed frantically.
Audrey translated.
"Charlie says that's the room where Mommy is sleeping."
Maxwell stared at his son.
Then at the photograph.
For the first time in eighteen months, he dared to consider the impossible.
May you like
Olivia might still be alive.
And the only person who knew where to find her was the little boy everyone had ignored.
