Chapter 3 - The Missing Nephew
I watched Daniel walk down the hospital corridor toward Emily's room, flanked by the corrupt detective.
I had to leave the hospital immediately before they realized I was hunting them.
I ran to my car and locked the doors, my hands shaking violently against the steering wheel.
I pulled out my phone and searched for the name of Vanessa's sister, Sarah.
Sarah was the mother of Lucas, the teenage boy who had mysteriously vanished after Marcus treated him.
I found a public phone number for her small bakery on the other side of town.
I dialed the number and prayed she would answer.
A tired woman's voice picked up on the third ring.
"I am Emily's mother, and I need to know exactly where your son Lucas is right now," I said without introducing myself.
There was a long silence on the other end of the line.
"Daniel and Vanessa sent him to a private behavioral clinic in Switzerland three months ago," Sarah finally whispered.
"Have you actually spoken to him since he left?" I pressed.
"No, Vanessa said the clinic doesn't allow outside communication for the first six months to help him detox," she explained, her voice cracking.
"Sarah, Daniel is not helping children, he is hurting them," I pleaded.
I told her about the ambulance, the puncture mark, and the fake custody papers.
Sarah began to cry softly through the speaker.
"I received a box of Lucas's winter clothes in the mail yesterday from Vanessa," she sobbed.
"She said he outgrew them, but one of the items didn't make any sense."
"What was it?" I asked, my heart hammering against my ribs.
"It was a single, bloody sneaker that didn't belong to a teenage boy," she replied.
She sent me a photograph of the shoe a moment later.
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I stared at my phone screen as all the blood drained from my face.
It was Emily's missing left sneaker, covered in dark crimson stains.
