Chapter 6: The Doctor Who Buried the Truth
At 2:17 a.m., Daniel received a message.
It contained a photograph of a black sedan parked outside the hospital.
The picture had been taken less than ten minutes earlier.
A second photograph showed a man standing near the emergency entrance.
He wore a gray overcoat and a baseball cap.
His face was partially hidden.
But the message beneath the images was clear.
*STOP INVESTIGATING THE REYNOLDS FAMILY.*
Daniel locked the hospital room door.
“Marcus, I'm calling security.””
I looked through the window.
The sedan was still there.
“Get the police too.””
“I already have.””
Elena sat up.
“Is that Richard?””
“No,” Daniel answered.
“I don't recognize him.””
She looked frightened.
“Then we need to move the girls.””
I turned toward the beds.
Ava was asleep beside her mother.
Lily had pulled her blanket over her head.
I approached her gently.
“Lily?””
She opened her eyes.
“Are we leaving?””
“Yes, sweetheart. We're going somewhere safer.””
“Is Grandpa coming?””
I paused.
“No.””
She studied my face.
“Promise?””
I sat beside her.
“I promise nobody is taking you away again.””
She held out her little finger.
“Pinky promise?””
I wrapped my finger around hers.
“Pinky promise.””
A hospital security officer arrived with two police officers.
They escorted us through a restricted corridor and into a private transport vehicle.
Daniel arranged for the girls to be taken to a secure residence owned by his law firm.
Elena insisted on coming with us.
Her doctors protested, but she refused to stay.
“I've spent fourteen months being told where I could go,” she said.
“I'm not spending another night behind a locked door.””
By 3:30 a.m., we were inside Daniel's secured townhouse.
The girls were asleep upstairs.
Elena sat on the living room sofa wrapped in a blanket.
I stood by the fireplace, staring at the old photograph Thomas had sent.
It showed a woman standing beside a black Cadillac.
She had short dark hair.
A slender face.
And eyes that looked exactly like mine.
I turned the photograph toward Elena.
“Is this Catherine?””
She nodded.
“That's her.””
I studied the image.
I'd seen photographs of my mother before, but never one that looked so recent.
“Why would Thomas have this?””
“Because he was the family doctor.””
I lowered myself into the chair.
“Tell me what you know.””
Elena looked toward the dark window.
“After I discovered the financial transfers, I started searching through Catherine's old records. I found letters from a woman who claimed she had been Catherine's nurse.””
“What did the letters say?””
“That Catherine had been treated for severe anxiety shortly before she disappeared. She believed Richard was trying to have her declared mentally incompetent.””
I frowned.
“Why?””
“Because she wanted to change her will.””
I leaned forward.
“Change it to what?””
“To protect her children.””
I looked at her.
“What children?””
“Both sons.””
I felt a chill.
“Daniel?””
Elena nodded.
“Your father's younger brother.””
I stared.
“I have an uncle?””
She gave a sad smile.
“You did.””
I stood.
“What happened to him?””
“He disappeared when you were a baby.””
I walked to the window.
My father had always told me he was an only child.
There were no family gatherings with uncles or cousins.
No childhood stories about siblings.
No photographs.
Nothing.
“How could an entire person disappear from my family history?””
“Because Richard erased him.””
I turned.
“Why?””
Elena looked down at her hands.
“Because Daniel was Catherine's favorite.””
The name struck me.
“Daniel Reynolds?””
She nodded.
“Your uncle was the original beneficiary of the family trust. Catherine believed he was the only person she could trust to protect the company.””
I shook my head.
“Then why did the trust go to Lily?””
“Because Daniel disappeared, and Catherine rewrote the succession terms to protect the next generation.””
I stared at the photograph again.
“Where is my uncle now?””
Elena shook her head.
“I don't know.””
Before I could ask another question, Daniel Brooks entered carrying his laptop.
“I found Thomas Hale.””
I turned.
“Where?””
“He owns a small medical clinic outside the city. But there's a problem.””
“What?””
“He was reported missing three hours ago.””
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Missing?””
“His car was found abandoned near the old Reynolds estate.””
Elena stood too quickly and winced.
“Marcus, we need to go there.””
Daniel shook his head.
“Absolutely not.””
“Thomas knows what happened to Catherine.””
“And someone may have taken him.””
Elena grabbed my arm.
“Then he might be running out of time.””
I looked at Daniel.
“Can you get us police protection?””
He nodded reluctantly.
“I'm calling the detective assigned to Richard's case.””
Within forty minutes, we were driving toward the old estate.
The property stood outside the city, surrounded by tall iron gates and enormous oak trees.
I hadn't visited since I was twelve.
My father had always described it as an unnecessary expense.
Now I wondered why he had kept it.
A police vehicle waited near the entrance.
We stepped out.
The detective, a woman named Sarah Mitchell, approached.
“Mr. Reynolds?””
“Yes.””
“I'm Detective Mitchell. We found signs of forced entry inside the house.””
“Is Thomas there?””
“Not in the main building.””
She pointed toward a detached garage.
“There is a basement beneath that structure. We found a recently used medical examination room.””
Elena grabbed my arm.
“That's where he kept Catherine.””
I stared at her.
“What?””
She looked toward the garage.
“I found references to it in the old documents.””
We followed Detective Mitchell through the side entrance.
The basement smelled of dust and disinfectant.
A narrow corridor led to a steel door.
One of the officers opened it.
Inside was a small room containing an examination table, an old medical cabinet, and several boxes of files.
On the table lay a leather medical bag.
Daniel picked it up.
“Thomas's initials.””
I opened one of the boxes.
Inside were medical records.
Hundreds of them.
Most belonged to Catherine Reynolds.
The first page was dated twenty-eight years earlier.
The diagnosis read:
*PATIENT: CATHERINE REYNOLDS.*
*STATUS: CONSCIOUS.*
*TREATMENT: UNAUTHORIZED SEDATION.*
I stared.
“What is this?””
Elena took the paper.
Her hands began shaking.
“Marcus…”
She pointed to a handwritten note at the bottom.
Patient repeatedly requests contact with her sons. Family representative refuses.
The signature belonged to Thomas Hale.
I felt sick.
My mother had been alive.
And someone had kept her away from her children.
I searched the next folder.
There were photographs.
One showed Catherine lying in a hospital bed.
Another showed her standing in a garden.
The final photograph was dated just two weeks before her reported death.
She was holding a little boy's hand.
I looked closer.
The boy was around six years old.
On the back, someone had written:
*DANIEL AND CATHERINE — LAST VISIT.*
I turned toward Elena.
“Daniel was with her?””
Elena nodded.
“Your uncle must have been the person who tried to protect her.””
Detective Mitchell called from the doorway.
“Mr. Reynolds, you need to see this.””
She was standing beside a filing cabinet.
Inside was a sealed envelope with my name written across it.
The handwriting was unmistakably Catherine's.
I opened it carefully.
There was only one page.
My dear Marcus,
If you are reading this, then Richard has finally failed to keep the truth buried.
I know you were told I died when you were a baby. That was not true.
I was kept alive because Richard needed me to sign away the family trust. I refused.
Your uncle Daniel tried to rescue me. Richard made him disappear.
But there is something I need you to understand.
The man you call your father is not the only person responsible.
I stopped reading.
Elena leaned closer.
“What does it say?””
I continued.
There was someone else in our family who helped him.
Someone who has been beside you for years.
Someone who knows exactly where I was buried.
At the bottom of the letter was a final sentence.
*Ask the man who raised you to show you your birth certificate.*
I lowered the paper.
Daniel Brooks looked confused.
“What does your birth certificate have to do with this?””
I shook my head.
“I don't know.””
Then Detective Mitchell called out.
“We found something else.””
She held up a small metal box.
It contained a collection of photographs, a hospital bracelet, and an old birth certificate.
My name was printed at the top.
*MARCUS REYNOLDS.*
But the name listed under FATHER wasn't Richard Reynolds.
It was:
*DANIEL REYNOLDS.*
I stared at the document.
My uncle.
The man my father had erased.
The man Catherine had tried to protect.
The man who had supposedly disappeared before I could remember him.
I looked at Elena.
“Was Richard not my biological father?””
She shook her head slowly.
“I don't think so.””
A sudden sound came from the corridor.
Footsteps.
Fast.
Detective Mitchell reached for her weapon.
“Police! Identify yourself!””
A man appeared in the doorway.
He was older, with silver hair, a deep scar running along his jaw, and a tired face.
He looked directly at me.
Then he said:
“Hello, Marcus.””
I couldn't move.
He glanced at the birth certificate in my hand.
“I see you found the truth.””
Detective Mitchell raised her weapon.
“Hands where I can see them!””
The stranger lifted both hands.
“Please. I'm not here to hurt anyone.””
I stared at him.
“Who are you?””
His eyes filled with tears.
Then he answered.
“I'm Daniel Reynolds.””
My uncle.
The man who had disappeared twenty-eight years ago.
The man whose name was on my birth certificate.
He took one step toward me.
And then he said the words that destroyed everything I thought I knew.
“Marcus, Richard isn't your father.””
May you like
He paused.
“I'm your father.””
