It was a small, broken expression, but it reminded Bear of the man he had known before Route 17, before the false death certificate, before twelve years of silence had turned friendship into grief.
Bear did not forgive him.
Not yet.
But he followed him out of the building.
And for the first time in twelve years, Thomas Reed walked beside the men who had buried him.
By the time they reached St. Agnes, the clock on Victor's dashboard showed twelve thirty-six.
The clinic stood behind a chain-link fence on the outskirts of town. Most of its windows were boarded up, and weeds had grown through the cracked pavement. A sign near the entrance warned that the building was closed to the public.
But light shone through a narrow window on the second floor.
Victor parked behind a line of trees.
"Tom, stay here with Bear."
Tom shook his head.
"If Daniel is inside, I need to see him."
"And if Whitmore's people are inside, we need someone who can tell us what this place looks like from the outside."
Tom considered that.
Then he nodded reluctantly.
Victor and Mason approached the building.
The main entrance was locked, but a service door near the loading area stood slightly open. Inside, a corridor smelled of disinfectant and damp plaster. An old reception desk sat beneath a clock that had stopped at 3:17. The walls were painted a pale green, and several doors bore numbers written on plastic plates.
Mason examined the corridor.
"This place should be empty."
Victor pointed toward the floor.
Fresh footprints marked the dust.
"Apparently, it isn't."
They moved past the reception desk.
From somewhere upstairs came the sound of a woman coughing.
Victor stopped.
Mason looked at him.
They followed the sound to a stairwell and climbed to the second floor.
At the end of the corridor, a door stood open.
Inside, a woman sat on the edge of a narrow bed, her wrists wrapped in bandages. Her hair was tangled, and her face was bruised. A glass of water rested on a small table beside her.
Laura Morgan.
Victor rushed toward her.
"Laura."
She looked up, and for a moment she seemed unable to recognize him.
Then she began to cry.
"Where's Caleb?"
"He's safe."
She covered her face with both hands.
"Thank God."
Victor crouched in front of her.
"Who brought you here?"
"Raymond."
"What happened?"
Laura struggled to speak.
"He said he wanted to help me find Daniel. He told me he had proof that Daniel was alive. I believed him."
She swallowed.
"He brought me here, and then he asked where the ledger was. When I told him I didn't know, he said I was lying."
Victor glanced at the bandages around her wrists.
"Did he hurt you?"
Laura nodded.
"He said Caleb would be taken away if I didn't cooperate. He said the authorities would believe anything he told them because he had people in the right places."
Victor felt a familiar anger rise in his chest.
"Where is he now?"
"I don't know. He left an hour ago. He said he was going to meet someone at the courthouse."
Mason moved to the doorway.
"Did he mention who?"
Laura closed her eyes.
"Graham Whitmore."
Victor and Mason exchanged a look.
Laura reached for Victor's sleeve.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"Daniel was here."
Victor leaned closer.
"When?"
"Yesterday morning. Raymond brought him in. Daniel was injured, but he was alive."
Victor's heart hammered.
"Where did they take him?"
Laura shook her head.
"I don't know. I heard them arguing. Daniel kept asking Raymond about a girl named Lily. He said they had no right to involve her."
Tom's name came immediately to Victor's mind.
"Lily Reed?"
Laura nodded.
"Raymond said she had already signed the papers. Daniel told him the documents were forged."
Mason swore under his breath.
Tom had a daughter.
A daughter who had grown up believing her father was dead.
And now she was somehow connected to the same operation that had destroyed Daniel's life.
Victor helped Laura stand.
"We're getting you out of here."
She caught his arm.
"Wait. The ledger."
"What about it?"
"Daniel said he had hidden a second copy. He told me the original was not in the courthouse or the warehouse."
"Where is it?"
Laura looked at him.
"In Caleb's school."
Victor stared at her.
"What?"
"Daniel said nobody would search there because everyone assumed he had taken the evidence somewhere secret. He hid it inside a place that mattered to Caleb."
Victor felt a cold wave move through him.
"The school is closed."
"I know."
"Where exactly?"
Laura shook her head.
"He didn't tell me. He said Caleb would understand when the time came."
Victor thought of the battered notebook, the lighthouse drawing, and the photograph of Daniel holding his son.
A place that mattered to Caleb.
The answer came to him slowly.
The old science room.
When Caleb was younger, Daniel had helped him build a small model lighthouse for a school project. The model had won a county science fair, and the boy had kept it in his classroom for months afterward because he couldn't bear to take it apart.
Victor looked at Mason.
"We need to get back to the clubhouse."
Laura gripped his hand.
"Please. Bring my son home."
Victor nodded.
"I will."
But as they turned toward the stairs, a voice came from the corridor.
"That's touching."
Raymond Voss stood in the doorway.
He wore a dark coat and black gloves. His hair was neatly combed, and his face carried the calm, almost friendly expression of a man who believed every situation could be controlled if he remained patient enough.
Behind him stood two men.
One held a phone.
The other carried a metal case.
Raymond looked at Victor.
"You should have stayed out of this."
Victor stepped between him and Laura.
"You should have stayed away from the boy."
Raymond smiled.
"Caleb is a child. He doesn't understand what he's carrying."
"Neither do you, apparently."
The smile disappeared.
Raymond glanced toward the stairwell.
"Where's Thomas Reed?"
Victor said nothing.
Raymond sighed.
"Always the same problem with men like you. You mistake loyalty for intelligence."
Mason moved beside Victor.
Raymond raised one hand.
"Careful. Nobody needs to get hurt."
Victor almost laughed.
"You've been beating a woman and threatening a child. I think we're past the stage where you get to pretend you're reasonable."
Raymond's eyes hardened.
"You have no idea how much damage Daniel has caused."
"Then explain it."
For the first time, Raymond seemed genuinely surprised.