"My name is Anna Bell Price. If anyone is listening to this, I need you to understand that I did not leave my son. I did not abandon him. Samuel has told people that I am unstable. He has told them that I am dangerous. None of that is true."
There was a pause.
"I found the records. I know what he has done. I know what William Cole did. I know about the attack on David Cole. I know about the payments and the men who were hired to frighten him. I know that Samuel arranged it."
Mason closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
"I tried to tell William. He said he would help me. He said he would get Daniel out. But he was afraid of Samuel. He said he needed time."
A sound came from the background.
A door opening.
Anna's voice changed.
"I have to stop now."
The recording ended.
Nobody in the room spoke.
Mason looked at the investigator.
"Was there anything else?"
The technician nodded.
"There's a second section."
He rewound the tape.
A few seconds of static followed.
Then Anna spoke again, more quietly.
"Daniel, if you ever hear this, I want you to know that I loved you every day. I tried to get you away from him. I tried."
Her voice broke.
"I am sorry I couldn't keep my promise."
The tape stopped.
Mason looked away.
He thought of the little boy beneath the apple tree.
He thought of the man who had grown up believing his mother had abandoned him.
And he thought of the people who had allowed that lie to stand.
The investigators sent the tape to the detention facility.
Daniel listened to it alone, with a counselor present.
He did not speak afterward.
He sat with his hands folded, staring at the floor.
When the counselor asked whether he wanted someone contacted, he asked for Mason.
The request was granted the following day.
Mason arrived with Arthur.
Daniel was waiting.
He looked exhausted.
"She loved me," he said.
Mason nodded.
"Yes."
"She tried."
"Yes."
Daniel pressed his hands against his eyes.
"I spent years hating her."
Mason did not interrupt.
"I thought she had chosen to leave me. I thought she had decided I wasn't worth staying for."
His voice trembled.
"Samuel took everything from me and made me believe it was her fault."
Mason sat across from him.
"You're allowed to grieve."
Daniel looked up.
"Do you think I can make things right?"
Mason considered the question.
"You can tell the truth. You can cooperate. You can accept responsibility for what you did. You can stop protecting the people who hurt others."
"That's all?"
"That's where it starts."
Daniel nodded.
"I want to give a statement."
"About Samuel?"
"About everything."
"Even if it implicates you?"
"Especially then."
Mason watched him carefully.
Daniel continued.
"I helped him move money. I arranged meetings. I threatened people. I convinced myself that I was doing what I had to do. I don't want to keep lying."
Mason looked at Arthur.
Arthur gave a small nod.
"Then tell the investigators everything," Mason said.
Daniel's eyes moved to the photograph of Anna.
"Will you tell Emma?"
Mason hesitated.
"Emma deserves to know the truth. But she should hear it in a way that gives her a choice. She doesn't owe you forgiveness."
"I understand."
"Do you?"
Daniel looked down.
"I think I'm beginning to."
Emma received the news carefully.
Mason and Leah met with her in the public meeting room at Second Road.
They told her about the photograph, the missing-person report, and the recording.
Emma listened without interruption.
When Mason finished, she sat quietly for several minutes.
Then she asked to hear the tape.
They played it.
Anna's voice filled the room.
When it ended, Emma closed her eyes.
"She loved him," she whispered.
"Yes," Leah said.
Emma looked at Mason.
"And Daniel knew?"
"He says he was told she had left."
"Did he believe it?"
"For years."
Emma's expression tightened.
"That doesn't make what he did disappear."
"No," Mason said.
"People suffered because of him."
"I know."
She looked down at her hands.
"But he was a child."
"Yes."
"And Samuel made him believe that fear was love."
Mason nodded.
Emma sat back.
"I don't know what to do with that."
"You don't have to decide today," Leah said.
Emma gave a small nod.
Then she asked a question Mason had not expected.
"Can we find out where my grandmother is buried?"
Mason looked at her.
"Anna?"
Emma nodded.
"If she's gone, I want to know where she is."
"We'll try."
"And if she's alive?"
Mason paused.
"Then we'll find her."
Emma looked toward the window.
"Even if she doesn't want to see us?"
"Even then."
Emma's eyes filled.
"I just want to know that she had a chance to live somewhere safe."
Leah reached across the table and took her hand.
"That's a fair thing to want."
The search for Anna's final location led to an unexpected discovery.
A former caretaker at Bell Orchard had died in 2004. His daughter, Susan, lived in a neighboring county.
The investigators contacted her.
At first, she remembered little about her father's work. But when shown the photograph of Anna, she recognized the woman.
"She came to our house once," Susan said.
"When?"
"I was about ten. Maybe eleven."
"What happened?"
"My father told me to stay upstairs. I heard the woman crying. Then I heard my father say that he would help her."
"Did he?"
"I don't know. But after she left, he was angry. He told me never to mention her."
"Did she come back?"
Susan shook her head.
"Not to our house."
Mason showed her the photograph of the farmhouse.
"Did your father ever mention a place called Bell Orchard?"
Susan nodded.
"He said the property had been used by a man who kept people there against their will."
Mason felt a cold wave pass through him.
"Did he report it?"
"He said he tried."
"To whom?"
"Someone at the county office. They told him not to get involved."
"Did he give you a name?"
Susan thought.
"Deputy Chief Martin."
Mason stared at her.
The same supervisor who had received the missing-person report.
The same man who had died before the investigation could be reopened.
The pieces were beginning to align.
The investigators examined Martin's old financial records.
They found several payments made through a property maintenance company connected to North Lake Holdings.
The payments had been made between 1992 and 1994.
There was also evidence that Martin had received money from a private security contractor associated with Samuel Price.
He had not simply ignored the missing-person report.
He had been paid to keep it quiet.