Chapter 5 - The Grave Robber
We ditched Richard's car at a truck stop fifty miles out of town and paid cash for a beaten-up 2005 Honda Civic from a teenager who didn't ask questions. By sunrise, we were off the grid, holed up in a seedy motel in upstate New York, under the fake name "Thomas."
While Leo watched cartoons, trying to process the trauma, I sat at the wobbly desk and opened Elena's encrypted files again. The blueprints for the Montreal compound fascinated me. It was a fortress. High walls, biometric security, off-the-grid power. She was building an empire with stolen money.
But I needed proof. I needed leverage to destroy her before she destroyed us.
I left Leo with strict instructions not to open the door and drove to a burner phone store. I dialed the one person I could trust: Marcus, an old college roommate who was now a forensic pathologist in the city.
“Mark? Are you insane? You’re all over the news. An Amber Alert was just issued for Leo. They think you kidnapped him and attacked Richard.”
Elena was framing me. She had Richard released on bail and flipped the narrative.
“Marcus, listen to me. Elena is alive. Richard tried to kidnap Leo to take him to her. I need you to do the unthinkable.”
“What?”
“I need you to pull the autopsy file on Elena from a year ago. Look at the dental records. Compare them to her actual dental X-rays from Dr. Evans’ office. I guarantee you they were swapped. And if they were, I need you to go to Detective Vance with the proof.”
There was a long silence on the line. “If you’re wrong, Mark, I lose my license.”
“If I’m right, you save my son’s life.”
Four hours later, my burner phone rang. Marcus sounded like he had seen a ghost. “The molars don't match. The bone structure is off by millimeters. Mark... whoever is in that grave, it isn't your wife.”
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“Go to Vance,” I said. “Tell her everything.”
“It gets worse,” Marcus whispered. “I checked the ME who signed off on the autopsy. Dr. Aris. He transferred out of the country six months ago. His new practice? It’s in Montreal.”
