Chapter 11: The Name on the Death Certificate
The first thing I remembered after the shooting was Noah crying.
The second was Sergeant Collins telling someone to keep pressure on my shoulder.
The third was the sound of a federal marshal shouting that the suspect had escaped through the eastern loading bay.
By the time the paramedics carried me outside, the training facility was surrounded by police vehicles.
David Shaw stood near the ambulance, arguing with two federal agents. Ethan Ward had been taken into custody, although he insisted he had been trying to protect Noah.
Emily and the boy were nowhere in sight.
I grabbed Shaw's sleeve as the paramedics loaded me onto the stretcher.
“Where's Noah?””
“Safe.””
“Where?””
“With Collins. She's taking him to a secure location.””
“Did they catch James?””
Shaw's expression answered before he spoke.
“No.””
I tried to sit up.
A paramedic pushed me back down.
“Officer, you have a bullet wound. You're not going anywhere.””
“Then tell me who the hell that man was.””
Shaw glanced at the photograph in my hand.
“Where did you get that?””
“Beside my boot.””
He examined the writing on the back.
His face went pale.
“Where's the original ledger?”” I demanded.
“Secure.””
“Does it contain James Carter's real identity?””
Shaw hesitated.
“Not exactly.””
The ambulance doors closed.
As we pulled away, he leaned inside.
“Listen carefully. The man you saw today was using James Carter's identity. The real James Carter was declared dead seven years ago.””
“Then who's the man who raised Noah?””
Shaw lowered his voice.
“That's what I intend to find out.””
The hospital staff treated my wound, stitched the damaged tissue, and kept me under observation. By late afternoon, I was sitting upright when Collins finally arrived.
She looked exhausted.
“Where's Noah?””
“Safe with Emily.””
“Are they together?””
“For now.””
I studied her face.
“What does that mean?””
She sat beside the bed.
“Emily told me everything she knows about the man we called James Carter.””
“And?””
“He wasn't her husband.””
I stared at her.
“Explain.””
“Seven years ago, Emily married a man named James Carter. He was a former accountant who had helped federal prosecutors expose financial crimes connected to Bell's security network.””
“That sounds like the man in the file.””
“It was. But James died in a car accident before the wedding anniversary. His death was officially recorded, and Emily was never told the circumstances.””
I frowned.
“Then who was Noah's father?””
Collins opened a folder.
Inside was a birth certificate with several lines blacked out.
“Ethan Ward.””
I stared at the name.
“The protected witness?””
“Yes.””
“Then why did Emily marry James?””
“Because James had promised to protect Ethan's son. He and Emily were close friends. After Ethan's supposed death, they agreed to raise Noah under a new identity.””
I rubbed my forehead.
“That's why Ethan recognized the boy.””
Collins nodded.
“But there's a problem. The man who entered the training facility knew details that only the real James Carter could have known.””
“Could someone have stolen his identity?””
“That's what we're investigating.””
She turned another page.
A death certificate lay beneath the birth record.
James Carter's name appeared at the top.
The date of death was seven years earlier.
But the signature authorizing the release of the body belonged to Daniel Mercer.
I looked up.
“Mercer was involved from the beginning.””
“Possibly.””
“Or Mercer never existed.””
Collins nodded slowly.
“That possibility is becoming harder to ignore.””
A nurse entered to check my blood pressure. When she left, Collins leaned closer.
“There's something else. Ethan Ward has agreed to speak with us.””
“Under what conditions?””
“He wants to see Noah.””
“No.””
“That's what I told him.””
She placed a photograph on the bed.
It showed Ethan standing outside an apartment building with a woman and a little boy.
The child looked about seven.
On the back was a handwritten date.
The same day Rebecca Collins died.
“Where did you get this?””
“From Ethan's personal effects. The woman is Rebecca.””
I examined the image.
“Then Rebecca knew Ethan before the witness-protection case.””
“She helped him gather evidence. They were working together when the operation began.””
“Were they romantically involved?””
Collins shook her head.
“No. But they trusted each other. More than they trusted anyone else.””
I looked at the boy in the photograph.
“Is that Noah?””
She nodded.
“Which means Ethan's claim is true. Noah is his biological son.””
I sat back.
“Then why did the man at the facility call himself James Carter?””
“Because James's identity was the safest one available. He was legally dead, and his records had been sealed.””
“But the man who raised Noah was not the real James.””
“Correct.””
I stared at the photograph again.
Something was missing.
If Ethan was Noah's father, and the real James Carter was dead, who had spent seven years pretending to be him?
And why had Emily gone along with it?
Collins seemed to read my thoughts.
“Emily says she never knew the man was an impostor. She believed James had survived the accident and returned under a sealed identity.””
“That's impossible. She would have recognized her husband.””
“Unless the real James and the impostor looked remarkably alike.””
I thought of the scar beneath the man's left eye.
The way he moved.
The way he knew details about my disciplinary record.
“Facial resemblance doesn't explain his knowledge of the department.””
“No. Which means he had access to the same files.””
My phone vibrated on the bedside table.
An unknown number.
A text message appeared.
*You are asking the wrong question, Officer Bennett.*
Another message followed.
*The man who shot you was not James Carter. He was not Daniel Mercer. He was not Thomas Vale.*
I felt a chill crawl up my spine.
A third message appeared.
*He was the man who trained all three of them.*
Then my phone rang.
I answered.
A distorted male voice spoke.
“You found the ledger. Good.””
“Who is this?””
“Someone who wants you to stop before you die.””
“Where's Noah?””
“Ask the woman raising him.””
I gripped the phone.
“What does that mean?””
“Emily Carter has lied about everything.””
The call ended.
I looked at Collins.
She had heard every word.
“Could it be true?”” I asked.
She stared at the phone.
“I don't know.””
Then she pulled another document from the folder.
It was an old adoption record.
The child's name had been blacked out, but the adoptive parent's signature remained visible.
Emily Carter.
The date was twenty years earlier.
Collins whispered, “Bennett, Noah is seven. This document is thirteen years older than he is.””
I stared at the page.
The woman who had raised Noah had adopted another child long before he was born.
May you like
And the adoption record carried the signature of the same man who had ordered Rebecca's death.
Deputy Chief Harris.
