CHAP 3: WHAT WAS HIDDEN IN THE ASHES
đ„ WHAT THEY FOUND INSIDE THE URN LEFT THE DETECTIVE SPEECHLESS!
Under the cover of a pitch-black midnight sky, Detective Marcus Vance, accompanied by Julia and Arthur, stood inside the quiet, eerie mausoleum of Saint Jude Memorial Park. The smell of cold marble and damp earth filled the air.
In Marcusâs hands was a crowbar. On the marble pedestal sat a heavy, polished bronze urn engraved with the name: LEO STERLING - FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS.
"Are you sure about this, Marcus?" Julia asked, shivering in the cold night air. She was holding Leo tightly against her chest; the boy had refused to leave her arms since leaving the station.
"If that caller was telling the truth, the answer to how Leo ended up on that highway is inside this urn," Marcus said grimly.
He inserted the steel tip of the crowbar into the sealed lid of the bronze urn and applied pressure. With a loud, agonizing CRACK, the seal broke.
Marcus shone his tactical flashlight inside.
Julia gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth. Arthur stumbled backward, turning his head away.
There were no human ashes inside the urn.
Instead, resting at the bottom of the bronze vessel was a heavy block of gray construction cement, wrapped in a sealed plastic bag. Embedded inside the cement was an electronic tracking chip and a small, rusted iron key.
"It was a fake..." Julia whispered, her voice shaking violently. "My baby didn't die... They stole him! They stole my baby from the hospital and faked his death!"
Marcus pulled on a pair of latex gloves and carefully retrieved the rusted key from the urn. Engraved on the key was a set of numbers: B-104.
"This key belongs to an old industrial facility," Marcus observed, turning the key over under his flashlight beam. "Notice the logo? It's a stylized bird inside a circle."
Arthurâs face turned ghostly white. "The Ravenhill Medical Research Center..." he muttered.
"You recognize this symbol, Mr. Sterling?" Marcus asked sharply, locking eyes with the wealthy businessman.
"It... it was a private pediatric facility," Arthur stuttered, his forehead bead with sudden sweat. "They were one of the major donors to Saint Jude's Hospital before it burned down two years ago. But Ravenhill was shut down by the state three years ago due to financial irregularities!"
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"Shut down on paper, maybe," Marcus said, looking down at the young boy sleeping in Julia's arms. "Leoâs shoes were covered in red clay and industrial grease. The only place in this entire county with red clay soil is Ravenhill Ridgeâright next to Interstate 95."
Suddenly, the heavy iron doors of the mausoleum slammed shut with a deafening bang!
