Chapter 6 - THE TEDDY BEAR
Owen’s teddy bear belonged to his biological mother, Sarah Carter.
She died two years earlier in an apparent car crash.
The tracker inside it contained more than location data.
A memory card.
Sarah had recorded Michael and Brooks arguing.
Brooks said:
“Children are safer when they don’t know which family is real.”
Michael answered:
“That is not safety. That is ownership.”
Sarah had discovered Safe Harbor before Michael.
Her crash was reopened.
Brake lines had been cut.
A military mechanic connected to Brooks signed the inspection.
Sarah’s death became murder evidence.
Then the memory card showed Vanessa meeting Brooks before marrying Michael.
She had been selected as stepmother.
Her role was to gain access, wait for Michael’s disappearance, and move the twins.
Vanessa claimed she did not know the full plan.
Payments and messages showed she knew enough.
Fear, money, and status combined.
Then Owen asked one question.
“Did she ever love us?”
No document could answer completely.
Vanessa requested to speak with them.
The child advocate refused until evaluation.
Attachment would not become another tool.
Then Sarah’s recording named one more person.
Colonel Daniel Steel.
Me.
May you like
She said I had helped design Safe Harbor’s first airport transfer protocol.
I remembered no such assignment.
