Chapter 2 - The Fourth Boy
The silence following Madeleine's whispered name seemed to stretch forever.
Daniel was the first to speak.
“Who is Eli?”
Madeleine lowered herself into the armchair beside the fireplace.
For fifteen years, she had imagined the moment when the brothers might return.
She had wondered whether they remembered the vegetable soup, the patched blankets, or the nights when she stayed awake listening for nightmares.
But she had never expected anyone to ask about Eli.
Especially not now.
Laurent stood near the window, still struggling to absorb the truth about his father's house.
“Mom, who are they talking about?”
Madeleine folded her hands.
“There was another child.”
Marc frowned.
“What other child?”
“A little boy. He was eleven.”
Daniel stared at her.
“We were alone when you found us.”
“Yes,” Madeleine said. “You were.”
She looked toward the kitchen.
“But three days after you arrived, someone came looking for you.”
Adrien sat forward.
“Who?”
“A boy named Eli Mercer.”
The name meant nothing to Daniel.
At first.
Then something stirred in his memory.
A narrow street.
An abandoned bicycle.
A child standing outside their stepfather's house.
Daniel's expression hardened.
“Eli was our neighbor.”
Madeleine nodded.
“He came to the community kitchen asking whether anyone had seen three brothers.”
Marc pressed a hand against his forehead.
“I remember him.”
Adrien looked at his youngest brother.
“You do?”
“He used to leave sandwiches on our back steps when Richard locked us outside.”
Richard.
Their stepfather.
The name alone changed the atmosphere in the room.
Daniel hadn't spoken it aloud in years.
He had spent most of his adult life trying to erase the man from his memories.
Richard had been charming before their mother died.
After the funeral, everything changed.
He drank.
He shouted.
He sold their mother's jewelry.
And when the boys complained, he reminded them that nobody else wanted them.
Eli had been the only child in the neighborhood who knew what was happening.
He sometimes brought food.
Once, he had slipped Daniel twenty dollars stolen from his own savings jar.
But Daniel remembered something else now.
Something he had buried beneath fifteen years of survival.
“The night we ran away,” Daniel said slowly, “Eli tried to come with us.”
Marc looked up.
“What?”
“He was standing near the fence. He had a backpack.”
Adrien shook his head.
“I don't remember that.”
“You were helping Marc climb through the broken boards.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Eli asked me to wait.”
His voice became quieter.
“I told him we couldn't.”
Madeleine watched him carefully.
“Daniel, you were fifteen.”
“I told him to go home.”
He swallowed.
“And he said he couldn't.”
Nobody moved.
Madeleine reached for a folded handkerchief.
“Eli came to me because he was frightened. His father had been arrested, and the aunt caring for him had threatened to send him away.”
“What happened to him?” Marc asked.
Madeleine hesitated.
“I tried to help.”
Daniel looked directly at her.
“What does that mean?”
“I contacted the county. I asked whether he could be placed somewhere safe.”
“And?”
“They told me he wasn't part of your case.”
Adrien frowned.
“That wouldn't prevent someone from reporting a child in danger.”
“I know. I made the report.”
“Did they investigate?”
Madeleine's hands trembled.
“I was told they did.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“What happened after that?”
Madeleine looked toward the window.
“He disappeared.”
The room seemed to grow colder.
Marc stood.
“Disappeared?”
“Two days before you left for the Whitakers' house.”
Daniel remembered that week.
The excitement.
The fear.
The first time someone had told them they could stay together.
He remembered the Whitakers arriving in a blue minivan.
Helen had brought homemade cookies.
Robert had shaken his hand like he was already a man.
And Madeleine had cried when they drove away.
But he remembered nothing about Eli disappearing.
“Why didn't you tell us?” he asked.
Madeleine's eyes filled.
“Because the authorities told me there was no evidence of a crime. They said his aunt had moved him out of state.”
Adrien's expression sharpened.
“Did you verify that?”
“I tried.”
“Did you ever speak to Eli again?”
Madeleine shook her head.
“No.”
Laurent looked between them.
“Are you saying my mother knew about another missing child and kept it secret?”
“No,” Adrien said. “We're saying someone sent us a message claiming there's more to the story.”
He examined the phone again.
The sender had used a number that couldn't immediately be identified.
The message contained no photograph.
No explanation.
Only an accusation.
Daniel rose.
“We need to find out who sent this.”
Madeleine suddenly reached for his arm.
“Please don't go looking for Richard.”
Daniel froze.
“Richard?”
Madeleine's breathing became shallow.
“Your stepfather came to see me after you left.”
Marc felt his stomach tighten.
“When?”
“About a week later.”
“What did he want?”
“He wanted to know where you were.”
Daniel's jaw clenched.
“Did you tell him?”
“Of course not.”
“What happened?”
Madeleine looked down.
“He threatened me.”
Laurent stepped closer.
“Threatened you how?”
“He said I had taken something that belonged to him.”
Daniel felt anger rise in his chest.
“We weren't his property.”
“I told him that.”
Madeleine paused.
“Then he said something strange.”
Adrien waited.
“He said I should stop asking questions about Eli.”
A terrible possibility began to form in Daniel's mind.
“Did Richard know Eli was missing?”
Madeleine nodded.
“He knew before I told him.”
The phone vibrated again.
Adrien looked down.
Another message.
This one contained a photograph.
It showed a young boy standing beside a white pickup truck.
His face was pale.
His expression frightened.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written a date.
November 19.
Fifteen years earlier.
The day after the brothers left Madeleine's home.
Beneath the photograph was a sentence.
ELI DIDN'T DISAPPEAR. SOMEONE PAID TO MAKE HIM DISAPPEAR.
And attached to the message was a scanned financial record.
May you like
The account holder's name was clearly visible.
Madeleine Rousseau.
