Hammer used to sit beside his bed folding paper birds.
It was a habit Benjamin started during a hospital art session.
One crane for every difficult day.
One yellow bird for a good morning.
One blue bird for a day when he felt brave.
By the time Benjamin died, a string of paper cranes hung across his hospital room.
Hammer took them home.
For months afterward, he couldn't bear to look at them.
His marriage did not survive the grief intact.
He and Rachel tried to support one another, but they mourned in different ways. Eventually they separated, then divorced with an affection that remained real even when their life together no longer worked.
Hammer threw himself into work.
The club.
And eventually the hospital fundraising program.
He told people he wanted to help other children.
That was true.
But he also wanted to remain close to the place where he'd last heard his son laugh.
Rook knew all of this.
He'd attended Benjamin's memorial.
He'd stood beside Hammer during the worst night of his life.
And he had once driven three hours through a snowstorm to bring Rachel a replacement battery for her car while Benjamin was in intensive care.
Hammer never forgot those acts of kindness.
He also never imagined that a man capable of such loyalty could betray children whose care had become the very reason the club raised money.
That was his mistake.
Rook handled the charitable fund's accounts.
He arranged contractors.
Processed invoices.
And assured Hammer that the project was progressing.
Whenever questions arose, Hammer referred people to him.
When Emma requested additional records, Rook complained that she was accusing volunteers of theft.
Hammer asked whether the invoices were legitimate.
Rook answered yes.
And Hammer accepted it.
Then the warnings became harder to ignore.
A club member named Daniel “Brick” Morgan showed Hammer photographs of a construction site that didn't match the billed work.
A vendor complained that his company name appeared on a receipt for goods he'd never supplied.
And Emma sent Hammer a formal request for a meeting about the account discrepancies.
Hammer agreed to review the matter.
But he delayed.
He told himself he needed to avoid damaging the club's reputation before knowing the facts.
He told himself Rook deserved the benefit of the doubt.
And he told himself he could sort everything out privately.
Then Emma Bennett was attacked.