Chapter 3
Daniel nearly knocked over the chair.
“What do you mean, missing?”
Henry was already moving toward the door.
“The security team checked her room five minutes ago. The bed was empty.”
Daniel went pale.
“Who was with her?”
“Mrs. Bennett.”
“The housekeeper?”
Henry nodded.
“She says she stepped downstairs because Emma wanted warm milk.”
Claire ripped the monitoring clip from her finger.
“I’m coming.”
Daniel turned.
“No.”
“Daniel—”
“You can barely stand.”
“Emma is asking for me.”
“You’re injured.”
“And someone may have taken her.”
Claire swung her legs over the bed.
Pain shot through her side so violently that she almost fell.
Daniel caught her.
“Claire.”
“I’m going.”
He stared at her.
She stared back.
Finally he swore under his breath.
“Wheelchair.”
Ten minutes later, Daniel was pushing Claire through the private hospital entrance.
Detective Monroe joined them.
Victoria was nowhere in sight.
“Where is she?” Henry asked.
Sarah’s expression was grim.
“She left while I was speaking with an officer.”
Daniel stopped.
“She left?”
“She wasn’t detained. Legally, I couldn’t stop her.”
“Where did she go?”
“We’re trying to find out.”
Daniel looked like he wanted to break something.
Claire gripped the wheelchair arms.
“Get us home.”
The Whitmore estate was twelve minutes away.
Daniel made it in seven.
Police cars already surrounded the property.
The front doors stood open.
Mrs. Bennett was crying in the foyer.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel hurried toward her.
“What happened?”
“I only left for a few minutes.”
“Exactly how many?”
“Five. Maybe six.”
“Was the door locked?”
“Yes.”
“Window?”
“Closed.”
Sarah interrupted.
“Show me.”
They went upstairs.
Emma’s room looked untouched.
Her blankets had been pushed aside.
Her stuffed rabbit lay on the floor.
Claire’s chest tightened.
Emma never went anywhere without that rabbit.
She picked it up.
Something crackled beneath it.
A folded piece of paper.
Claire opened it.
Three words were written in red ink.
STOP LOOKING CLOSER.
Daniel read over her shoulder.
His face turned white.
Henry whispered a curse.
Sarah immediately called for an evidence technician.
Claire stared at the message.
“This isn’t kidnapping.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“It’s a warning.”
“My daughter is gone.”
“I know. But whoever took her wants us frightened, not necessarily paid.”
Henry understood first.
“They want the ring back.”
Sarah nodded slowly.
“Or something else they believe Emma knows.”
Daniel punched the wall.
Claire flinched.
“Daniel.”
He turned.
His eyes were wet.
“I should have listened.”
“To what?”
“Olivia.”
The room became silent.
Henry looked at his son.
Daniel’s shoulders sagged.
“Three days before Olivia died, she told me she was worried.”
Claire froze.
“About Victoria?”
“No.”
He looked toward his father.
“About everyone.”
Henry stiffened.
Daniel continued.
“She said there was something wrong with Emma’s trust.”
Claire had heard about the trust.
Olivia’s family owned several properties and a private investment firm.
When Olivia died, most of her personal fortune was placed in trust for Emma.
Daniel managed nothing.
Henry managed nothing.
The trustees controlled it until Emma turned twenty-five.
“What was wrong?” Sarah asked.
Daniel shook his head.
“She wouldn’t explain over the phone. She said she’d tell me after she returned from Boston.”
Claire felt a chill.
“She never returned.”
Olivia had died when her car left an icy road outside Hartford.
Everyone had called it an accident.
Henry sat down slowly.
“Daniel.”
“I know.”
“Are you saying Olivia’s death—”
“I don’t know.”
Claire looked at the red message.
Maybe this had started much earlier than the canopy.
Sarah’s radio crackled.
An officer appeared in the doorway.
“We found a side entrance open.”
Daniel’s head snapped around.
“Which one?”
“Service corridor near the old conservatory.”
Mrs. Bennett wiped her eyes.
“That door is never used.”
Claire knew the corridor.
It connected the main residence to an unused section of the estate.
Olivia had once used the conservatory as a painting room.
Since her death, it remained mostly locked.
They hurried downstairs.
Police searched the corridor.
Claire refused to stay behind.
She held Emma’s rabbit against her chest.
Near the conservatory entrance, she noticed something.
A tiny pink bead.
She leaned forward in the wheelchair.
“Stop.”
Daniel stopped pushing.
“What?”
Claire pointed.
“That’s from Emma’s bracelet.”
Henry picked it up carefully.
A second bead lay several feet away.
Then another.
Daniel’s breathing quickened.
“She left a trail.”
Claire’s eyes burned.
“Smart girl.”
They followed the beads.
The trail led through the conservatory.
Then toward an old storage room.
The door was locked.
Daniel slammed his shoulder against it.
Nothing.
An officer stepped forward with a tool.
The lock broke.
Daniel rushed inside.
“Emma!”
The room was empty.
But Claire saw the bracelet on the floor.
Broken.
Beside it sat a small portable speaker.
Sarah lifted her hand.
“Don’t touch anything.”
A child’s voice suddenly played.
Daniel froze.
“Daddy?”
It was Emma.
Recorded.
“Daddy, I’m scared.”
Daniel’s face collapsed.
“Emma.”
The recording continued.
“The red lady said I have to be quiet.”
Claire’s blood turned cold.
Then another voice entered.
Distorted.
Electronic.
“If you want the girl alive, stop asking questions about Olivia Whitmore.”
Henry stared at the speaker.
Daniel whispered, “Olivia.”
The recording stopped.
Everyone stood motionless.
Sarah immediately ordered officers to seal the estate.
Claire looked around the room.
Dust covered nearly everything.
Except one place.
A narrow cabinet against the wall.
Its handles were clean.
“Detective.”
Sarah followed Claire’s gaze.
Two officers opened the cabinet.
Inside were stacks of files.
Old financial records.
Photographs.
A laptop.
And several envelopes bearing Olivia’s name.
Henry looked stunned.
“What is all this?”
Claire stared at the cabinet.
“Someone has been using this room.”
Sarah pulled on gloves.
She opened the top envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Olivia stood beside a man none of them recognized.
On the back were four handwritten words.
HE KNOWS ABOUT THE TRUST.
Daniel took a shaky breath.
“Who is he?”
Henry stepped closer.
His face changed.
“I know him.”
Everyone looked at him.
Henry swallowed.
“His name is Marcus Vale.”
Daniel frowned.
“The family attorney?”
“Former family attorney.”
“Why former?”
Henry’s eyes remained on the picture.
“Because your mother fired him twenty-two years ago.”
Daniel stared.
“For what?”
“Stealing.”
Another officer entered.
“Detective, we have a vehicle leaving the property on traffic footage from sixteen minutes ago.”
Sarah turned.
“What vehicle?”
“Black SUV. Plates obscured.”
Daniel started toward the door.
Sarah grabbed his arm.
“You’re not going alone.”
“That could be my daughter.”
“We don’t know where it went.”
The officer raised a tablet.
“We do now.”
Everyone gathered around.
Traffic cameras had captured the SUV turning toward the old riverside road.
Henry frowned.
“There’s nothing out there.”
Claire remembered something.
“Yes, there is.”
Daniel looked at her.
“The Whitmore boathouse.”
Henry’s eyes widened.
The abandoned boathouse had belonged to Olivia.
She used to take Emma there when she was a baby.
Daniel was already running.
Claire tried to follow.
Sarah stopped her.
“You stay.”
Claire glared at her.
“No.”
“You’re injured.”
“So is Emma if we’re too late.”
Daniel looked back.
“Bring her.”
Sarah cursed softly.
Then followed.
The drive felt endless.
The boathouse sat beyond a line of trees near the river.
The black SUV was parked outside.
Daniel jumped from the vehicle before it stopped completely.
“Emma!”
Sarah drew her weapon.
“Daniel, get behind me.”
He ignored her.
Inside the boathouse, something crashed.
Claire climbed out slowly, holding the car door for support.
Then they heard Emma scream.
“Daddy!”
Daniel ran.
Sarah followed.
Claire forced herself toward the doorway.
Inside, a man in a dark jacket held Emma against his chest.
One arm circled her waist.
The other held a knife.
Daniel stopped.
Emma sobbed.
“Daddy.”
“I’m here, sweetheart.”
Claire recognized the man from Olivia’s photograph.
Marcus Vale.
He looked older.
But it was him.
Sarah aimed her weapon.
“Put the knife down.”
Marcus laughed.
“You people are ten years too late.”
Henry entered behind Claire.
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
“You.”
Henry stared at him.
“You were supposed to stay gone.”
“So was Olivia.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“What did you say?”
Marcus looked at him.
“You still think your wife died because of ice?”
Emma cried harder.
Daniel took one step forward.
Sarah snapped, “Don’t.”
Marcus raised the knife.
“I wouldn’t.”
Claire’s heart hammered.
She looked at Emma.
The little girl’s face was wet with tears.
Then Emma saw Claire.
Her eyes widened.
Claire lifted one finger to her lips.
Emma understood.
Marcus kept talking.
“Olivia found documents she wasn’t supposed to find.”
“What documents?” Henry demanded.
Marcus smiled.
“The kind that make wealthy families destroy themselves.”
Behind Marcus was an old emergency lever used to release the boat cradle.
Claire remembered it from years earlier.
A thick rope hung beside it.
She looked at Emma again.
Then at the floor.
A metal bucket sat near the child’s foot.
Claire pointed subtly.
Emma looked down.
Marcus didn’t notice.
Daniel kept him focused.
“If you hurt my daughter, I swear—”
“You’ll what?”
Emma kicked the bucket.
It clanged loudly across the floor.
Marcus startled.
Emma bit his arm.
He shouted.
Claire lunged forward despite the pain.
Daniel rushed him.
Sarah shouted.
The knife fell.
Daniel slammed Marcus against the wall.
Emma ran.
Claire dropped to her knees and caught her.
Pain exploded through her body.
She didn’t care.
Emma wrapped both arms around her neck.
“Claire!”
“I’ve got you.”
“Mommy sent you.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
Daniel helped Sarah restrain Marcus.
Henry stood above him.
“What happened to Olivia?”
Marcus laughed through blood on his lip.
“You think I’m going to tell you?”
Sarah handcuffed him.
“You’ll have plenty of opportunities downtown.”
Marcus looked at Henry.
Then he said something that silenced everyone.
“I didn’t kill Olivia.”
Daniel froze.
Marcus smiled.
“But I know who did.”
Before anyone could ask another question, a gunshot exploded outside.
The boathouse window shattered.
Marcus jerked violently.
Sarah dragged him down.
“Everybody get down!”
Claire covered Emma with her body again.
Daniel crawled toward them.
A second shot hit the wall.
Police returned fire toward the trees.
Then an engine roared.
Tires screamed on gravel.
By the time officers reached the road, the shooter was gone.
Inside the boathouse, Marcus lay bleeding.
Sarah pressed her hands against his shoulder.
“Stay with me.”
Marcus stared at Claire.
His face had gone gray.
“They’re cleaning up.”
“Who?” Claire asked.
“Who is they?”
His lips trembled.
Then he whispered one name.
“Victoria.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
But Marcus wasn’t finished.
He looked toward Henry.
“And your son.”
Daniel stared at him.
“My what?”
Marcus smiled weakly.
“Not you.”
Then he lost consciousness.
Henry’s face became completely white.
May you like
Daniel turned slowly toward his father.
“What son?”
