Chapter 4
I didn't answer Daniel.
Detective Reyes told me not to.
Instead, she took my phone, photographed the message, and asked whether Daniel owned any other property.
"A cabin near Lake Mercer," I said.
"Anything else?"
"His company has apartments for visiting executives. He also has access to his mother's house."
"Would he go to any of those places?"
"I don't know."
That answer frightened me more than it should have.
Eleven years of marriage.
And suddenly I realized I had no idea where my husband went when he didn't want to be found.
Reyes arranged for an officer to remain outside Jacob's room.
Child Protective Services sent a caseworker named Alan Pierce.
He was gentle with Jacob.
He didn't push.
He didn't ask leading questions.
Mostly, he talked about superheroes and school until Jacob relaxed enough to answer simple questions.
I sat in the corner.
When Alan asked whether anyone else besides Lena had hurt him, Jacob looked at me.
Then at the door.
Then whispered, "Daddy doesn't hit me."
I almost exhaled.
Then Jacob added, "He makes Lena do it."
My body went cold.
Alan kept his voice calm.
"What does Daddy tell Lena to do?"
Jacob stared at his blanket.
"Time-outs."
"What kind?"
"The closet."
My fingernails dug into my palms.
"What closet?" Alan asked.
"The one downstairs."
Our downstairs coat closet.
Dark.
Windowless.
Barely large enough for an adult to stand inside.
I remembered finding Jacob asleep on the couch two months earlier with the hall light on.
He'd begged me not to turn it off.
I had teased him gently about being afraid of the dark.
I wanted to scream.
"How long do you stay there?" Alan asked.
"I don't know."
"Does anyone let you out?"
"Sometimes Lena."
"Sometimes?"
"Sometimes Daddy says I need to learn."
I covered my mouth.
Alan gave me a warning glance.
Not because I was doing anything wrong.
Because he knew Jacob needed calm around him.
I forced myself to stay still.
"Why does Daddy say you need to learn?"
Jacob swallowed.
"Because I talk too much."
The interview ended soon after.
Reyes stepped into the hallway with me.
"You should not return home alone," she said.
"I need clothes for Jacob."
"We can arrange an escort."
"I also need my things."
She nodded.
"Tomorrow morning."
"My sister can take us."
"Your husband knows where your sister lives?"
"Yes."
"Then I recommend somewhere else."
I stared at her.
"You really think he's dangerous."
Reyes didn't answer directly.
"I think we don't know enough yet."
That was worse.
I called my older sister, Rachel.
She arrived at the hospital in thirty minutes.
The moment she saw Jacob, she burst into tears.
Then she walked into the hallway, wrapped her arms around me, and said, "Tell me who I need to kill."
It was such a Rachel thing to say that I almost laughed.
Instead, I cried into her shoulder.
We spent the night at a confidential family apartment connected to the hospital.
Jacob slept beside me.
I didn't sleep at all.
At 3:17 a.m., I searched through old photographs on my phone.
Pictures of Daniel holding Jacob as a newborn.
Daniel teaching him to ride a bicycle.
Daniel smiling at birthday parties.
Daniel kissing my forehead on our anniversary.
I kept searching those images for something I had missed.
A coldness in his eyes.
A warning.
Anything.
But photographs lie beautifully.
Morning came.
Reyes met me at our house with two officers.
Daniel still hadn't been located.
The second I walked through the front door, I felt like I had entered someone else's home.
Everything looked normal.
The family pictures.
The cream-colored couch.
Jacob's sneakers near the stairs.
The bowl of keys on the entry table.
Normal had become horrifying.
I went upstairs first.
Jacob's room looked untouched except for the empty space in the closet.
His backpack was gone.
I packed clothes quickly.
Then I stopped at the doorway to Daniel's office.
Always locked.
Daniel had called it his private space.
I had respected that.
Now I hated myself for respecting it.
"Can we open this?" I asked Reyes.
"Do you have legal access?"
"It's my house."
"Do you have a key?"
"No."
One of the officers examined the lock.
Reyes said, "We can seek a warrant if we establish probable cause. Don't force it right now."
I stared at the door.
Then I noticed something above it.
A tiny dark circle in the smoke detector.
It looked slightly different from the detectors in the other rooms.
I pointed.
"Is that a camera?"
The officer brought over a chair.
Seconds later, he removed the detector cover.
Inside was a miniature camera.
My knees weakened.
Reyes caught my elbow.
"Are there more?"
I started moving through the house.
Living room.
Kitchen.
Hallway.
One near the stairs.
Another facing the back entrance.
Then we found one in my bedroom.
Not our bedroom.
Mine.
Three months earlier, after Daniel complained that my tossing and turning kept him awake, he had suggested sleeping in the guest suite several nights a week.
The camera pointed directly at my bed.
I couldn't speak.
Reyes looked furious now.
"We're getting a warrant."
I stared at the camera.
"Jacob said there were videos."
"This may be what he meant."
"But why?"
Reyes didn't speculate.
I did.
Every night I had taken medication.
Every morning I'd awakened confused.
Every argument Daniel and I had fought in that room.
Recorded.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Reyes looked at me.
"Speaker."
I answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then Lena's voice.
"Sarah?"
I almost shouted.
"Where are you?"
"Don't tell him I'm calling."
"Daniel?"
She began crying.
"I can't do this anymore."
"Then come to the police."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because he has everything."
"What does that mean?"
"He recorded me."
"Doing what?"
Silence.
"Lena."
"I didn't want to hurt Jacob."
Rage exploded through me.
"You poured hot soup on my child."
"I know."
"You slapped him."
"I know."
"Don't tell me you didn't want to."
"He said I had to make Jacob afraid."
Reyes was recording the call.
I stared at her.
She motioned for me to keep Lena talking.
"Why?"
Lena breathed shakily.
"So Jacob would stop talking to you."
"About what?"
"About the medicine. The cameras. The papers."
"What papers?"
"He was building a file on you."
My heart pounded.
"What kind of file?"
"That you're unstable."
I couldn't breathe.
Lena continued.
"He said once everyone believed you were dangerous, he could take Jacob."
"Why would he do that?"
"It isn't just Jacob."
Her voice dropped.
"It's the trust."
I closed my eyes.
My father's trust.
After Dad died, he'd left a substantial portion of his estate in a protected trust for Jacob.
I was trustee.
Daniel had no direct control over it.
Unless...
My stomach twisted.
"How do you know about the trust?"
"Because Daniel talks when he's angry."
"Where are you?"
"I can't tell you."
"Lena, listen to me. You need to go to the police."
"He'll find me."
"They'll protect you."
"You don't know him."
"I married him."
"No," she whispered.
"You married the person he wanted you to see."
The line went silent for several seconds.
Then Lena said something I would never forget.
"He didn't hire me to take care of Jacob."
My mouth went dry.
"Then why did he hire you?"
"To help him take Jacob away from you."
The call disconnected.
I stared at my phone.
Reyes immediately ordered officers to trace the number.
I felt numb.
Then one of the officers came downstairs.
He carried a small locked metal box.
"We found this in the master bedroom closet."
I recognized it.
Daniel kept passports inside.
The officer set it down.
"We'll wait for the warrant before opening it."
My phone buzzed again.
This time it was an email.
From Daniel.
Subject line:
You should have listened.
Attached was a video.
Reyes stopped me from opening it until they could preserve the file.
Then we watched it together.
The video showed me in my bedroom six months earlier.
I was shouting.
Crying.
Throwing a glass against the wall.
I remembered that night.
Daniel and I had fought because he told me Jacob was afraid of me.
I remembered feeling dizzy.
Unusually angry.
Almost disconnected from my own body.
The camera captured only me.
Not Daniel.
Not what he had said.
Not what happened before.
The clip ended with me sitting on the floor, sobbing.
A second attachment appeared.
A document.
Petition for Emergency Custody.
Prepared three weeks earlier.
I read the first line twice.
Then a third time.
May you like
Daniel wasn't planning to take Jacob someday.
He had already started.
