Chapter 10
The school called me at 10:17 a.m.
I was in my office with two forensic accountants.
The second I saw the preschool number, I answered.
“Mr. Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“This is Amy at Little Oaks. Emily is safe.”
My heart stopped anyway.
“What happened?”
“Your brother came here.”
I stood so quickly my chair fell.
“Mark?”
“He said there was a family emergency and you asked him to pick Emily up.”
“Do not let him near her.”
“We haven’t.”
“Where is he now?”
“He left after we told him we needed to verify with you.”
I was already moving.
“Call the police.”
“We have.”
I called Detective Ruiz from the car.
She answered before the first ring finished.
“They just notified us.”
“He tried to take my daughter.”
“We don’t know his intent yet.”
“I know his intent.”
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Do not go looking for him.”
“I’m going to the school.”
“That’s fine. Stay there.”
I drove faster than I should have.
By the time I reached Little Oaks, two police cars were outside.
I ran in.
Emily sat in the director’s office.
The moment she saw me, she jumped from her chair.
“Daddy!”
I lifted her.
“I’m here.”
She whispered into my ear.
“He didn’t know pancake.”
My throat tightened.
“No, he didn’t.”
“I remembered.”
“You did.”
“Was I good?”
I pulled back so I could see her face.
“You were safe.”
She waited.
I kissed her forehead.
“And I’m proud of you.”
That mattered.
Dr. Patel had warned me to separate obedience from worth.
Emily wasn’t good because she followed a rule.
She was loved either way.
Still, I was proud.
The director showed police the security video.
Mark entered wearing sunglasses.
He smiled.
He acted calm.
He told the receptionist I had been injured.
He said Emily needed to come with him immediately.
When the director asked for identification and called me, Mark left.
He had parked beyond the camera range.
Detective Ruiz arrived twenty minutes later.
She watched the footage.
“This changes things.”
“What does it change?”
“We now have evidence he lied to school staff trying to remove a child during an active investigation.”
“Arrest him.”
“We’re trying.”
I hated those words.
Trying.
Searching.
Preparing.
Meanwhile my brother was moving around freely.
Ruiz seemed to read my face.
“We also issued the financial warrants this morning.”
“And the murder case?”
“Do not call it that publicly yet.”
“What do you call it?”
“A suspicious death investigation.”
I laughed bitterly.
“My brother paid someone to damage her brakes.”
“And we are building the case carefully so it survives court.”
That silenced me.
She was right.
I wanted speed.
Sarah deserved certainty.
Emily deserved safety.
Neither would be served by a reckless case.
I took Emily home.
Rebecca had already arranged to stay another week.
Maria refused to leave.
“I’m not going anywhere until he is found.”
I looked at her.
“You have your own home.”
“And Emily has me.”
That was the end of the discussion.
That afternoon, the forensic accountants discovered another problem.
Money was still moving.
One of Mark’s shell companies transferred $900,000 the previous night.
The destination account belonged to a holding company in Nevada.
“Can it be frozen?” I asked.
“Our attorneys are working on it.”
I stared at the screen.
“What about Vanessa?”
The accountant looked confused.
“What about her?”
“Could she have access?”
“Possibly.”
Vanessa had been released pending her first hearing.
A temporary protective order barred her from the house and from contacting Emily.
She also had surrendered her passport.
But she was not in jail.
I called Ruiz.
“Could Vanessa be helping Mark move money?”
“We’re looking at that.”
“Everyone keeps looking.”
“Yes.”
Her voice hardened.
“Because looking carefully is how we put people in prison instead of giving their lawyers easy mistakes to attack.”
I leaned back.
“You’re right.”
“I know.”
That almost made me smile.
Then she added, “Vanessa’s attorney contacted the prosecutor.”
My smile vanished.
“Why?”
“She wants to negotiate.”
“For what?”
“She claims she has information about Sarah’s death.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“What kind of information?”
“She won’t say until she gets terms.”
“Does she know where Mark is?”
“Maybe.”
“Does she have the necklace?”
“We asked.”
“And?”
“She says Mark does.”
I stood.
“What’s on the chip?”
“She says enough to send him to prison for the rest of his life.”
My hands started shaking.
“Then why did she help him take it?”
“Because she says it sends her to prison too.”
That evening, I sat beside Emily’s bed.
She chose three books.
Negotiation had apparently ended in her favor.
Halfway through the second, she interrupted me.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Did Uncle Mark hurt real Mommy?”
I froze.
I had been careful not to discuss the investigation around her.
“Why do you ask?”
“Madam said he did.”
My mouth went dry.
“When?”
“When he came here.”
“What exactly did she say?”
Emily looked at the ceiling.
“She said, ‘You already killed one mommy. Don’t make me next.’”
I stopped breathing.
Emily turned toward me.
“Did he?”
I did not lie.
But I did not give a four-year-old the full horror either.
“The police are trying to understand what happened.”
“Was Mommy scared?”
I looked at Sarah’s photograph on the shelf.
“I think she was brave.”
Emily nodded.
“Like me?”
I swallowed hard.
“Exactly like you.”
After she fell asleep, I called Ruiz.
Then I stood in the dark hallway and realized Vanessa had known.
May you like
Maybe not afterward.
Maybe before.
