Chapter 4
I didn’t sleep that night.
I sat in the chair beside Emily’s bed until sunrise.
Every few minutes, she moved.
Each time she did, I looked up.
At six thirty, she opened her eyes and saw me.
“You stayed.”
Those two words nearly broke me.
“Of course I stayed.”
She sat up.
Her hair was tangled around her face.
“Are you going to work?”
“No.”
“Airplane?”
“No airplanes.”
She studied me like she was checking for a trick.
“Today?”
“Not today.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Not tomorrow.”
She crawled into my lap.
I held her until my arms hurt.
I would have held her longer.
After breakfast, a detective called.
Her name was Lena Ruiz.
She wanted to meet me at the station and collect the flash drive.
I asked whether Emily needed to come.
“No,” she said. “Let her have a quiet day if you can.”
A quiet day.
I almost laughed at how impossible that sounded.
Maria stayed with Emily.
I called Sarah’s sister, Rebecca.
We had barely spoken for a year.
She had never forgiven me for marrying Vanessa.
At the time, I thought she was judging me for moving forward.
Now I wondered if she had seen something I refused to see.
She answered on the fourth ring.
“Daniel?”
“I need help.”
Silence.
“What happened?”
I told her.
Not everything.
Just enough.
Vanessa.
Emily.
The necklace.
Mark.
Rebecca didn’t interrupt.
When I finished, she said, “I’m coming over.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
Then she hung up.
At the police station, Detective Ruiz placed the flash drive inside an evidence bag.
“You said Vanessa tried to destroy this?”
“Yes.”
“And she mentioned your late wife?”
“She said Sarah should have destroyed whatever was on it.”
Ruiz watched me carefully.
“What was your wife’s cause of death?”
“Car accident.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“Anyone else in the vehicle?”
“No.”
“Any reason to believe it wasn’t an accident?”
I almost said no.
Then I thought of Vanessa’s face.
Maria’s recording.
My open safe.
My brother’s name.
“I don’t know anymore.”
Ruiz leaned back.
“Tell me about Mark.”
I stared at the table.
“He’s my brother.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
She was right.
I rubbed my hands together.
“He’s the CFO of our family company.”
“Close relationship?”
“Usually.”
“Any conflict?”
“Business disagreements.”
“Money?”
“Sometimes.”
“Your late wife knew him well?”
“Yes.”
Sarah had known Mark before she knew me.
They met in college.
She met me at one of his birthday parties.
For years, I had joked that Mark deserved credit for my marriage.
The memory felt disgusting now.
Ruiz asked, “Was Vanessa also friends with your wife?”
“Yes.”
“How close?”
“Very.”
That answer hurt too.
Sarah and Vanessa had volunteered together.
Vanessa had been one of the first people at the hospital after Sarah died.
She had cried in my kitchen.
Held Emily.
Helped me choose flowers.
A year later, she kissed me.
I had felt guilty.
She had told me Sarah would want me to live.
Now I wondered whether Sarah would have wanted me to run.
Ruiz slid a card across the table.
“I’m going to look at the older case.”
My breath caught.
“Why?”
“Because people don’t usually panic over three-year-old jewelry unless it matters.”
When I left the station, I had six missed calls.
All from Mark.
I called him back from my car.
He answered immediately.
“What the hell is happening?”
I said nothing.
“Daniel?”
“How did you know something was happening?”
A pause.
“Vanessa called Mom from the station.”
That was possible.
“What did she tell you?”
“That you hit her.”
“I did.”
He exhaled.
“Jesus Christ.”
“She was hurting Emily.”
“She said it was an accident.”
“She was standing on her hand.”
Silence.
Then he said, “You need to calm down before this destroys the company.”
There it was.
Not Emily.
Not my daughter’s hand.
The company.
“What do you know about Sarah’s necklace?”
Silence again.
Longer this time.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“Nothing.”
“Maria says Vanessa talked to someone named Mark about it.”
His voice hardened.
“Maria is a housekeeper.”
“So?”
“So maybe don’t let an employee blow up your family.”
I almost smiled.
That sounded exactly like Vanessa.
“Were you at my house while I was away?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
I looked through the windshield.
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m checking the cameras.”
He hung up.
I sat very still.
Then I opened the security app.
Our system kept thirty days of recordings.
I scrolled back.
Two nights earlier.
11:47 p.m.
Motion at the side door.
I tapped the clip.
The video loaded.
Mark stepped into view.
My brother wore a baseball cap pulled low over his face.
Vanessa opened the door.
She kissed him.
Not on the cheek.
On the mouth.
I stopped breathing.
They disappeared inside.
Forty minutes later, the camera picked them up leaving the house.
Mark held a blue velvet box.
Sarah’s necklace box.
Vanessa stood beside him.
The camera had audio.
Her voice was faint but clear.
“Make sure the chip is still inside.”
Mark answered.
“If Sarah copied what I think she copied, we’re finished.”
Vanessa grabbed his arm.
“And Daniel?”
Mark laughed.
“Daniel still believes his wife died in an accident.”
I replayed it.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
My hands started shaking so badly I dropped the phone.
When I picked it up again, I called Detective Ruiz.
May you like
She answered.
“I need you to see something.”
