Chapter 6
Daniel took one step backward.
“Lily.”
She immediately moved behind me.
That reaction almost destroyed him.
His face changed.
“Michael, I swear—”
“Don’t.”
He lifted both hands.
“I did not put that tracker in her bag.”
Lily peeked around my arm.
“You did.”
Daniel looked like he had been struck.
“No, sweetheart.”
Detective Ruiz intervened.
“Everybody stop.”
She looked at Daniel.
“Sit down.”
He didn’t argue.
That scared me more than if he had.
My brother sat at my mother’s dining table while Ruiz’s partner moved toward him.
“Mr. Harrison, do you consent to a search of your pockets?”
Daniel stared at me.
Then nodded.
“Yes.”
Phone.
Wallet.
Keys.
Nothing else.
Ruiz turned to Lily.
“Can I ask you a question?”
Lily nodded.
“When you say Uncle Daniel put this in your bag, did you see his face?”
“Yes.”
“Clearly?”
Lily hesitated.
“He had a hat.”
Daniel looked at me.
“I don’t wear hats.”
Ruiz ignored him.
“What made you think it was Uncle Daniel?”
“He sounded like him.”
My heart hammered.
“The voice?”
She nodded.
“And he wore Uncle Daniel’s brown shoes.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“My brown shoes?”
Ruiz raised a hand.
“Please.”
Lily continued.
“And his bracelet.”
Daniel slowly looked at his wrist.
A braided leather bracelet.
He had worn one for years.
Ruiz noticed.
“So you recognized the bracelet?”
Lily nodded.
Daniel looked sick.
“Michael, half the men in Nashville could own that thing.”
“But not half the men have access to my house.”
“I do.”
Exactly.
He stood.
Ruiz’s partner stepped forward.
“Sit down.”
Daniel sat again.
He looked at me.
“Think.”
“I’m trying.”
“I was at the rehearsal venue that afternoon.”
“Can you prove it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Cameras. Staff. I was with the florist for almost an hour.”
Ruiz wrote something down.
“What date?”
Lily looked confused.
I tried to reconstruct the week.
The day Vanessa made Lily stay upstairs had been nine days earlier.
Not the rehearsal day.
I asked Lily, “Sweetheart, was it last week?”
She nodded.
“Was I in Chicago?”
“Yes.”
Daniel frowned.
“I was in Knoxville.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“For the construction meeting.”
I remembered.
He had sent me pictures.
Or had he?
Ruiz asked for the dates.
Daniel gave them.
She told her partner to verify.
Then Lily said, “He smelled funny.”
Ruiz turned back.
“How?”
“Like Grandma’s fireplace.”
Mom frowned.
“My fireplace?”
Lily shook her head.
“No. The little sticks you burn.”
“Incense?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at me.
“I hate incense.”
He did.
But Thomas Grant burned cedar incense in his office.
I remembered the smell from countless meetings.
Ruiz showed Lily the blurry photograph of Thomas near my back door.
“Is this the man?”
Lily stared.
“I can’t see his face.”
“Does anything look familiar?”
She pointed at the body.
“He’s too old.”
Daniel exhaled.
Barely.
Then Lily said, “The man had Uncle Daniel’s face.”
Every adult froze again.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
She looked frustrated.
“Not his real face.”
Ruiz leaned closer.
“What kind of face?”
Lily touched her own cheek.
“The picture face.”
It took me several seconds.
Then I understood.
“A mask?”
Lily nodded quickly.
“The funny one.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Oh my God.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“Vanessa.”
My pulse jumped.
“What about her?”
“She asked me for a picture.”
“When?”
“A month ago.”
“What kind of picture?”
“She said she was ordering customized masks for the bachelor party.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Those stupid photo masks. Big cardboard faces. She asked for a straight-on picture.”
Ruiz’s expression sharpened.
“Did you send one?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still have the message?”
Daniel took out his phone.
He searched.
Then turned it toward Ruiz.
There it was.
A text from Vanessa.
Send me a clear headshot. It’s for a wedding surprise. Don’t tell Michael.
My stomach turned.
“She disguised someone as Daniel.”
Ruiz didn’t answer.
But her face said she was thinking the same thing.
Lily tugged my sleeve.
“He took it off.”
I looked down.
“What?”
“The face.”
“When?”
“When Vanessa came in.”
My heart pounded.
“Did you see the real man?”
She nodded.
Ruiz crouched again.
“Can you describe him?”
“His hair was dark.”
“How old?”
Lily shrugged.
“Like Daddy.”
“What else?”
“He had a cut.”
“Where?”
She pointed beside her eyebrow.
A scar.
Daniel looked at me.
I didn’t recognize anyone.
Ruiz did.
She pulled out her phone.
Typed.
Then showed Lily a photograph.
“Is this the man?”
I couldn’t see the screen.
Lily’s eyes widened.
She stepped backward.
“Yes.”
Ruiz stood.
“Who is it?”
I demanded.
She turned the phone.
A mugshot.
Eric Mercer.
Vanessa’s cousin.
The convicted fraudster.
The man police could not locate.
My fists clenched.
“He was inside my house wearing my brother’s face.”
Ruiz nodded.
“And apparently tracking Lily.”
“Why?”
“We need to find him.”
Daniel stood slowly.
“Check Vanessa’s parents’ lake house.”
Ruiz looked at him.
“What?”
“Her family has a property near Center Hill Lake.”
“Address?”
“I can get it.”
“How do you know about it?”
“She talked about having the wedding party there once.”
Daniel searched his phone.
Ruiz’s partner made a call.
Minutes later the house felt full of police even though only two detectives were present.
Everything moved faster.
An address.
A search request.
Units notified.
Then Ruiz’s phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Her expression became grim.
“Understood.”
She hung up.
“What?”
I asked.
“Thomas Grant is gone.”
My mouth went dry.
“What do you mean gone?”
“He left his office during questioning.”
“You let him leave?”
“He wasn’t under arrest.”
“Where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
I paced.
Ruiz’s phone rang again before I reached the window.
This time she put it on speaker after identifying herself.
A patrol officer spoke.
“We’re at the lake property.”
Ruiz asked, “Any vehicles?”
“One SUV. Registered to Elaine Mercer.”
Vanessa’s aunt.
The guardianship agency owner.
My heart hammered.
“Occupants?”
“We made contact with a female.”
“Elaine?”
“Confirmed.”
Ruiz looked at me.
“Anyone else?”
“Negative so far.”
A pause.
Then the officer continued.
“Detective, there’s a room here you need to see.”
Ruiz’s face changed.
“What kind of room?”
“Looks like a child’s bedroom.”
My stomach dropped.
Ruiz asked, “Is there a child present?”
“No.”
“Describe the room.”
The officer hesitated.
“Twin bed. Girl’s clothing. Toys.”
I grabbed the table.
“What sizes?”
Ruiz looked at me but repeated the question.
The officer answered.
“Small. Maybe five or six.”
My vision blurred.
Lily.
They had prepared a room.
Before the wedding.
Before any supposed emergency.
Before I had ever heard of their program.
Ruiz asked, “Anything identifying?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
“What?”
“There’s a name painted over the bed.”
My skin went cold.
The officer said it.
“Lily.”
Mom covered her mouth.
Daniel stared at the floor.
I walked away because I thought I might break something.
Then the officer added, “There’s more.”
Ruiz looked toward me.
“What?”
“A corkboard in the closet.”
“Contents?”
“Photographs.”
“Of Lily?”
“Yes.”
I turned around.
“How many?”
Ruiz repeated it.
The officer answered.
“Dozens.”
My stomach rolled.
“School. Playground. Grocery store. Outside this residence. Looks like surveillance.”
Lily didn’t hear that part.
Thank God.
Mom had taken her upstairs again.
Ruiz asked the officer to secure everything.
Then she ended the call.
I stared at her.
“This was kidnapping.”
“We don’t know the full plan yet.”
“They had a room waiting for her.”
“Yes.”
“They tracked her.”
“Yes.”
“They drugged her.”
“Yes.”
“What more do you need?”
Ruiz held my gaze.
“Evidence that survives court.”
I hated her answer.
I respected it too.
Then Daniel’s phone buzzed.
He checked it.
His face drained of color.
“Michael.”
“What?”
He turned the screen toward me.
A message from an unknown number.
One sentence.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THE WEDDING HAPPEN.
Below it was a photograph.
My house.
Taken from across the street.
Minutes ago.
Ruiz grabbed the phone.
“Your home is under police watch.”
Daniel whispered, “Then whoever took this was watching the officers.”
Another message arrived.
This one included a photograph of me.
Standing beside the hospital window that morning.
My blood ran cold.
A third image loaded.
Lily.
Leaving the hospital in my arms.
And underneath it were six words.
WE CAN STILL FINISH THIS.
Mom came down the stairs just as I read it.
She saw my face.
“What happened?”
Nobody answered.
Then from upstairs, Lily screamed.
I ran.
Two steps at a time.
“Lily!”
I reached the guest room.
The window was open.
Curtains blowing.
The bed was empty.
For one impossible second, my brain stopped working.
Then I heard crying from the closet.
I ripped the door open.
Lily was crouched inside.
I grabbed her.
“What happened?”
She pointed toward the window.
“A man was outside.”
My chest seized.
“What man?”
“The man from Daddy’s house.”
Eric.
I ran to the window.
Nothing.
Only Mom’s backyard.
Fence.
Trees.
An empty alley.
Then Lily held something out.
A folded card.
“He threw it through the window.”
Ruiz took it with gloves.
There were only four words written inside.
ASK MICHAEL ABOUT REBECCA.
I stared at the message.
May you like
And suddenly the entire nightmare reached backward three years.
Back to the day my first wife died.
