Chapter 9
I called Linda before Detective Alvarez could stop me.
She didn’t answer.
Again.
Voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
Alvarez took my phone.
“No more.”
“That’s her car.”
“We know.”
“She loves Eli.”
“That doesn’t mean Connor stole the car with her permission.”
“Then find her.”
“We’re trying.”
I paced the apartment.
Linda had been one of the few people who supported me after the separation.
She apologized for Daniel.
She visited Eli.
She brought diapers.
She cried when I told her Daniel had moved Vanessa into the family house.
Could all of that have been fake?
No.
I refused to believe it.
But twenty-four hours earlier, I had refused to believe Rachel could be involved.
Before that, I refused to believe Daniel would intentionally frighten me.
My beliefs no longer meant much.
Facts did.
And the fact was Connor was standing beside Linda’s car.
Police found the sedan forty minutes later.
Abandoned.
No Linda.
No Connor.
There was blood on the passenger seat.
My knees gave out.
“Whose?”
“Unknown.”
“Is there a lot?”
Alvarez paused.
“Enough to be concerning.”
I started crying.
Marcus put an arm around me.
Police went to Linda’s home.
Front door open.
Kitchen disordered.
Phone on the floor.
Signs of a struggle.
No Linda.
Connor had taken her.
Why?
Because she knew something?
Because she had money?
Because she was leverage against Daniel?
Maybe all three.
Daniel was informed through his attorney.
According to Stephanie, he completely broke down.
He offered to tell investigators everything.
Everything.
I laughed when I heard that.
“Now?”
“Claire.”
“His mother disappears and suddenly honesty becomes interesting.”
Stephanie didn’t disagree.
The police interviewed Daniel for nearly four hours.
That evening, Detective Alvarez came back with the summary he authorized her to share.
Daniel had been hiding much more.
Not murder.
Not poisoning.
But enough.
Connor had been helping him conceal money during our divorce.
I felt a familiar anger rise.
“What money?”
“Daniel transferred company funds into Connor-controlled accounts.”
“So I wouldn’t see them.”
“Yes.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
“He says it began because he feared the company would collapse if marital assets were divided.”
“That’s theft.”
“It may be financial fraud and contempt of court, among other things.”
“And Vanessa knew.”
“Yes.”
That was the leverage.
Connor and Vanessa knew Daniel had hidden assets.
They knew he had lied in court filings.
They knew his business could be destroyed if it came out.
So when Vanessa pushed harder, Daniel obeyed.
Not completely.
But enough.
He agreed to frighten me.
He let Vanessa control more of his life.
He ignored warning signs.
He protected her lies because exposing her risked exposing him.
Every choice connected.
Every selfish decision created another lock around his neck.
“What did Linda know?”
Alvarez folded her hands.
“Daniel told her about the money two days ago.”
My stomach sank.
“After his arrest?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He wanted her to retrieve documents from a safe-deposit box.”
“What documents?”
“Records proving Connor controlled the accounts.”
“So Connor took her because she had proof.”
“That is our working theory.”
“Does she have the documents?”
“We don’t know.”
“Where is the box?”
“Bank security is working with us.”
I looked at Eli sleeping nearby.
“What happens if Connor realizes police are closing in?”
Alvarez didn’t answer.
She didn’t need to.
Desperate people did desperate things.
The next morning, Linda’s phone suddenly turned on.
Location ping.
An industrial district twenty miles away.
Police moved in.
They found the phone inside a dumpster.
Nothing else.
But security footage from a nearby warehouse showed Connor driving another vehicle.
A white van.
Linda sat in the passenger seat.
Alive.
Her hands appeared tied.
Relief and terror hit simultaneously.
“She’s alive.”
“As of six this morning.”
“Where did the van go?”
“North.”
Police began searching traffic cameras.
At noon, something unexpected happened.
Vanessa asked to speak again.
Not to me this time.
To prosecutors.
She wanted a deal.
She offered Connor’s likely escape routes, bank accounts, and aliases.
In exchange, she wanted reduced charges.
I didn’t care what she got.
Not then.
I wanted Linda alive.
Vanessa revealed Connor had access to an old lakeside motel owned by his uncle.
Police surrounded it.
Empty.
But Linda had been there.
Her scarf was found tied to a chair.
So was blood.
And a handwritten message.
YOU’RE ALWAYS ONE STEP BEHIND.
Connor was playing with them.
Or stalling.
Why?
Then police found the motel room’s trash.
Food wrappers.
Receipts.
One receipt was from a pharmacy forty miles north.
Timestamp: two hours earlier.
Traffic cameras picked up the van.
They finally had a direction.
The chase moved toward a rural area near the state line.
I followed through updates from Detective Alvarez.
Every ten minutes felt like an hour.
Then Daniel’s attorney called Stephanie.
Daniel wanted permission to speak to me.
“No.”
Stephanie relayed my answer.
Five minutes later she called again.
“He says it’s about Connor.”
“Tell police.”
“He did.”
“What does he need me for?”
“He says there’s something Connor wants that only you can provide.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“A password.”
I stared at her.
“To what?”
“Daniel says during your marriage, he stored encrypted backup files on a shared cloud account.”
“I barely remember that.”
“He says Connor believes those backups contain cryptocurrency keys.”
I almost laughed.
“Daniel has crypto?”
“Apparently.”
“How much?”
“He doesn’t know current value.”
Of course.
“What password does Connor want?”
“The master password was based on something only you and Daniel knew.”
I sat down.
“What?”
Stephanie hesitated.
“Your miscarriage.”
I went completely still.
Before Eli.
Before everything fell apart.
There had been another baby.
Twelve weeks.
A heartbeat.
Then no heartbeat.
Daniel and I had named the baby privately.
No one else knew.
No birth certificate.
No announcement.
Nothing.
Only us.
“Why would he use that?”
“He says it was a phrase he would never forget.”
My eyes burned.
Daniel had taken our private grief and turned it into a financial password.
I wanted to hate him for that too.
But beneath the anger was something else.
Connor knew about the encrypted files.
He might know the password was connected to me.
And Linda was his hostage.
“What does Connor want me to do?”
Stephanie’s voice became careful.
“Daniel thinks Connor may contact you.”
As if summoned by the sentence, my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph arrived.
Linda.
Alive.
Sitting in the back of a van.
Tape over her mouth.
Then a message.
ASK DANIEL WHAT I WANT.
My hands shook.
Another message.
ONE HOUR.
Detective Alvarez was already being connected.
Then Connor called.
His voice was calm.
“Claire.”
I wanted to scream.
Instead I said, “Let Linda go.”
“You sound just like Daniel.”
“What do you want?”
“The password.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Yes, you do.”
“I don’t even know what account you mean.”
“Then ask your husband.”
“He isn’t my husband anymore.”
Connor laughed.
“Emotionally complicated. Legally inaccurate.”
I closed my eyes.
“Let Linda go.”
“Password first.”
“How do I know she’s alive?”
“Listen.”
Rustling.
Then Linda’s muffled voice.
“Claire?”
“Linda!”
“I’m okay.”
Connor took the phone back.
“One hour.”
“If you hurt her—”
“You’ll what?”
His voice changed.
“You people still think this is about emotion.”
“What is it about?”
“Money.”
“At first maybe.”
He laughed.
“Always.”
“Then why hurt Eli?”
Silence.
That got him.
“I didn’t.”
“You helped Vanessa.”
“She went off script.”
“Rachel?”
“She recorded things she shouldn’t.”
“You kidnapped her.”
“She’s alive.”
“Barely.”
Connor exhaled.
“You want Linda alive, get me the password.”
The call ended.
Police began tracing.
Alvarez looked at me.
“Do you know the password?”
I thought of the baby we lost.
The name.
The date.
The phrase Daniel said in the hospital afterward.
We carry you with us.
My stomach twisted.
Maybe.
“I might.”
“We cannot give Connor access to the real funds.”
“I don’t care about the money.”
“We do, because the transfer could expose his location.”
“Then create a fake login.”
Cybercrime began working.
Daniel was brought into a monitored video call with investigators.
I refused to appear on camera.
But I listened.
He explained the backup system.
The password structure.
The wallet.
The value.
Then one officer asked, “How much money are we talking about?”
Daniel whispered the number.
Everyone went quiet.
Nearly four million dollars.
I stared at the wall.
During our divorce, Daniel claimed he was almost broke.
Four million.
Hidden.
I started laughing.
I couldn’t help it.
Marcus looked at me with concern.
“Claire?”
“Four million.”
My laugh turned into tears.
“He fought me over daycare expenses.”
No one spoke.
Then Daniel’s voice came through the computer speaker.
“Claire?”
I froze.
He knew I was listening.
“I’m sorry.”
I wiped my face.
I didn’t answer.
“I know that means nothing.”
Correct.
“But please help my mom.”
That broke through everything.
Not for Daniel.
For Linda.
“I will.”
His breath caught.
Then he said, “The password starts with Hope.”
My chest tightened.
That was the name.
Hope.
Our baby.
I closed my eyes.
Police created a controlled login portal designed to capture Connor’s device location.
We sent the password structure.
Connor responded instantly.
FULL PASSWORD.
I typed it myself.
HopeLivesWithUs0417.
My hands shook.
That date had been the day we lost her.
The message sent.
Seconds passed.
Then cybercrime shouted.
“Got him.”
A map appeared.
Location.
An abandoned farm twenty-six miles from the state line.
Police units moved.
Connor must have realized something was wrong because the connection disappeared.
Then my phone rang.
He was furious now.
“You set me up.”
“Let Linda go.”
“You think you’re smart?”
“No.”
“You think police will reach me before I leave?”
I heard an engine.
My heart pounded.
“Connor.”
“You should have given me what I asked for.”
Then another sound.
A struggle.
Linda screamed.
The phone crashed against something.
Connor cursed.
A gunshot exploded through the line.
I screamed.
May you like
The call disconnected.
And no one in the room knew who had been shot.
