Chapter 7
Ethan stared at the photograph for so long that Detective Hale finally lowered his phone.
“No.”
It came out as a whisper.
Then Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
I understood.
Daniel wasn’t merely his friend.
They had grown up together.
Played baseball together.
Shared an apartment after college.
Daniel had been best man at our wedding.
He was Noah’s godfather.
When Ethan’s father died, Daniel had slept on Ethan’s couch for a week because Ethan couldn’t bear being alone.
And now there he was.
At the bank with Susan.
Three days before everything exploded.
“Call him,” Ethan said.
Detective Hale shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know what he does when he doesn’t realize we’re looking at him.”
Ethan clenched his jaw.
“That’s my best friend.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
Hale stayed calm.
“I understand that the fastest way to destroy a useful investigation is to warn someone before we understand their role.”
I touched Ethan’s arm.
“He’s right.”
Ethan pulled away.
Not angrily.
He simply needed space.
“What was Daniel doing with my aunt?”
Hale said, “That’s what we need to determine.”
My phone buzzed.
A text from Megan.
Noah was asking when we were coming back.
I looked around my destroyed office.
“We need somewhere safe.”
Hale agreed.
He arranged for a patrol car to remain near Megan’s house while we handled the immediate investigation.
Then I asked the question I had been avoiding.
“Could Daniel have sent the threatening email?”
Hale’s answer was careful.
“Anyone inside your home could have used your network.”
“Our router password?”
“Could have been compromised.”
“Daniel knew it,” Ethan said suddenly.
I looked at him.
“What?”
“He helped me install the system last year.”
That hit hard.
Hale wrote it down.
“Who else knew it?”
“Megan. Maybe my mother. Charlotte.”
“So several possibilities.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“Fantastic.”
We spent the next hour giving police an inventory of missing items.
My laptop.
External drive.
A folder containing business contracts.
Two old boxes Ethan had brought from his father’s house after Richard died.
I stopped.
“Ethan.”
He looked at me.
“The boxes.”
“What about them?”
“What was in them?”
“Mostly junk.”
“What kind of junk?”
“Old tax documents. Photos. Some letters.”
“From your dad?”
“Yes.”
Hale stepped closer.
“Were those boxes taken?”
We checked the closet.
Both were gone.
Suddenly the break-in made sense.
Whoever entered our home wasn’t looking for jewelry.
They wanted Richard’s papers.
“Did you ever examine everything in those boxes?” Hale asked.
“No,” Ethan said. “Mom gave them to me years after Dad died. She said she was cleaning the attic.”
“When?”
“About five years ago.”
“Before or after your son was born?”
“After.”
Hale’s expression suggested that detail mattered.
At noon, he left to coordinate with the bank and missing-person investigators.
Ethan and I went to Megan’s house.
Noah ran into my arms.
I held him.
For one minute, I tried to pretend we were a normal family.
Then Megan took one look at us.
“Tell me everything.”
We did.
She listened without interrupting.
When I mentioned Daniel, her expression changed.
“What?”
I noticed.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“Megan.”
She hesitated.
“I saw Daniel two weeks ago.”
“So?”
“At your house.”
I stared at her.
“When?”
“A Tuesday afternoon. I drove past because I was dropping something off for you.”
“I was at work.”
“I know.”
“Was Ethan home?”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
My heart began pounding.
“What was Daniel doing?”
“He was coming out of your driveway.”
Ethan stood.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I thought maybe he had stopped by to leave something.”
“Did you see his car?”
“Yes.”
“What time?”
“Around two-thirty.”
I looked at Ethan.
That was before any of this.
Before my software payment.
Before Sunday dinner.
Daniel had been at our empty house.
“How did he get in?” I asked.
Megan looked uncomfortable.
“I don’t know if he did.”
Ethan pulled out his phone.
Our security camera system stored footage for thirty days.
Or it was supposed to.
He opened the app.
Selected that Tuesday.
Nothing.
He checked Monday.
Wednesday.
Footage existed.
Tuesday from noon until four had been deleted.
His face turned white.
“Only the window Megan saw him is missing.”
I felt betrayed before we even knew whether Daniel had done anything.
Because someone had.
And whoever it was knew our system.
Ethan called Detective Hale.
This time Hale told us not to leave Megan’s house.
Twenty minutes later, an unmarked car arrived.
Hale entered with another detective.
We explained.
He examined Ethan’s security app.
Then asked a technician to preserve account logs.
“Could Daniel delete video remotely?” I asked.
“If he had credentials.”
“He helped set it up,” Ethan said.
Hale nodded.
“Don’t contact him.”
But Daniel contacted me.
My phone rang while Hale was still sitting in Megan’s kitchen.
His name flashed across the screen.
DANIEL HART.
Every person in the room looked at it.
Hale lifted one finger.
“Answer normally.”
My mouth went dry.
I put it on speaker.
“Hello?”
“Emily.”
Daniel sounded breathless.
“Where are you?”
I looked at Hale.
He shook his head slightly.
“Why?”
“Listen to me. You and Ethan need to get Noah somewhere safe.”
My skin went cold.
“He is safe.”
“No, he isn’t.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
I continued.
“Why are you saying that?”
Daniel was silent for a second.
Then, “Has Linda contacted you?”
“No.”
“Charlotte?”
“No.”
“Daniel, what is going on?”
He exhaled.
“I should have told you years ago.”
“Told me what?”
“Not over the phone.”
Hale wrote something on a pad and held it up.
ASK ABOUT SUSAN.
I swallowed.
“Where is Susan?”
The silence on the line changed.
“Why are you asking me?”
“You were with her Friday.”
Nothing.
“Daniel?”
“Who told you that?”
“Where is she?”
He whispered something under his breath.
Then said, “Emily, I didn’t hurt Susan.”
I hadn’t accused him.
Nobody moved.
I forced myself to stay calm.
“Then how do you know she’s hurt?”
Another long silence.
Finally, Daniel said, “Because she called me last night.”
Rachel gasped from across the room.
Daniel heard it.
“Who’s with you?”
I ignored the question.
“What did she say?”
“She said Linda found out.”
“Found out what?”
“That we opened the box.”
Ethan grabbed the edge of the table.
“You opened Richard’s safe-deposit box?”
Daniel recognized his voice.
“Ethan?”
“Answer me.”
“Ethan, listen—”
“You lied to me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“That phrase is getting really popular in my family.”
Daniel swore.
“Your father made me promise.”
The room went silent.
Ethan’s face changed.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“You were twenty-seven when he died.”
“I know.”
“What promise?”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“If anything happened to him, I was supposed to make sure certain records survived.”
“What records?”
“Financial records.”
“About the trust?”
“About much more than the trust.”
Detective Hale held up another note.
MEET.
I said, “Where are you?”
Daniel hesitated.
“I can’t tell you.”
“Then we can’t help Susan.”
“I don’t know where Susan is.”
“You know something.”
“I know your mother-in-law isn’t the only person you should be afraid of.”
I looked at Ethan.
“Who?”
Daniel exhaled slowly.
“Your father discovered money was being stolen from his company.”
Ethan frowned.
“What company?”
“The company my father built with him.”
“Their names weren’t on any company together.”
“Not publicly.”
Daniel continued.
“They used a holding company. Richard found out someone was moving money through fake accounts.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why are we in danger?”
“Because the records Susan took from that box could prove who did it.”
“Where are the records?”
Daniel paused.
“I gave them to Emily.”
I stopped breathing.
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The night I drove you home.”
My mind raced back.
Wednesday night.
The parking garage.
My dead battery.
Daniel opening the passenger door.
He had carried my laptop bag because my ankle hurt.
“You put something in my bag?”
“A flash drive.”
I stared at my destroyed home office in my imagination.
The stolen laptop.
The missing external drive.
Someone had believed I had Richard’s records.
“I never saw it.”
“It’s small. Black. No label.”
“Daniel, my laptop bag was at home.”
“Was?”
“Someone broke in and took it.”
Daniel cursed.
Hale was writing fast.
Then Daniel suddenly said, “Wait.”
“What?”
“If they took your laptop bag, they think they have it.”
“Do they?”
“No.”
My heart jumped.
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t put the real drive in your laptop bag.”
I stared at the phone.
“Where did you put it?”
May you like
“In Noah’s backpack.”
Every adult in the room turned toward the blue school backpack sitting beside Megan’s front door.
