Chapter 8
I almost dropped the phone.
“Sophie is Daniel's.”
Patricia said nothing.
“She is his.”
“Then why was he paying a laboratory?”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“You're lying.”
“I lie often.”
She sounded amused.
“But not about this.”
The call ended.
I stood in the storage facility holding the phone.
Detective Hale watched me carefully.
“Mrs. Bennett?”
“She said Sophie isn't Daniel's.”
Hale said nothing.
Good.
There was nothing useful to say.
I called Daniel.
He answered.
“Where are you?”
“Did you order a DNA test?”
Silence.
That silence was worse than an answer.
“Daniel.”
“Claire—”
“Yes or no?”
“Yes.”
The room around me disappeared.
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“Why?”
“Mom said something.”
“What?”
“That Sophie didn't look like me.”
I laughed in disbelief.
“She has your eyes.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Mom wouldn't stop.”
“Whose DNA did you test?”
“Mine and Sophie's.”
“You took our daughter's DNA without telling me?”
“A cheek swab.”
“When she was sleeping?”
“Yes.”
My stomach turned.
“What did the result say?”
Daniel breathed slowly.
“Ninety-nine point nine percent probability.”
I closed my eyes.
Sophie was his.
Of course she was.
Patricia had just wanted to destabilize me.
“You knew she was your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you tell your mother?”
“I did.”
“What did she say?”
“That tests can be wrong.”
I laughed.
Actually laughed.
“This is insanity.”
“I know.”
“No, Daniel. You participated.”
“I know.”
Those two words came softer.
Almost broken.
It changed nothing.
But at least he wasn't arguing.
“Where is the report?”
“My office safe.”
“Police searched your office.”
“Not that safe.”
I stared at Hale.
“There's another safe.”
He heard.
Of course he heard.
Within an hour, agents were at Bennett Development headquarters.
Daniel gave them the location.
Behind a framed architectural plan.
Inside they found the DNA report.
And cash.
$340,000.
Three passports.
One belonged to Daniel.
One to Lauren.
One to Patricia.
And a ledger.
Castillo called me from the office.
“Claire, you need to come here.”
I arrived under escort.
Daniel was already there.
He looked at the open safe.
“I didn't put those passports there.”
Castillo asked, “Who knew the combination?”
“Me.”
“Anyone else?”
“Lauren.”
“Your mother?”
“No.”
I almost laughed.
We had learned that “no” meant nothing in this family.
Castillo held up the ledger.
“Recognize it?”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“Lauren kept payment notes.”
“For illegal payments?”
“Yes.”
“Judges?”
Daniel looked at me.
My heart dropped.
“Which judges?”
He stared at the ledger.
“One family court judge.”
Of course.
My custody case.
Castillo said, “Judge Alan Mercer.”
Evelyn, standing beside me, went rigid.
“He received the emergency petition.”
Daniel nodded.
I looked at him.
“You were going to bribe the judge who decided whether I kept Sophie?”
“No.”
“You just said—”
“My mother handled Mercer.”
“So you knew.”
“Yes.”
“How is that different?”
He had no answer.
I turned away.
If I kept looking at him, I would scream.
Castillo opened the ledger.
“Payments go back nine years.”
Not one custody case.
Many.
Patricia hadn't built a single scheme for me.
She had spent years buying influence.
Permits.
Contracts.
Court decisions.
Property disputes.
The respectable family reputation wasn't respectable.
It was purchased.
Hale entered.
“We found Lauren.”
Everyone turned.
“Where?”
“Airport.”
My heart jumped.
“Trying to leave?”
“Private terminal.”
“Arrested?”
Hale's jaw tightened.
“She escaped.”
Daniel stared.
“How?”
“She abandoned a vehicle and entered a hangar. By the time officers got inside, she was gone through a service exit.”
Castillo said, “Camera footage?”
“Some.”
“Who was she meeting?”
Hale looked at me.
“Patricia.”
The room went silent.
“Both were there?”
“Yes.”
“So they're together.”
“Maybe.”
Hale pulled up an image on his tablet.
Security camera.
Lauren entering the terminal.
Patricia arriving twelve minutes later.
Then a third person.
A man.
Tall.
Dark suit.
I didn't recognize him.
Daniel did.
His face changed.
“That's Senator Cole.”
I stared at him.
“A senator?”
“State senator.”
Castillo cursed quietly.
“What connection?”
Daniel shook his head.
“He helped approve Riverstone.”
The failed project that nearly destroyed Bennett Development.
“Why would he meet Patricia?”
Daniel looked at the ledger.
“Because Mom paid him.”
The case exploded again.
Political corruption.
Bribery.
Federal investigators.
More agents.
More questions.
But I only cared about one thing.
Sophie.
By evening, Hale assured me she remained safe.
I spoke with her by video again.
She wanted her stuffed fox.
She had left it at home.
Our home.
The place I had walked out of.
“I'll get it,” I promised.
Evelyn shook her head when the call ended.
“No.”
“I'll send someone.”
“Better.”
An officer went to retrieve it.
He called fifteen minutes later.
The house had been broken into.
Nothing obvious stolen.
But Daniel's home office had been destroyed.
Drawers emptied.
Walls damaged.
Hard drives smashed.
Someone searching desperately.
The officer found Sophie's fox untouched on her bed.
Then he found something else.
A hidden camera.
Inside Sophie's room.
My blood went cold.
“Whose?”
“We don't know.”
It faced the window and doorway.
Not her bed.
That mattered.
It looked more like surveillance than something worse.
Still horrifying.
Hale ordered the entire house searched for devices.
They found six.
Kitchen.
Garage.
Daniel's office.
Living room.
Our bedroom.
Sophie's room.
All feeding data to a remote account.
The account was registered to a security company.
The company belonged to Thomas Reed.
I called Hale.
“Thomas was watching us?”
“For at least eight months.”
“Why?”
“We'll ask when he's conscious.”
Thomas woke the next morning.
I wasn't allowed into the room initially.
Hale questioned him first.
Then Thomas asked to see me.
I almost refused.
Then I remembered Emily.
I went.
Thomas looked smaller in a hospital bed.
Machines around him.
Bandage over his chest.
Handcuff attached to the rail.
“You look disappointed,” he said weakly.
“That you're alive?”
“Yes.”
“I haven't decided.”
He almost smiled.
“Fair.”
I sat across from him.
“Why were you watching my daughter?”
His expression became serious.
“I wasn't watching Sophie.”
“There was a camera in her room.”
“I was watching Daniel.”
“Through my child's bedroom?”
“The window showed the side driveway.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead I said, “Why?”
“Because Daniel was stealing from me.”
“He says you were extorting him.”
“Both can be true.”
I hated that answer.
“Did Patricia hire you?”
Thomas looked surprised.
“No.”
“You worked for her.”
“No.”
“You knew about her money.”
“Not at first.”
“When did you learn?”
“After Emily died.”
I leaned forward.
“What did Emily know?”
“Everything.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because it's true.”
“Then tell me.”
Thomas studied me.
“Emily found two accounting systems.”
“One for Daniel?”
“One for the company.”
“And the other?”
“For Patricia.”
He coughed.
“She used Bennett Development to move money. Daniel thought he was committing fraud to save himself. Patricia was using his fraud to hide hers.”
“Did Lauren work for Patricia from the beginning?”
“Yes.”
Daniel had never been Lauren's partner.
He had been her assignment.
“What did Emily do?”
“She copied records.”
“Onto the blue drive?”
“Yes.”
“Then Lauren chased her.”
“Yes.”
“Did Patricia order her death?”
Thomas looked at the ceiling.
“No.”
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Patricia was furious when Emily died.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“She wanted the drive.”
Of course.
Death had made the evidence disappear.
Or so they thought.
“What happened to Emily's laptop?”
“Lauren destroyed it.”
“The drive?”
“Emily mailed it.”
I froze.
“To whom?”
Thomas looked at me.
“You.”
My breath stopped.
“No.”
“She mailed a package to your home the afternoon she died.”
“I never got one.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because Patricia intercepted it.”
I stood.
“What?”
“She had access to your mail through Daniel.”
“Why would Daniel—”
“Daniel didn't know.”
I thought about Patricia visiting constantly.
Having a key.
Dropping by without warning.
She could have taken anything.
“So how did Daniel get the blue drive?”
Thomas's eyes sharpened.
“That's the part you should ask him.”
I stared.
“He said Emily's evidence ended up with him.”
“Ask how.”
I called Daniel from the hallway.
He answered.
“How did you get Emily's drive?”
Silence.
Again.
Always silence before the truth.
“Daniel.”
“Mom gave it to me.”
My knees nearly weakened.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Why?”
“She said I needed to destroy it.”
I closed my eyes.
“You told me you kept it as insurance against Thomas.”
“I did.”
“After your mother gave it to you.”
“Yes.”
“Why would she suddenly give it to you after hiding it for three years?”
He didn't answer.
Then I understood.
Because Patricia wanted Daniel caught.
The blue drive.
The life insurance.
The fraudulent accounts.
Everything pointed toward him.
Daniel had become useful as a scapegoat.
I said it aloud.
“She was setting you up.”
Daniel whispered, “I know.”
“When did you realize?”
“Yesterday.”
I stared through the hospital window.
“Your mother was going to blame everything on you.”
“Yes.”
“And you were going to blame everything on me.”
He said nothing.
The symmetry was almost perfect.
Patricia destroyed Daniel.
Daniel destroyed Claire.
Everybody passing guilt downward.
Until someone stopped.
“I won't do it,” I said.
“What?”
“I won't pass this to Sophie.”
He was quiet.
Then whispered, “Good.”
I ended the call.
As I returned to Thomas's room, my phone buzzed.
A message from Rachel.
CALL ME NOW.
I called.
She answered whispering.
“Claire, something is wrong.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“The officers changed shift twenty minutes ago.”
“So?”
“The new officer says Hale ordered him to move us.”
My body went cold.
“Hale didn't tell me.”
“He's outside the room.”
“Don't open the door.”
“Claire—”
“Do not open the door.”
I ran toward Hale.
He saw my face.
“What?”
I handed him the phone.
Rachel whispered, “Someone is knocking.”
Then a man's voice came faintly through the line.
“Mrs. Bennett, we need to leave.”
Hale grabbed his radio.
“No unit was ordered to move them.”
I couldn't breathe.
The man knocked harder.
Rachel started crying.
“What do I do?”
Hale said, “Barricade the door.”
Then we heard glass break.
Rachel screamed.
I shouted Sophie's name.
Gunfire exploded through the phone.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then silence.
“RACHEL!”
Nothing.
“SOPHIE!”
Nothing.
The call remained connected.
I heard footsteps.
Then a familiar woman's voice.
May you like
Patricia.
“Find the girl.”
