Chapter 4
Marcus pulled Noah behind him.
“Get in the car.”
Evelyn didn’t move.
“Whoever is inside may be destroying evidence.”
“I know.”
“Then we stop them.”
“No, you don’t.”
Marcus had worked security for Daniel for six years.
I had never heard him speak to Evelyn that way.
“You’re seventy-one years old, Noah is eight, and Rachel nearly drowned saving a baby twenty minutes ago. Nobody is going inside except security and police.”
“I’m sixty-nine.”
Marcus stared at her.
“This is not the moment.”
Under any other circumstances, I might have laughed.
Nobody laughed.
The upstairs curtain moved.
Marcus radioed the second guard.
“Luis, east side. Nobody leaves.”
Then he called the officer who had remained at the property to collect evidence.
Within seconds, the officer returned from the driveway.
He drew his weapon.
“What did you see?”
“Possible intruder. Second floor.”
The officer called for backup.
Evelyn took Noah to the sedan.
I went with them.
But I couldn’t stop looking at the house.
The place had always seemed enormous.
Safe.
Beautiful.
Now every dark window looked like an eye.
“Did Dad hire somebody?” Noah whispered.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“He knew Grandma had the recording.”
“Yes.”
“So maybe he sent someone before the police came.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“That is possible.”
“Stop talking to me like I’m a baby.”
“I’m not.”
“You always do.”
“Noah.”
“My dad tried to kill Emma.”
His voice shook.
“I’m not a baby anymore.”
The sentence broke something inside Evelyn.
She reached for him.
He didn’t let her touch him.
The police entered the house.
For nearly ten minutes, we heard nothing.
Then a shout.
Then breaking glass.
Marcus ran toward the side of the house.
A man climbed through a downstairs window.
He hit the ground.
Luis tackled him before he made it three steps.
The man screamed.
Marcus grabbed his arms.
The officer rushed outside and handcuffed him.
I recognized him.
“Peter?”
Everyone looked at me.
The man on the ground stopped struggling.
His name was Peter Cole.
Daniel’s personal assistant.
He scheduled flights.
Handled business documents.
Picked up dry cleaning.
Brought birthday cakes.
He had once helped Noah build a science fair volcano.
And now he was being handcuffed outside Daniel’s house after breaking into the security system.
Peter glared at me.
“You should have kept your mouth shut.”
Marcus hauled him upright.
“What were you doing inside?”
Peter smiled.
“Getting my jacket.”
“At two in the morning?”
“It’s seven-thirty,” I said automatically.
He looked at me with such hatred that I wished I hadn’t spoken.
The officer searched him.
Two flash drives.
A small external hard drive.
Three phones.
And a bottle of clear liquid.
Marcus took one look at the label.
“Accelerant.”
Peter’s smile disappeared.
The officer held up the bottle.
“You came back for your jacket carrying this?”
Peter said nothing.
Noah stared through the car window.
Evelyn closed the privacy shade.
“He doesn’t need to see more.”
Noah immediately opened it again.
“Yes, I do.”
Police took Peter away.
Inside the study, they discovered papers stacked inside the fireplace.
Several had already been burned.
The computer tower had been opened.
One hard drive was missing.
Peter had managed to destroy part of the camera system before the police found him.
But not everything.
Marcus had the backups.
At least he thought he did.
The officer told us to leave for the hospital.
The house was now a crime scene.
As Evelyn’s driver pulled away, Noah kept looking backward.
“My room.”
“We can get your things later,” Evelyn said.
“My dinosaur.”
“I’ll buy you another.”
“No.”
He looked furious.
“Mom gave me that one.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Rachel, I told myself.
Say something.
But what?
There was no sentence that could fix a boy losing his father, his home, and the truth about his mother in one evening.
So I did the only thing I could.
“We’ll get the dinosaur.”
Noah looked at me.
“Promise?”
“When police say it’s safe.”
He nodded.
That was enough.
At the hospital, Emma was in the pediatric intensive care unit.
Her oxygen level was stable.
Her lungs were being monitored.
The doctor said the next twenty-four hours mattered.
Vanessa’s push had put Emma underwater for less than a minute.
It felt like an hour when I was fighting the stroller straps.
The doctor told us I had probably saved her life.
Evelyn cried again.
Noah sat beside Emma’s crib.
He placed one finger through the rail.
Emma’s tiny hand closed around it.
“She doesn’t know.”
“No,” I said.
“She doesn’t know Dad tried to kill her.”
“No.”
“Good.”
He looked at his sister.
“Don’t tell her.”
I swallowed.
“I won’t.”
“Ever.”
“That might not be my decision.”
His eyes hardened.
“Then I’ll tell everybody not to.”
Evelyn sat across from us.
“Sometimes children deserve the truth.”
Noah laughed bitterly.
“You didn’t think that yesterday.”
Evelyn looked down.
I almost told Noah to stop.
Then I didn’t.
He had earned the right to be angry.
A detective arrived around nine.
Detective Laura Chen.
She wore a plain gray suit and carried a notebook.
She spoke to Evelyn first.
Then Marcus.
Then me.
She asked me to repeat everything from the beginning.
I did.
When I described Daniel slapping me, she photographed the red mark still visible on my face.
When I described Vanessa smiling through the pool house window, Detective Chen stopped writing.
“She smiled?”
“Yes.”
“You’re certain?”
“I’ll never forget it.”
She nodded.
Then she asked about my security password.
“I never gave it to anyone.”
“Was it written down?”
“No.”
“Saved on a computer?”
“Only on my phone.”
“Where was your phone during the incident?”
“In my room.”
She looked up.
“Not with you?”
“No. I was changing sheets earlier and left it charging.”
“Was your bedroom locked?”
“No.”
“Who had access?”
“Anyone in the house.”
She wrote something.
Then she asked, “Did Daniel know your passcode?”
I started to say no.
Then stopped.
Two weeks earlier, Daniel had borrowed my phone.
His had died.
He said he needed to call his office.
I had unlocked it in front of him.
“Maybe.”
Detective Chen noticed my hesitation.
I explained.
“Did he take the phone out of your sight?”
“For maybe five minutes.”
“Long enough.”
My stomach tightened.
“To do what?”
“Install something. Copy passwords. Forward authentication codes.”
I felt violated.
Not because of the phone.
Because I suddenly understood how long I might have been part of Daniel’s plan.
“Do you think he chose me?”
Detective Chen did not soften the answer.
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“To blame.”
Noah had been pretending not to listen from Emma’s bedside.
Now he turned.
“Because Rachel doesn’t have a family here.”
I looked at him.
Detective Chen did too.
“What makes you say that?”
Noah shrugged.
“Dad asked her once.”
“When?”
“A long time ago.”
“What did he ask?”
Noah looked at me.
“He asked if you had anyone who would come looking for you.”
My skin went cold.
I remembered the conversation.
It had been in the kitchen.
Daniel was drinking coffee.
He asked if my parents lived nearby.
I told him my mother had died and my father lived in Arizona.
He asked if I had siblings.
I said no.
At the time, it sounded like small talk.
Now it felt like an interview.
Detective Chen wrote quickly.
“What else did he ask?”
I tried to remember.
“Whether I rented or owned my apartment.”
“Why?”
“He said he might need a live-in nanny eventually.”
“Did he ask about debt?”
“Yes.”
“Criminal history?”
“He joked about background checks.”
“Immigration status?”
“No.”
“Relationships?”
My stomach turned.
“Yes.”
Daniel knew I was single.
He knew my closest friend lived three states away.
He knew I had no children.
No husband.
No local family.
I had thought he was being friendly.
He had been measuring how easily I could disappear.
Noah suddenly stood.
“He picked Rachel because nobody would believe her.”
Detective Chen looked at him.
Noah pointed toward me.
“She cleans our house.”
His voice cracked.
“Dad owns a company.”
He pointed toward the door.
“People listen to rich people.”
Nobody answered.
Because the eight-year-old was right.
Detective Chen closed her notebook.
“People will listen to the evidence.”
Noah shook his head.
“My mom had evidence.”
The detective went still.
“What do you know about that?”
“Grandma said Mom found money stuff.”
Evelyn entered the room at exactly the wrong moment.
“Noah.”
He spun around.
“What?”
“We need to be careful.”
“You mean quiet.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Detective Chen stood.
“Mrs. Hart, I was about to ask you about Sophia.”
Evelyn gripped her purse.
“You should.”
“Your grandson says she found financial evidence before her death.”
“She did.”
“Do you still have it?”
“I have copies of some documents.”
“Where are they?”
“My attorney has them.”
“Why weren’t they given to police five years ago?”
Evelyn looked ashamed.
“Because they proved embezzlement. Not murder.”
“But they established a potential motive.”
“Yes.”
Detective Chen waited.
Evelyn finally said, “The detective handling Sophia’s crash was convinced there was no crime.”
“Did you tell him Daniel had financial motive?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He said mechanical failure caused the crash.”
“Who inspected the vehicle?”
“I don’t remember.”
“I do.”
Noah’s voice came from behind us.
Everyone turned.
He was staring at the floor.
“Dad’s friend.”
Evelyn frowned.
“What?”
“Uncle Ray.”
My stomach tightened.
Daniel did not have a brother named Ray.
But I had heard him call someone that.
Ray Mercer.
Owner of Mercer Automotive.
One of Daniel’s oldest friends.
Detective Chen stepped closer to Noah.
“Why do you say Ray inspected the car?”
“Because Dad told me.”
“When?”
Noah rubbed his eyes.
“After Mom died.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Noah thought carefully.
“He said Uncle Ray checked the car and said the brakes broke.”
Detective Chen looked at Evelyn.
“Was Ray Mercer the official investigator?”
“No.”
“Was his company contracted to tow the vehicle?”
Evelyn went pale.
“Yes.”
Detective Chen immediately reached for her phone.
Noah spoke again.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
He looked frightened.
“Uncle Ray came to the house the night before Mom died.”
Evelyn stopped breathing.
“How do you remember that?”
“Because Mom and Dad were fighting.”
“What did you see?”
Noah stared at his baby sister.
“I came downstairs for water.”
His voice became smaller.
“Dad gave Uncle Ray a black bag.”
Detective Chen crouched.
“What kind of bag?”
“A tool bag.”
“And then?”
“Uncle Ray said…”
He closed his eyes.
“What did he say, Noah?”
May you like
The boy opened them.
“He said, ‘Tomorrow morning, she won’t make it past the hill.’”
