Chapter 7
The hospital locked down again.
This time nobody argued.
Police searched the parking structures.
The roof.
The medical offices across the street.
Every car within two blocks.
Daniel was supposedly forty miles away wearing an electronic ankle monitor.
His attorney confirmed it.
The monitoring company confirmed it.
The device showed Daniel inside his rental estate.
That meant one of two things.
Either Daniel had found a way to defeat the monitor.
Or someone else had taken the photograph for him.
Detective Chen believed the second.
“Ray?” I asked.
“Possibly.”
“Peter?”
“In jail.”
“Then who?”
“That’s what we’re finding out.”
Noah stood beside the closed blinds.
“He said he always had people.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“When?”
“Dad.”
“When did he say that?”
“A lot.”
“What exactly?”
Noah thought.
“If one person says no, find someone who says yes.”
My father muttered, “Sounds like a wonderful philosophy.”
Noah almost smiled again.
Then Emma started crying.
Every adult in the room turned instantly.
Noah went to her.
He stood on his toes beside the crib.
“It’s okay.”
Emma kept crying.
“Dad’s not coming.”
Her tiny fists waved.
“I won’t let him.”
I looked away.
A child should not have to make that promise.
At six that evening, Detective Chen returned with information.
The photograph had been sent through an encrypted messaging service.
The hospital camera system showed a man in maintenance clothing entering the building at 4:12.
He left at 4:29.
His face was partially visible.
Marcus recognized him.
“Alan Pierce.”
Evelyn frowned.
“Daniel’s accountant?”
“Former accountant,” Marcus said.
“He left Hart Development last year.”
“Why?”
Marcus looked at Evelyn.
“Daniel said he stole.”
Evelyn laughed without humor.
“Daniel accuses everyone else of stealing.”
Detective Chen nodded.
“We contacted Pierce’s registered address. Empty.”
“Another helper,” I said.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“We also found something on the camera system Peter tried to destroy.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What?”
“Archived footage.”
My heart raced.
“The pool?”
“Not the pool.”
She looked at Noah.
“The garage.”
Noah became still.
Detective Chen spoke gently.
“Five years ago.”
Evelyn sat down.
“You found footage from Sophia’s death?”
“Not the crash.”
“The night before?”
“Yes.”
Noah’s hands began shaking.
I moved beside him.
“You don’t have to watch.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Noah.”
“I do.”
Detective Chen looked at me.
Then Evelyn.
“I wouldn’t recommend showing him now.”
“Why?”
Noah’s voice was sharp.
“Because it may be upsetting.”
“My dad tried to drown my sister.”
No one had a response.
He crossed his arms.
“Show me.”
Evelyn said no.
Noah shouted.
“You all keep deciding what I can know!”
“Because you’re eight!”
“And everybody lied to me for five years!”
That landed.
Evelyn looked at Detective Chen.
“Can he see a still image?”
The detective considered it.
“One.”
She opened her tablet.
The garage camera showed Daniel beside Sophia’s car.
The timestamp read 11:42 p.m.
Ray Mercer stood next to him.
A black tool bag rested on the floor.
Noah stared.
“That’s the bag.”
Detective Chen nodded.
Then she swiped to another still.
Daniel handed Ray an envelope.
Another.
Ray crouched beside Sophia’s car.
The hood was open.
Noah stopped breathing.
“That’s Mom’s car.”
“Yes.”
“Dad was there.”
“Yes.”
“He lied.”
“Yes.”
Detective Chen closed the tablet.
“That’s enough.”
Noah did not argue.
He sat down.
His face looked exhausted.
Evelyn touched his shoulder.
This time he let her.
“What else is on it?” she asked.
“Twenty-six minutes of video.”
“Audio?”
“No.”
“What does it show?”
“Ray working on the vehicle while Daniel watches.”
Evelyn covered her mouth.
“And the original investigators never saw it?”
“It had been deleted from the primary server.”
“By Daniel?”
“The old system logs show an administrator deletion the morning after Sophia died.”
“Whose administrator credentials?”
Marcus spoke before the detective could.
“Mine.”
Everyone turned.
He looked sick.
“I was head of residential security then.”
Evelyn stared.
“Did you delete it?”
“No.”
“Did Daniel have your password?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“Five years ago, half the senior household staff shared emergency access during the security upgrade.”
Detective Chen said, “We’re not treating Marcus as a suspect at this time.”
“At this time?” Marcus repeated.
“It’s an active investigation.”
He nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
Noah looked at him.
“You worked here when Mom died.”
“Yes.”
“Did you think Dad did it?”
Marcus looked toward the floor.
“I knew they fought.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Marcus swallowed.
“No.”
Noah stared at him.
“Why not?”
“Because people see what they expect to see.”
“What does that mean?”
“I thought your father was an angry husband.”
Marcus’s voice became rough.
“I didn’t think he was a murderer.”
Noah looked at me.
“You did that too.”
I understood.
I had seen Daniel be cruel.
Marcus had seen him be angry.
Evelyn had seen financial warning signs.
Sophia had been afraid.
Everybody held one piece.
Nobody had assembled the picture until a baby went into a pool.
That realization made me feel ashamed.
Detective Chen interrupted.
“We also found archived footage from two months ago.”
“What happened two months ago?” I asked.
She looked at Evelyn.
“Daniel met Ray in the same garage.”
My stomach tightened.
“About Emma?”
“We don’t have audio.”
“But?”
“Ray handed Daniel a folder.”
“What was inside?”
“We don’t know.”
“Then why does it matter?”
“Because one hour later, Daniel purchased a large life insurance policy.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“On Emma.”
Detective Chen nodded.
“Twenty-five million dollars.”
I whispered, “He insured a baby?”
“Parents insure children sometimes.”
“For twenty-five million?”
“That is not normal.”
Evelyn stood.
“He planned this before she was even two months old.”
“Possibly.”
“No.”
She slammed her cane against the floor.
“Stop saying possibly.”
Detective Chen didn’t react.
“I say possibly until I can prove definitely.”
Evelyn stared at her.
Then nodded.
“You’re right.”
My father pulled me aside.
“Rachel.”
“What?”
“You shouldn’t stay involved.”
I stared at him.
“What are you talking about?”
“The police have the recording.”
“Noah needs me.”
“He has his grandmother.”
“Emma needs people.”
“She has doctors.”
“Dad.”
“This man selected you as a murder suspect.”
“I know.”
“He knows where you live.”
“I know.”
“He sent somebody after me.”
“I know!”
The room went quiet.
I lowered my voice.
“I know.”
My father looked hurt.
But he didn’t back down.
“You don’t owe this family your life.”
I looked at Noah.
He pretended not to listen.
Again.
“I don’t owe Daniel anything.”
“Then leave.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Noah asked if everyone leaves when the money disappears.”
My father frowned.
“What?”
“Daniel told him I would leave.”
“That’s manipulation.”
“I know.”
“So prove him wrong from Arizona.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Rachel.”
I shook my head.
“I’m not abandoning that boy after his father tried to kill his sister and he learned the same man probably killed his mother.”
My father looked at me for a long time.
Then he sighed.
“You always did jump into frozen rivers.”
I smiled weakly.
“Apparently.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Then I’m staying too.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Neither do you.”
Fair.
That night we were moved again.
Not to Arizona.
Not yet.
Detective Chen had learned Ray had access to a charter aircraft.
Until he was found, long-distance travel was too risky.
Instead, we were taken to a protected residence owned by the county.
Emma remained hospitalized with Evelyn.
Noah went with me, my father, and two officers.
Before leaving, he leaned over Emma’s crib.
“I’ll come back.”
Emma slept.
Noah kissed her forehead.
Then he whispered:
“If Dad comes, scream really loud.”
My throat closed.
At the safe house, Noah finally slept.
I did not.
Neither did my father.
At two in the morning, we sat in the kitchen drinking terrible coffee.
“You really care about him,” Dad said.
“Yes.”
“You ever want kids?”
I stared into my mug.
“Is this really when you’re asking?”
He shrugged.
“Near-death experiences ruin normal timing.”
I almost answered.
Then a floorboard creaked.
My father stood.
An officer appeared in the hallway.
“It’s me.”
He looked toward the front door.
“Someone dropped something outside.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“A package.”
Police inspected it.
No explosives.
No chemicals.
Inside was a child’s blue backpack.
Noah’s backpack.
The one he used for school.
Inside were his notebooks.
His pencil case.
And a framed photograph of Sophia holding him as a toddler.
Across the glass, someone had written in red marker:
SHE SHOULD HAVE KEPT QUIET.
Underneath was another line.
SO SHOULD RACHEL.
My father swore.
The officer immediately called Detective Chen.
I stared at Sophia’s photograph.
Noah had her eyes.
The threat did not scare me the way Daniel probably intended.
It made me angry.
Then I noticed something behind the picture.
A folded piece of paper.
The officer put on gloves and opened it.
It wasn’t a threat.
It was a photocopy of a bank transfer.
Daniel Hart.
Five years earlier.
$250,000.
Recipient:
ALAN PIERCE.
The accountant who had photographed us at the hospital.
Below the transfer was a handwritten note.
I know what your father did.
Ask Pierce about the second car.
No signature.
No explanation.
Noah appeared behind us.
“What second car?”
I turned.
He was holding his dinosaur.
His face was pale.
“What second car, Rachel?”
I looked at the officer.
He looked at me.
May you like
And I realized whoever had left the package might not be threatening us at all.
They might be helping us.
