Chapter 4
I had spent three years believing my wife died because of rain.
That was what the police report said.
Wet road.
Poor visibility.
Loss of control.
Emily’s car had gone through a guardrail just after midnight.
She died before the ambulance reached the hospital.
I remembered the phone call.
Dad had driven me there.
Mom had held Rosie while I identified Emily’s body.
Bethany had organized the funeral.
Daniel had helped with insurance paperwork.
They had surrounded me.
Comforted me.
Fed me.
Told me not to ask questions.
It was an accident, Ryan.
Don’t torture yourself.
Emily wouldn’t want that.
Move forward for Rosie.
Now I was standing beside another damaged car.
My car.
And my daughter had just told me Emily “tried to run too.”
I walked toward my mother.
Officer Alvarez immediately noticed.
“Sir?”
“I need to ask her something.”
Mom backed away.
“Ryan.”
“What did Emily know?”
Her eyes flicked toward Dad.
That was enough.
I stepped closer.
“What did my wife know?”
“Not here.”
I laughed.
“You don’t get to decide where we talk anymore.”
“Please.”
“Did Emily think Dad was dangerous?”
Mom looked at the officers.
Then at Claire.
Then at Rosie.
“Your daughter shouldn’t hear this.”
I shifted Rosie against me.
“She’s heard enough secrets.”
Mom closed her eyes.
“Emily and your father didn’t get along.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“She thought he was controlling.”
“He is controlling.”
“Emily exaggerated.”
“Did she want to leave?”
Mom said nothing.
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
One word.
It destroyed something inside me.
I felt like I’d been punched.
“Leave him?”
“No.”
Mom’s voice dropped.
“Leave all of us.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“She said the family was unhealthy.”
Bethany shouted from across the porch.
“This is insane!”
Officer Alvarez told her to stay where she was.
Mom kept speaking.
“She didn’t like how involved we were with Rosie.”
“Emily loved you.”
“She tolerated me.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is.”
Mom’s bitterness surprised me.
Even after Emily’s death, she was jealous.
“That woman wanted you completely to herself.”
“That woman was my wife.”
“And we were your family.”
“So was she.”
Mom looked away.
I suddenly remembered Emily packing a suitcase once.
Rosie had been nine months old.
I came home from work and found clothes on the bed.
Emily said she wanted to visit her sister in Oregon.
I asked if something was wrong.
She smiled.
Said she was tired.
She never went.
Dad called that evening.
Mom showed up the next morning.
By afternoon, the suitcase was unpacked.
I had forgotten about it.
Or convinced myself it meant nothing.
“Did you stop Emily from leaving?”
Mom shook her head.
“No.”
“Did Dad?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop lying.”
“I don’t know!”
Dad suddenly shouted from behind an officer.
“Enough!”
I turned.
He was furious.
But underneath the anger was fear.
I had seen it after Rosie mentioned the video.
Now it was stronger.
“What happened between you and Emily?”
“Nothing.”
“Rosie said Bethany told her Emily tried to run.”
“Bethany talks too much.”
Bethany’s face twisted.
“Oh, now this is my fault?”
Daniel muttered, “Stop talking.”
She spun on him.
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“For once in your life, listen.”
“Why? So I can take the blame for you?”
Everything went silent.
Daniel stared at her.
Bethany realized what she had said.
Officer Alvarez walked toward them.
“What do you mean by that?”
Bethany crossed her arms.
“Nothing.”
“You just implied your husband might be responsible for something.”
“She’s emotional,” Daniel said.
Bethany laughed.
“There it is.”
“Bethany.”
“You’re always so calm, Daniel. Aren’t you?”
“Stop.”
“You made the plan.”
Mom cried out.
“Bethany!”
Too late.
Officer Alvarez’s expression changed.
“What plan?”
Bethany looked around.
Everyone was staring.
She suddenly began crying.
Not delicate tears.
Ugly, panicked sobs.
“I didn’t want any of this.”
Daniel stepped toward her.
An officer blocked him.
“You need to stay back.”
Bethany pointed at him.
“He said Ryan was going to take Rosie away.”
My stomach turned.
“What plan?”
Bethany looked at me.
“I just wanted to scare you.”
“Today?”
She nodded.
“The video. The bruises weren’t supposed to happen.”
I wanted to scream.
Instead I asked, “Why?”
“So you’d think Rosie was difficult.”
I stared at her.
“That makes no sense.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
Bethany kept going.
“He wanted evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“That you weren’t handling her.”
My blood ran cold.
Daniel was an attorney.
He knew family court.
Custody disputes.
Documentation.
“What were you trying to do?”
Bethany covered her mouth.
Daniel spoke.
“This conversation is over.”
Officer Alvarez said, “You’re free to stop answering.”
He nodded.
“Good.”
“But your wife can continue.”
His eyes flashed.
Bethany looked at him.
Something between them broke.
“He wanted Mom and Dad to seek guardianship.”
I stared at my parents.
Mom began sobbing.
Dad looked at the ground.
I couldn’t process it.
“Guardianship?”
Bethany nodded.
“Temporary.”
“Of my daughter?”
“You’ve been depressed.”
My voice became dangerously quiet.
“My wife died.”
“I know.”
“So you decided grief made me an unfit father?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“You filmed my four-year-old crying.”
“We needed—”
She stopped.
“We needed what?”
No answer.
“Evidence?”
Daniel looked away.
I nearly lost control.
Officer Alvarez stepped subtly closer to me.
I understood the warning.
Stay calm.
Do not give them anything to use against you.
That realization was horrifying.
Because it meant Daniel might already be thinking the same thing.
If I hit him, yelled too much, threatened anyone, he could twist it.
I breathed slowly.
Then I looked at Bethany.
“What did Emily have to do with this?”
She wiped her face.
“Nothing.”
“Rosie repeated your words.”
“I was angry.”
“What did you mean by ‘your mommy tried to run too’?”
“I don’t remember saying it.”
“Rosie remembers.”
Bethany’s face tightened.
“That doesn’t mean—”
“Stop.”
I looked at Officer Alvarez.
“I want the memory card examined.”
Claire handed it to her.
Daniel’s composure finally vanished.
“You cannot establish where that came from.”
Claire stared at him.
“It came from the study.”
“You picked up unknown property.”
“Property containing videos of a child?”
“You don’t know what’s on it.”
“No,” Claire said. “But you’re terrified someone will find out.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
Alvarez placed the card into an evidence envelope.
“We’ll let investigators determine what’s relevant.”
A paramedic arrived and checked Rosie.
She had bruising on both arms.
A red mark along one cheek.
No obvious fractures.
But when he touched her left wrist, she cried.
He recommended a hospital evaluation.
I agreed immediately.
Mom tried to follow us.
“No.”
“Ryan, I’m her grandmother.”
“No.”
“I love her.”
“Then you should have protected her.”
Her face collapsed.
I carried Rosie toward the ambulance.
Officer Alvarez stopped me.
“We may need a full statement later.”
“I’ll give you anything.”
“And I want you to think about somewhere secure to stay tonight.”
“I will.”
She handed me a card.
“Call the number on the back if anyone from this residence contacts or threatens you.”
I nodded.
As I climbed into the ambulance, Dad shouted my name.
I turned.
He was standing beside an officer.
“Emily’s accident had nothing to do with me.”
I had not accused him directly.
Not in front of everyone.
Yet he had defended himself.
Claire stared at him.
Officer Alvarez did too.
Dad seemed to realize his mistake.
My stomach knotted.
I got into the ambulance.
The doors closed.
Rosie sat on my lap.
Her stuffed rabbit had been recovered from the study and placed beside her.
She held it tightly.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Are you mad?”
“Not at you.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
She started crying.
“I tried to be good.”
I hugged her.
“You did nothing wrong.”
“Aunt Bethany said good girls don’t make grown-ups angry.”
I shut my eyes.
“That’s not true.”
“She said you’d be sad if Grandma sent me away.”
My heart cracked.
“Nobody is sending you anywhere.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
She looked at me seriously.
“Daddy, promises can break.”
I almost stopped breathing.
“Who told you that?”
“Uncle Daniel.”
Of course.
The ambulance began moving.
I pulled out my phone.
I needed someone outside the family.
Someone I trusted.
There was only one person.
Emily’s older sister, Jenna.
We hadn’t spoken in almost a year.
Not because we fought.
Because every conversation reminded us of Emily.
I called.
She answered on the second ring.
“Ryan?”
Her voice immediately sharpened.
“What happened?”
“How did you know something happened?”
“You never call.”
I swallowed.
“I need to ask you something about Emily.”
Silence.
Then:
“Where are you?”
“On the way to the hospital with Rosie.”
“What happened to Rosie?”
“My family hurt her.”
Jenna went silent again.
Then her voice came low and hard.
“Your father?”
“My sister and her husband. Maybe my parents were involved.”
“Jesus.”
“Jenna, listen to me. Before Emily died, was she afraid of my family?”
A long pause.
I heard Jenna breathe.
“Yes.”
The answer hurt worse than I expected.
“How afraid?”
“Ryan…”
“Please.”
“She thought your father was watching her.”
My mouth went dry.
“What?”
“She said he knew where she went. Who she called. How much money she spent.”
I stared at the ambulance floor.
“She never told me.”
“She tried.”
That sentence destroyed me.
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t believe her.”
My eyes burned.
“I don’t remember.”
“You told her your dad was difficult but harmless.”
A memory surfaced.
Emily standing in our kitchen.
Angry.
Saying, Your father was outside my yoga studio.
Me laughing.
Saying, He probably had business nearby.
Emily asking why I always made excuses for him.
I had forgotten.
No.
I had chosen not to remember.
Jenna continued.
“A week before the crash, Emily came to my house.”
“What did she say?”
“She wanted to leave town with Rosie.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“Why didn’t she?”
“She said she needed proof first.”
“Proof of what?”
Jenna began crying quietly.
“She wouldn’t tell me on the phone.”
“Did she ever show you?”
“No.”
“Did she leave anything?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
I sat straighter.
“What?”
“A sealed envelope.”
My heart slammed.
“She told me not to open it unless something happened to her.”
The ambulance suddenly felt too small.
“Did you open it?”
“No.”
“What?”
“I tried after she died. It was gone.”
“Gone from where?”
“My desk drawer.”
“Who knew it existed?”
“Only Emily.”
“That can’t be true.”
“I never told anyone.”
I looked at Rosie.
She was hugging Bunny.
Eyes exhausted.
“Jenna.”
“What?”
“Did my family come to your house after Emily died?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Your mother.”
My blood chilled.
“When?”
“The day after the funeral.”
“Was she alone?”
“No.”
I already knew before Jenna said it.
“Daniel was with her.”
My entire body went numb.
Daniel.
Not yet married to Bethany at the time.
But already close to the family.
Already handling legal paperwork.
Already helping everyone “move forward.”
“What did they want?”
“They said Emily might have left important insurance documents with me.”
“Did you let them look around?”
“I was grieving, Ryan. I wasn’t thinking.”
“So they had access to the desk.”
“Yes.”
I pressed my forehead against the cold ambulance wall.
“What was supposed to be inside the envelope?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Jenna added something.
“But Emily told me one thing.”
“What?”
“She said if she died in a car accident, I should never believe it was an accident.”
The ambulance turned into the hospital entrance.
My heart stopped.
Jenna said my name.
I couldn’t answer.
Because through the rear window of the ambulance, I saw a black sedan turning into the hospital parking lot.
May you like
A sedan I knew.
Daniel’s.
