Chapter 6
For a second, I couldn’t understand the image.
Rachel.
Jason.
Together.
Again.
Officer Reynolds enlarged the traffic-camera photograph on his tablet.
There was no mistake.
My brother was sitting beside my wife.
The timestamp was forty minutes earlier.
“Jason told me he was going to the police.”
Officer Reynolds looked at me.
“He never arrived.”
My hands went cold.
Sarah whispered, “That son of a—”
Emma was still near the door.
I turned.
“Sarah.”
She understood.
She took Emma inside.
I looked back at Reynolds.
“Where were they headed?”
“South on Interstate 65.”
“Toward Alabama.”
“Yes.”
“Mexico?”
“Possibly.”
“The kids are here. What would be the point?”
“We don’t know.”
My phone rang.
Jason.
Officer Reynolds looked at the screen.
“Answer it.”
I put it on speaker.
“Where are you?”
Jason’s breathing was heavy.
“In Rachel’s car.”
“I know.”
“You have to listen.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“I was going to.”
“Then why are you with her?”
“She came to my apartment.”
“Get out of the car.”
“I can’t.”
Rachel’s voice suddenly came through the speaker.
“Hello, Michael.”
My blood turned to ice.
“Rachel.”
“You’ve been busy.”
“Where are you?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Jason, get out of the car.”
Rachel laughed.
“He’s trying.”
I looked at Officer Reynolds.
He was already typing on his phone.
“Rachel, what do you want?”
“I want my children.”
“You’re not getting near them.”
“They are my children too.”
“You locked them in a kennel.”
Silence.
Then her voice hardened.
“You think that video tells the whole story?”
“It tells enough.”
“You were never there.”
“You keep saying that like it excuses you.”
“You left me alone with them.”
“We had childcare.”
“Your mother canceled.”
“We could have hired someone else.”
“You don’t understand.”
“You could have called me.”
“I did.”
“No. You didn’t.”
“You never listened!”
Her scream filled the phone.
I stared at it.
Then suddenly, her voice softened.
“You know what, Michael? None of this matters anymore.”
That scared me more than the shouting.
“What does that mean?”
“Ask your brother.”
Jason said, “Rachel, don’t.”
“Tell him.”
“Stop the car.”
“Tell him what you did.”
I looked at Reynolds.
“What is she talking about?”
Jason whispered, “Michael.”
“What?”
“I moved money.”
My stomach tightened.
“What money?”
“From your investment account.”
I stared at the phone.
“How?”
“Rachel had the login.”
“She didn’t have the security code.”
“I did.”
Everything inside me froze.
Years earlier, after our father died, Jason and I had structured several family investments together.
He had access to one shared trust account.
Not my personal account.
Unless Rachel had used information from both.
“How much?”
Jason didn’t answer.
“How much?”
“Two hundred and forty thousand.”
Sarah had returned to the doorway.
Her face went white.
I almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because there was a limit to how many betrayals the mind could process before reality became absurd.
“You stole a quarter million dollars from me?”
“I thought it was temporary.”
“For Rachel?”
“She told me it was for the children.”
Rachel laughed.
“Don’t blame me for everything.”
Jason snapped, “You lied to me!”
“And you were stupid enough to believe it.”
There was a sound.
A turn signal.
Traffic.
I imagined them on the highway.
“Jason, where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“You have GPS.”
“Rachel took my phone.”
“You’re talking on a phone.”
“Hers.”
Rachel said, “Enough.”
Then Jason shouted.
The line went dead.
I stared at my screen.
Officer Reynolds was already moving.
“We can attempt emergency location through the carrier.”
“What was that sound?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she hit him?”
“I don’t know.”
He headed toward his cruiser.
I followed.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“That’s my brother.”
“And your children are inside.”
That stopped me.
“You stay here.”
My instincts screamed to chase Rachel.
My responsibility was twenty feet behind me.
Emma.
Noah.
I hated the choice because it wasn’t really a choice.
Reynolds left.
I went inside.
Sarah locked the door.
Emma looked up from the couch.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Mommy coming?”
“No.”
She studied my face.
“Are you scared?”
Children see everything.
Even what you hide.
“A little.”
She touched my hand.
“You can sleep with Bunny.”
She handed me the pink stuffed rabbit police had recovered from the basement room.
The rabbit smelled faintly of dust and concrete.
I had to turn away.
“Thank you.”
That night, after the children finally slept, Sarah and I sat at the kitchen table.
She poured coffee.
I couldn’t drink it.
“Tell me something,” she said.
“What?”
“Did you have any idea Rachel was unhappy?”
I thought about it.
“She complained.”
“About what?”
“Work. Money. The kids. My travel.”
“Did she ask you to travel less?”
“Sometimes.”
“Did you?”
“For a while.”
Sarah looked at me.
“How much?”
“I turned down two projects.”
“Then?”
“Rachel complained we weren’t saving enough.”
Sarah sighed.
“She moved the goalposts.”
“Yes.”
“Always?”
“I guess.”
She was quiet.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because every time you criticized her, I defended her.”
“You loved your wife.”
“I was stupid.”
“No.”
I looked at her.
Sarah continued.
“You were loyal to someone who used your loyalty against you.”
I looked toward the stairs.
“I missed what was happening to my kids.”
“That part you have to live with.”
Her honesty hurt.
But I needed it.
“I know.”
“You can’t spend the rest of your life punishing yourself instead of parenting them.”
I rubbed my face.
“Emma told me.”
“She tried.”
“And I didn’t hear her.”
“Then hear her now.”
My phone rang at 11:42.
Officer Reynolds.
“We located the vehicle.”
I stood.
“Where?”
“Outside Columbia.”
“Is Jason okay?”
“He’s not there.”
My stomach dropped.
“What do you mean he’s not there?”
“The car was abandoned.”
“And Rachel?”
“Also gone.”
“Blood?”
“None visible.”
“Signs of a struggle?”
“Not obvious.”
“What was inside?”
“A duffel bag.”
“Whose?”
“Rachel’s.”
“Anything else?”
“Cash.”
“How much?”
“Approximately thirty thousand.”
I laughed bitterly.
A tiny piece of my missing money.
“And?”
He hesitated.
“There was an envelope with your name on it.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“What does it say?”
“We haven’t opened it.”
“Open it.”
“We’re processing the car.”
“Officer.”
“Michael.”
His tone was firm.
“We need to handle this correctly.”
I paced.
“What happens now?”
“We locate your wife and brother.”
“What if she hurts him?”
“I understand the concern.”
I almost said I didn’t care.
That would have been a lie.
I was furious with Jason.
I wanted to punch him.
I wanted to never speak to him again.
But he was still my brother.
At midnight, a judge extended the temporary protective order.
At one, the children woke screaming.
Both of them.
Same time.
Noah kept saying, “Dark room.”
Emma cried, “I’ll be good.”
I sat on the floor between their beds.
“You’re safe.”
Noah climbed into my lap.
Emma held my arm.
“You’re safe.”
I repeated it until my voice became hoarse.
Eventually, they slept.
I didn’t.
At four in the morning, my phone buzzed.
An email.
No sender name.
One attachment.
Audio file.
I put in headphones.
Rachel’s voice began immediately.
“If Michael finds out, we say he did it.”
Then Jason.
“He’ll never believe that.”
Rachel again.
“He doesn’t have to. The court does.”
My heartbeat exploded.
Jason said, “I’m done with this.”
“You’re not done until I say you are.”
“You can’t lock those kids in that room anymore.”
Silence.
Then Rachel laughed.
“They’re my children.”
Jason’s voice became louder.
“No. They’re Michael’s too.”
Rachel replied:
“Not for long.”
The audio ended.
My hands shook.
There was more.
A text file attached to the email.
One sentence.
I copied everything.
Then I called Officer Reynolds.
He answered sleepily.
“What happened?”
“I got a recording.”
“From who?”
“I don’t know.”
I forwarded it.
While I waited, I opened the text file again.
The sentence read:
ASK RACHEL WHAT HAPPENED AT RIVERBEND MOTEL, ROOM 214.
I searched the name.
Riverbend Motel.
Thirty miles south of where Rachel’s abandoned car had been found.
I called Reynolds back.
“I have a location.”
“What?”
“Riverbend Motel.”
“Do not go there.”
“I’m not.”
“Send me the information.”
I did.
Twenty minutes later, Sarah came downstairs.
“You’re still awake?”
“Police are checking a motel.”
She sat beside me.
“Why?”
I showed her the message.
She frowned.
“Who sent that?”
“No idea.”
At 5:06, Reynolds called.
His voice was different.
“We found Jason.”
I stood.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Relief came before anger.
“Where?”
“Room 214.”
“And Rachel?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“He says she drugged him.”
“What?”
“He’s conscious. Paramedics are checking him.”
I closed my eyes.
“Did he send the recording?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“We don’t know.”
A long pause.
“Michael, there was something else in the motel room.”
“What?”
“A second phone.”
“Rachel’s?”
“Possibly.”
“What’s on it?”
“We’re getting a warrant.”
“Officer.”
“Yes?”
“Give me something.”
He exhaled.
“The lock screen showed a message preview.”
“From who?”
“Diane.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did it say?”
May you like
Reynolds read it slowly.
You should have taken the children when I gave you the chance.
