Chapter 6
For several seconds, I couldn’t process what I was seeing.
“Linda?”
Noah nodded.
“You know her?”
“She lives next door.”
Collins immediately picked up his phone.
I grabbed his wrist.
“My daughter is with her.”
His face sharpened.
He made the call.
Two officers were dispatched.
I called Mom.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
My chest tightened.
“Pick up.”
Third call.
Nothing.
I was already running toward the door.
Collins followed.
“You’re not driving.”
I didn’t argue.
Noah stayed behind while Collins drove.
Every red light felt like torture.
I called my mother again.
Finally she answered.
“Ethan?”
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Where’s Sophie?”
“Upstairs changing.”
“Where is Linda?”
A pause.
“She left five minutes ago.”
My lungs filled again.
“Why?”
“She got a phone call. What’s wrong?”
“Lock the doors.”
“Ethan—”
“Lock everything. Police are coming.”
She heard my tone.
“Okay.”
“Do not let Linda back inside.”
Silence.
“What happened?”
“I’ll explain.”
When we arrived, police were already outside.
Sophie ran into my arms.
I held her until my hands stopped shaking.
Linda’s house was empty.
Her car was gone.
An officer contacted her by phone.
She said she had gone to help a friend.
She agreed to return.
Forty minutes later, she pulled into the driveway.
She stepped from the car looking confused.
Then she saw police.
“What happened?”
Collins approached.
“We need to ask you some questions.”
“About Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
Linda looked at me.
“Ethan?”
I held up the photograph.
Her face changed.
Not guilt exactly.
Recognition.
“Oh.”
My stomach dropped.
“You know her.”
Linda looked toward Sophie, who stood behind my mother.
“Can we not do this out here?”
“You knew Vanessa before I did.”
“Yes.”
My voice rose.
“You watched my daughter!”
“I never hurt Sophie.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Collins took over.
Inside Linda’s living room, she finally explained.
She had worked with Vanessa eleven years earlier at a private assisted-living facility.
Vanessa had been an administrative assistant.
Linda was a nurse.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Linda looked ashamed.
“Because when Vanessa moved in with you, she asked me not to.”
I stared.
“And you thought that was normal?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because I knew about Daniel.”
The room went silent.
“What did you know?”
“I knew he died.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Linda looked at Collins.
“Do I need an attorney?”
The question changed everything.
Collins replied carefully.
“You are not under arrest. You may have an attorney present if you wish.”
Linda rubbed her hands together.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Then tell us.”
She looked at me.
“After Daniel died, Vanessa came to me.”
“Why?”
“She needed help.”
“With what?”
“Getting rid of medication.”
Collins leaned forward.
“What medication?”
Linda’s eyes filled with tears.
“Sedatives.”
My pulse accelerated.
“What kind?”
“I don’t remember exactly.”
“You’re a nurse.”
“I remember the class, not the brand.”
“Why did she have them?”
“She said Daniel had been abusing them.”
Noah’s voice from the doorway startled us.
He had arrived with another detective.
“My brother didn’t take sedatives.”
Linda went pale.
Noah entered.
“I knew he didn’t.”
Linda looked down.
“So what did you do?” Collins asked.
“I disposed of them through the facility.”
“That was illegal.”
“I know.”
“Did you ask where Vanessa got them?”
“She said they were Daniel’s.”
Noah slammed his hand onto the counter.
“He didn’t take pills!”
Collins calmed him.
Linda began crying.
“I was stupid.”
I thought of Sophie.
“Did you know about Caleb?”
“Yes.”
My anger exploded.
“And you let Vanessa marry me?”
Linda flinched.
“I knew Caleb drowned. I didn’t know what Daniel suspected until later.”
“When?”
“After Vanessa married you.”
“And you still said nothing.”
“She threatened me.”
That stopped me.
“With what?”
Linda stared at the floor.
“She knew I had falsified disposal records.”
“You helped her hide drugs.”
“I thought I was helping a grieving widow.”
“Then why were you in a photograph with her before we met?”
Linda looked confused.
“What photograph?”
I showed her.
She studied it.
“That’s outside the FreshMart.”
“Yes.”
“I remember that day.”
My blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“Vanessa asked me to meet her.”
“What did she say?”
Linda swallowed.
“She said she had met someone.”
“You mean me?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Then why am I in the photo?”
Linda stared at it.
“I don’t know.”
Collins asked, “Did Vanessa know Mr. Miller was there?”
“I don’t think so.”
Noah shook his head.
“She was photographing him.”
Linda looked genuinely frightened.
“She never told me that.”
“What did she tell you?”
“She said she was thinking about moving to this neighborhood.”
My neighborhood.
Months before we met.
“She asked about Ethan?” Collins asked.
Linda hesitated.
“Not by name.”
Every hair on my arms rose.
“What did she ask?”
“She asked about the widower who lived next door.”
My mother gasped.
I felt like I had been punched.
“What exactly did you tell her?”
Linda started crying.
“That you were kind. That your wife had died. That you had a little girl.”
I stood.
“Jesus Christ.”
“I didn’t know!”
“You gave her our lives.”
“I thought she was making conversation.”
“No. You knew she was dangerous enough to threaten you.”
“That was later.”
“When she started dating you, I panicked.”
“Yet you stayed quiet.”
“I thought maybe she had changed.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Did she?”
Linda covered her face.
“No.”
Collins asked why Linda had remained close to us.
Her answer surprised me.
“To watch Sophie.”
I stared.
“What?”
“I saw little things.”
“What things?”
“Sophie stopped playing outside. She became jumpy. Vanessa yelled when she thought no one heard.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I tried to be around more.”
“That is not the same as protecting her.”
“I know.”
Her voice broke.
“I know.”
Sophie suddenly appeared in the doorway.
She had been listening.
“Miss Linda?”
Linda looked at her.
Sophie’s eyes were full of tears.
“You knew she was mean?”
Linda’s face crumpled.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
“You knew?”
“I didn’t know how bad—”
“You knew!”
Sophie ran.
I followed her outside.
She sat behind the large maple tree between our houses.
I crouched nearby.
She was sobbing.
“Everybody knew.”
“No.”
“Miss Linda knew.”
“She knew something was wrong. She didn’t know everything.”
“You didn’t know.”
That one hurt most.
“No.”
“Grandma didn’t know.”
“No.”
“Mommy would know.”
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
She looked at me.
“Why didn’t you?”
I had no defense.
“I should have.”
Her face twisted.
“I told you I didn’t want you to leave.”
“I know.”
“You said Vanessa loved me.”
“I know.”
“You said I had to listen to her.”
Each sentence felt deserved.
I sat on the grass.
“You’re right.”
Sophie cried harder.
“I’m sorry.”
She didn’t come into my arms.
That hurt.
But I didn’t force her.
For the first time, I understood that being her father did not automatically entitle me to her trust.
I had to earn it back.
After a long time, she whispered, “I hate her.”
“You’re allowed to feel that.”
“I hate you too.”
My heart cracked.
“You’re allowed to feel that too.”
She looked surprised.
I wiped my eyes.
“I love you even when you hate me.”
“Forever?”
“Forever.”
She moved closer.
Not all the way.
But closer.
My phone rang.
Officer Collins.
He was only inside Linda’s house, so I almost ignored it.
Then I answered.
“What?”
“Ethan, detectives finished reviewing footage recovered from Vanessa’s storage unit.”
“What did they find?”
“There are videos of you.”
My stomach tightened.
“How many?”
“Hundreds.”
I closed my eyes.
“She followed me.”
“Yes.”
“For fourteen months?”
“Possibly longer.”
“Why?”
“We think she selected you.”
The words sounded unreal.
“Selected me for what?”
Collins paused.
May you like
Then he said something I would remember for the rest of my life.
“We found a folder labeled NEXT FAMILY.”
