“I called you.”
“I didn’t hear it.”
“I called you.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shook her head.
“No. James, I’m not blaming you.”
But I blamed myself.
Ross took my phone.
“This changes things.”
“How?”
“It establishes fear before the collision.”
Naomi added, “And Ryan knew enough about the message to mention it.”
Emily looked toward the door.
“Which means he heard it somehow.”
Ross nodded.
“Or accessed your account.”
An officer entered quickly.
“Detective.”
Ross turned.
“What?”
“We got something from the storage unit.”
“That fast?”
“The warrant request was expedited.”
“What did they find?”
The officer looked at Emily.
Then me.
“A suitcase.”
My stomach tightened.
“So?”
“Inside it were documents, cash, two prepaid phones…”
He hesitated.
“And a handwritten plan.”
Emily whispered, “A plan for what?”
The officer looked at Ross.
Ross’s face hardened.
“Leaving the country.”
Emily grabbed the table.
“With Lily?”
The officer nodded.
“There are three airline reservations.”
“For who?”
The answer came quietly.
“Ryan Carter.”
“Vanessa Reed.”
He paused.
“And Lily Carter.”
Vanessa’s face went white.
“I never agreed to that.”
Emily stood.
“When?”
Ross looked at the document.
“The flight is tomorrow morning.”
Chapter 7
Ryan never made the flight.
At 4:12 the next morning, police found his SUV abandoned near Lake Ray Hubbard.
The driver’s door was unlocked.
His wallet was inside.
So was his wedding jacket.
Ryan was gone.
For about thirty minutes, everyone wondered whether he had hurt himself.
Then Detective Ross found the second phone.
It had been taped beneath the rear seat.
The last outgoing text was sent after the SUV had been abandoned.
Ryan wanted police to think he was dead.
Again.
Emily stared at Ross when he told us.
“He did to himself what he did to me.”
“Not quite.”
“What does that mean?”
“He wants us looking at the lake.”
“So where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
That answer became unbearable when Lily woke up.
She walked into the kitchen in pink pajamas.
“Is Daddy in jail?”
Emily looked at me.
Then at Ross.
“No, sweetheart.”
Lily frowned.
“Where is he?”
Emily crouched.
“We don’t know right now.”
Lily absorbed that.
Then her face changed.
Fear.
“Is he coming here?”
Emily hugged her.
“No one is going to let him hurt you.”
Lily whispered, “He gets mad when people tell secrets.”
Every adult in the kitchen went silent.
Emily pulled back.
“What secrets?”
Lily looked nervous.
“I’m not supposed to say.”
“You can tell me anything.”
“Daddy said families stay together when people know when to be quiet.”
My jaw tightened.
Emily kept her voice soft.
“What did he want you to be quiet about?”
Lily twisted the hem of her shirt.
“The basement room.”
Emily froze.
“What basement room?”
“Our house.”
I looked at her.
“You have a basement?”
“No.”
Lily nodded.
“Yes, we do.”
Emily stared at her daughter.
“No, sweetheart. We have a storm room.”
“That’s what Daddy calls it.”
Emily looked at Ross.
The house had been searched after the wedding.
Police found financial records.
The lockbox.
Documents.
But nobody had mentioned a storm room.
Ross asked, “Lily, where is it?”
“Behind Daddy’s shelves.”
“What shelves?”
“In the garage.”
Emily’s face tightened.
“What did you see there?”
Lily shook her head.
“Daddy said never go inside.”
“Did you?”
“Once.”
“What happened?”
“He got really mad.”
Lily’s eyes filled.
“He told me Mommy would be disappointed in me.”
Emily swallowed hard.
“What was inside?”
“Boxes.”
“What kind?”
“Just boxes.”
“Anything else?”
Lily thought.
“A computer.”
Ross was already moving toward the door.
“We need another warrant.”
Emily stood.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“That’s my house.”
“It’s an active scene.”
“My daughter lived there.”
“Emily.”
“I am coming.”
Ross looked at Naomi.
Naomi sighed.
“You’re not winning this argument.”
Two hours later, Emily and I stood outside the house while investigators entered.
I hadn’t been there in months.
Ryan stopped inviting me after Emily’s supposed death.
He said seeing Lily upset me.
Now I understood why.
The house looked the same.
Red brick.
White trim.
Oak tree near the driveway.
But Emily stared at it like it belonged to strangers.
“That was my home.”
“It still is.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Not after this.”
Patricia arrived ten minutes later.
Emily stiffened.
Patricia stayed several feet away.
“I heard they found Ryan’s car.”
Emily nodded.
“I came because…”
She stopped.
“What?”
Patricia started crying.
“I found something.”
She handed Emily an envelope.
“What is it?”
“Ryan left it at my house months ago.”
Emily didn’t take it.
“Why did you keep it?”
“I didn’t know what it was.”
I took the envelope.
Inside was a copy of Emily’s will.
I knew immediately something was wrong.
The executor was Ryan.
That part was normal.
The date wasn’t.
It had supposedly been signed three weeks before the crash.
Emily looked at it.
“I didn’t sign this.”
Patricia closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because Ryan asked me to witness it.”
Emily stared.
“You witnessed a forged will?”
“No.”
Patricia shook her head violently.
“I refused.”
“Then why is your name here?”
Patricia looked sick.
“He forged mine too.”
I scanned the document.
Under the will, Emily’s assets transferred to Ryan.
If Ryan predeceased Lily, Vanessa became trustee of Lily’s inheritance.
Vanessa.
Emily whispered, “They planned this.”
Patricia said, “I thought he was preparing for something.”
“You thought that and said nothing?”
“I didn’t know.”
“You never know!”
Patricia recoiled.
Emily’s voice cracked.
“You didn’t know I was alive. You didn’t know he lied about my death. You didn’t know he forged your name. You didn’t know he was hurting Lily.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying sorry!”
Patricia covered her face.
Emily turned away.
I understood her anger.
Patricia might have been manipulated.
But every person who accepted Ryan’s story had unknowingly helped build the cage around Emily.
Including me.
An investigator came outside.
“Detective Ross needs you.”
We followed him into the garage.
A shelving unit had been pulled away from the wall.
Behind it was a narrow steel door.
Emily stared.
“That wasn’t there.”
Ross nodded.
“Looks newer.”
We went downstairs.
The room smelled dry and stale.
Boxes lined one wall.
A desk sat in the center.
There was a computer.
Exactly as Lily described.
Ross pointed toward the boxes.
“Financial records.”
Another box held medical forms.
Another contained photographs.
Emily picked one up.
It showed her entering a grocery store.
Another showed her picking Lily up from school.
Another showed her outside a bank.
All taken before the crash.
“He was watching me.”
Ross nodded.
“For at least five months.”
Emily’s hands shook.
Then an investigator called from the computer.
“Detective.”
Ross walked over.
“What?”
“We got in.”
The monitor showed folders.
Dozens of them.
Some were labeled with dates.
Some with initials.
One folder was named EC.
Emily Carter.
Ross clicked.
Documents appeared.
Bank statements.
Insurance forms.
Medical records.
Then audio files.
Emily stared at the screen.
“Play one.”
Ross hesitated.
“Emily.”
“Play it.”
He clicked the oldest file.