Ryan’s voice.
“I don’t care what it costs. I need her declared incompetent.”
Another man answered.
Dr. Pierce.
“That requires evidence.”
“I’ll give you evidence.”
Emily’s face went pale.
Ross stopped the file.
“No.”
Emily reached toward the mouse.
“Keep going.”
Another recording.
Ryan again.
“She’s leaving me.”
Pierce: “That’s not a medical issue.”
Ryan: “It becomes your issue when I stop paying you.”
Silence.
Then Pierce said, “What exactly are you asking?”
Ryan answered.
“I need time.”
“For what?”
“To move things.”
Emily whispered, “My money.”
Ross clicked another recording.
This time Vanessa’s voice was present.
“I don’t want Lily involved.”
Ryan laughed.
“She’s seven.”
“She asks questions.”
“She’ll believe whatever I tell her.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Vanessa said, “What about Emily?”
Ryan replied, “After the accident, she won’t be a problem.”
Everyone in the room froze.
Ross replayed the sentence.
“After the accident.”
Not if.
After.
Emily gripped the desk.
“He knew.”
Ross said nothing.
He clicked the file information.
The recording date was three weeks before the crash.
Patricia stumbled backward.
“Oh my God.”
Emily looked at her.
“Your son planned it.”
Patricia started sobbing.
Ross lifted a hand.
“We need to preserve everything.”
An investigator removed the computer.
Then another officer called from the far wall.
“Detective, there’s something behind these boxes.”
They moved several containers.
A small safe was built into the wall.
Ross obtained the code from a file on the computer.
Inside were passports.
Cash.
Jewelry.
And a sealed envelope with Lily’s name.
Emily picked it up.
Ross said, “We should process it.”
“It has my daughter’s name.”
He hesitated.
Then nodded.
They photographed it first.
Emily opened the envelope.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Ryan’s handwriting.
Lily,
One day people may tell you terrible things about me.
They may say I hurt your mother.
They may say I lied.
You are old enough to understand that adults sometimes do difficult things to protect their families.
Your mother wanted to take you away from me.
I could not allow that.
Everything I did was because I loved you.
Emily stopped reading.
Her hands shook violently.
I took the letter.
There was more.
If I am gone, remember that Uncle James turned everyone against me.
Do not trust him.
Do not trust Vanessa.
And most importantly, do not trust your mother’s memories.
She has always been sick.
Emily made a broken sound.
Patricia sat down on a box.
I kept reading.
There was one final line.
Ask Grandma Patricia what she did for me the night your mother crashed.
Silence.
Every face turned toward Patricia.
She stopped crying.
Emily stared at her.
“What did you do?”
Patricia looked terrified.
“I don’t know what he means.”
Emily stepped closer.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“Patricia.”
“I swear.”
Ross watched her carefully.
Then he asked, “Mrs. Carter, where were you at 9:15 the night of the crash?”
Patricia blinked.
“At home.”
“With Lily?”
“Yes.”
“Did Ryan come there?”
She said nothing.
Emily’s voice dropped.
“Did he?”
Patricia’s mouth began trembling.
“Yes.”
My stomach sank.
“What did he want?”
Patricia closed her eyes.
“He changed clothes.”
Emily stared.
“Why?”
“He said he fell in mud trying to help you.”
Ross leaned forward.
“What happened to the clothes?”
Patricia started crying again.
“He asked me to wash them.”
“Did you?”
She nodded.
Ross asked, “Anything else?”
She whispered, “His shirt had blood on it.”
Emily went completely still.
“Whose blood?”
Patricia opened her eyes.
“I thought it was yours.”
The room went silent.
Then Ross’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“Where?”
We watched him listen.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Keep eyes on him. Do not approach alone.”
He ended the call.
Emily stared at him.
“You found Ryan?”
Ross nodded.
“Traffic camera.”
“Where?”
His answer terrified me.
“Two blocks from Lily’s school.”
Chapter 8
The school went into lockdown before Ryan reached it.
Police surrounded the neighborhood.
Parents received emergency messages.
Teachers closed classroom doors.
Lily wasn’t there.
She was with Emily.
But Ryan didn’t know that until he saw police vehicles around the building.
Then he disappeared again.
This time, nobody believed he was running.
He was hunting for his daughter.
Emily heard the news and almost broke.
“I should have told the school sooner.”
“You did,” Naomi reminded her.
“They already knew Lily wasn’t attending.”
“He went there anyway.”
“Yes.”
“He thought she was there.”
Emily looked at me.
“He was going to take her.”
No one argued.
By afternoon, Ryan had become a fugitive.
Charges were being prepared for fraud, forgery, child abuse, conspiracy, and possible attempted homicide.
Dr. Pierce had already been arrested.
The facility suspended two administrators.
Vanessa entered a cooperation agreement.
But none of it mattered while Ryan was still outside.
That night, we moved.
Police didn’t want Lily at my house anymore.
Too obvious.
Naomi arranged for us to stay at a secure rental property twenty miles away.
Lily thought it was an adventure.
She carried her stuffed rabbit and asked whether the house had pancakes.
Emily smiled.
“We’ll make pancakes.”
“With strawberries?”
“Definitely.”
I watched my sister.
Eight months in confinement.
Two days reunited with her daughter.
A husband who wanted her erased.
And somehow she still found a smile when Lily looked at her.
That night, Lily fell asleep between us on the living room couch.
At midnight, Emily whispered, “James?”
“Yeah?”
“If something happens to me…”
“No.”
“Listen.”
“Nothing is happening to you.”
“Listen.”
I looked at her.
She was serious.
“If something happens, Lily stays with you.”
My throat tightened.
“Nothing will happen.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
She nodded.
Then she looked down at her daughter.
“I believed him.”
“Who?”
“Ryan.”
“For a while.”
“At the facility.”
Her voice cracked.
“When he said Lily was afraid of me.”
“You were injured.”
“I still believed him.”
“He built the lie around you.”
“I stopped asking to see her.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“For six days.”
Emily started crying silently.
“I thought maybe I was hurting her.”
“Emily.”
“What kind of mother stops asking for her child?”
“One who was being manipulated.”
“I should have known.”
“How?”
She didn’t answer.
I leaned forward.
“He had doctors telling you the same thing.”
“One doctor.”
“One doctor with authority.”
She wiped her face.
“I missed her seventh birthday.”
“Ryan caused that.”
“I missed Christmas.”
“Ryan.”
“She lost her front tooth.”
“Emily.”
She finally looked at me.
I said, “Every time you turn this against yourself, he wins again.”
That stopped her.
She inhaled slowly.
“You’re right.”
“I know.”
For the first time in days, she almost smiled.
Then a floorboard creaked upstairs.
We both froze.
There shouldn’t have been anyone upstairs.
I stood.
Emily immediately picked Lily up.
Another sound.
A door.
I reached for my phone.
Then headlights flashed through the front windows.
A vehicle pulled into the driveway.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Emily whispered, “Police?”
“No.”
The security team was parked farther down the road.
I called the officer assigned to us.
“Someone’s here.”
“Stay inside. Lock the interior door.”