Chapter 4 - THE BLUEBIRD
Daniel had seen the ceramic bluebird hundreds of times before Emma died.
It had been one of those small objects that became part of a room without demanding attention.
Emma kept it beside a framed photograph of Lily on her desk.
After the accident, Daniel packed most of Emma's office into storage because entering the room hurt too much.
He had never imagined the bird mattered.
Lily apparently knew otherwise.
Daniel crouched beside her at the kitchen island.
"How do you know Mommy put something inside?"
Lily touched the bird with one finger.
"She showed me."
Rebecca looked at Daniel.
Daniel kept his voice steady.
"When?"
"Before she went to heaven."
The room became very quiet.
"What did she show you?"
"A tiny card."
Daniel looked at the narrow seam in the ceramic base.
Rebecca retrieved a pair of thin gloves from the evidence kit Susan had left behind.
"We shouldn't damage it."
"Call Hernandez."
Daniel sent the detective a message explaining what Lily had found.
Hernandez called immediately and asked them not to open the object until he arrived.
They waited twenty-five minutes.
To Daniel, it felt like hours.
Lily sat at the table drawing with crayons while Daniel watched the bluebird.
Every minute, a new memory returned.
Emma buying the bird at a street market during a trip to Charleston.
Emma joking that the chipped wing made it look stubborn.
Emma moving it from her office at work to the desk at home during the last months of her life.
Daniel had never asked why.
Detective Hernandez arrived with another investigator named Cole Warren.
They photographed the bird, photographed Lily's room where she found it, and asked Lily to explain exactly where it had been hidden.
"In my closet wall."
Daniel frowned.
"What do you mean inside the wall?"
Lily led them upstairs.
Behind a row of dresses in her closet was a small loose baseboard.
Lily pulled it forward with both hands.
A shallow cavity appeared behind it.
Daniel stared.
"Who showed you this?"
"Mommy."
"When?"
"When I was little."
Lily had been four when Emma died.
Daniel felt sick imagining Emma secretly hiding something in their daughter's closet while he remained completely unaware.
Detective Warren knelt beside the opening.
"Did Claire know about this spot?"
Lily nodded.
"She saw me put the bird back."
"When?"
"A long time ago."
"Before she married your dad?"
Lily thought carefully.
"Before the white dress party."
Their wedding.
Daniel looked at Hernandez.
Claire had learned about the hiding place before she married him.
The officer carried the bluebird downstairs.
With Daniel's permission and under camera recording, Hernandez carefully loosened the felt pad glued beneath the ceramic base.
A microSD card slid onto the table.
No one spoke.
Rebecca exhaled slowly.
"Emma hid digital evidence in a toy."
"Not a toy," Lily corrected.
"Mommy said it was a brave bird."
Daniel looked at his daughter.
"Did she tell you why it had to be brave?"
Lily nodded.
"Because bad people look in normal places."
Daniel's chest tightened.
Those words sounded exactly like Emma.
Detective Hernandez bagged the card.
"We'll make a forensic copy before opening anything."
Daniel wanted to protest.
Instead, he forced himself to nod.
"How long?"
"We can prioritize it."
Rebecca folded her arms.
"Detective, this may connect to the funds missing from Lily's account."
Hernandez looked at her.
"What funds?"
Rebecca explained the transfers to Rowan Family Consulting.
Daniel watched the detective's expression harden.
"And Claire Rowan is your wife's real name?"
"Yes."
"Did you know that when you married her?"
"No."
Hernandez turned to Daniel.
"I need you to understand something."
"What?"
"This is no longer a simple domestic investigation."
Daniel almost laughed at the word simple.
Nothing about the last several hours felt simple.
After the officers left, Rebecca began contacting the bank's fraud department.
Daniel made Lily grilled cheese because it was the only dinner she requested.
He burned the first sandwich.
Lily laughed softly when smoke rose from the pan.
The sound nearly made him cry.
He placed a new sandwich in front of her.
"I'm a little distracted."
"Mommy burned toast."
Daniel smiled despite himself.
"She did."
"She said the smoke alarm was her cooking timer."
"She definitely said that."
For a few minutes, the kitchen felt almost normal.
Then the doorbell rang.
Daniel's body tensed.
Rebecca checked the camera feed on her phone because Daniel had switched the security system to a new offline configuration.
"It's your father."
Daniel stood.
Lily immediately stopped eating.
"Grandpa?"
Daniel looked at her.
"Do you want to see him?"
Lily's answer came too quickly.
"No."
Daniel stared at her.
Victor had always brought her books and expensive toys.
Lily used to run toward him whenever he visited.
"Why not?"
Lily looked down at her sandwich.
"Claire says Grandpa gets mad when people talk."
Rebecca and Daniel exchanged a look.
The doorbell rang again.
Victor's fist struck the front door.
"Daniel!"
Daniel walked into the foyer but did not open it.
"Go home, Dad."
"Open this door."
"No."
"You don't know what you're doing."
Daniel remained behind the locked door.
"You're right."
Victor went silent.
Daniel continued.
"I don't know why Claire Rowan buried Emma's phone under my tree."
There was no response from outside.
"I don't know why you've been accessing my security system and deleting recordings."
Silence again.
"And I don't know why Lily is afraid of you."
Victor struck the door with his palm.
"That woman has poisoned your daughter against me."
Daniel laughed once.
"Which woman?"
Victor did not answer.
"Claire or Emma?"
The silence lasted long enough to feel like a confession.
"Open the door, Daniel."
"Tell me who Thomas Rowan accused at his sentencing."
Victor's voice became low.
"You have no idea what your wife was involved in."
Daniel's hand tightened around the door handle.
"Emma?"
"Yes."
"Then tell me."
"Not through a door."
"Then we're done."
Daniel walked away.
Victor shouted from the porch.
"If the police open whatever Emma hid, you could lose the company."
Daniel stopped.
Rebecca looked at him from the living room.
Victor continued.
"You could lose everything your grandfather built."
Daniel turned back toward the door.
"My daughter was crying under a tree today while my wife threatened her."
His voice shook with anger.
"Do you actually think I care about the company right now?"
Victor did not answer.
Daniel heard footsteps moving away across the porch.
Rebecca watched through the window until Victor's car left the driveway.
"He came here because of that card."
Daniel nodded.
"He doesn't even know about the bluebird."
Rebecca's eyes narrowed.
"Then he came because he knows what could be on Emma's phone."
At nine that night, Lily finally fell asleep in Daniel's bed.
She had refused to sleep in her own room.
Daniel sat beside her until her breathing became slow and even.
Then he returned downstairs.
Rebecca had gone home but promised to return early.
The house was quiet.
Daniel walked into Emma's old office for the first time in months.
Most of the shelves were nearly empty.
Dust covered the desk.
He sat in Emma's chair and opened the bottom drawer.
Inside were old pens, paper clips, and a stack of unused birthday cards.
Daniel ran his fingers beneath the drawer out of habit rather than expectation.
Something scraped his knuckle.
He crouched and looked underneath.
A small envelope had been taped to the bottom of the drawer.
His pulse quickened.
He peeled it free.
The envelope had no name.
Inside was a single photograph.
Daniel held it beneath the desk lamp.
Emma stood outside a courthouse.
Beside her was a man Daniel recognized from old company records.
Thomas Rowan.
The photograph was dated three months before Thomas supposedly died in prison.
Daniel stared at it.
On the back, Emma had written one sentence.
THOMAS WAS TELLING THE TRUTH.
Below that was another line.
VICTOR KNOWS I FOUND OUT.
Daniel's phone rang.
The number was unknown.
He answered without speaking.
A man's voice said his name.
"Daniel Mercer?"
"Who is this?"
"My name is Aaron Pike."
Daniel did not recognize it.
The man continued.
"I used to investigate financial crimes for the state."
Daniel stood.
"Why are you calling me?"
"Because Emma Mercer hired me two weeks before she died."
Daniel could barely breathe.
"What did she hire you to do?"
Aaron paused.
May you like
"Prove that her car crash wasn't going to be an accident."
