Chapter 5 - The House That Remembered
The police returned to Sarah's house with a warrant the next morning.
They let me collect medication, clothes, and Emma's stuffed rabbit only after the evidence team had finished documenting the rooms.
I had walked through the house once in panic.
Walking through it again, knowing my children were safe for the moment, was somehow worse.
Someone had wiped the kitchen counter clean except for the cups.
A drawer beneath the stove had been left half open.
Inside were fourteen unopened letters from the bank.
All were addressed to Sarah.
The bank warned that accounts associated with her nonprofit charity had been frozen pending review.
I had never heard of the charity.
A second folder held purchase orders from my company, each marked approved in my name.
The signature was close enough to mine that I had to examine it twice.
“I didn't sign these.”
Ortiz photographed every page.
Upstairs, Ethan's room contained a handwritten calendar.
He had drawn little suns above Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Under Monday he'd written DADDY in shaky capital letters.
I stood there until Ortiz gently asked whether I needed to step outside.
A small camera, disguised as a smoke detector, was found over the hallway.
Another sat above the staircase.
The recordings could show who entered the house and when.
The memory cards had been removed.
The installer invoice led to a company owned by Claire Bennett.
Victor's reach was becoming visible, one careful fingerprint at a time.
Rachel called with worse news.
The board had announced an internal investigation into me, using Sarah's accusation and the questionable purchase orders.
My oldest friend and chief operating officer, Marcus Bell, had voted for my suspension.
I called him.
“You knew my children were in danger?”
“No,” he said immediately.
“Then why did you side with Victor?”
Marcus exhaled.
“Because Victor showed us records proving you transferred two million dollars to a secret account.”
“That never happened.”
“I hope so.”
The line went quiet.
Then Marcus said the sentence that changed my understanding of the betrayal.
“The account holder isn't you, Daniel.”
“Who is it?”
May you like
“It's Emma.”
