Chapter 1: The Name on the Screen
It said—
HARPER COLE — MASTER USER.
For several seconds, I stared at the screen without breathing.
The alarm had been disabled at 3:12 p.m.
Violet’s school was less than ten minutes from our house. According to the attendance notification on my phone, she had left campus at 3:06.
Someone had turned off the alarm six minutes after my daughter started walking home.
And that person had used my wife’s account.
Harper stood across the hospital hallway with both hands pressed over her mouth. She had not seen the screen yet.
Detective Grant stepped closer.
“What did you find?”
I locked the phone and slipped it into my pocket.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
His expression changed slightly.
“You called us, Mr. Cole.”
“I called an ambulance.”
Grant’s jaw tightened.
Before he could answer, a surgeon emerged through the double doors. Harper rushed toward him.
“Is Violet alive?”
The doctor removed his mask.
“She survived the surgery. We stopped the bleeding and reduced the pressure, but the next twenty-four hours are critical.”
Harper’s knees nearly gave out.
I caught her beneath the arms.
She clung to me, shaking so hard I could feel it through my bloodstained shirt.
“We should have been there,” she whispered. “We should have protected her.”
I looked over her shoulder at Detective Grant.
He was watching us too carefully.
A nurse led Harper toward the intensive-care waiting area. I remained behind.
Grant lowered his voice.
“You’re military?”
“Army.”
“What kind?”
“The kind that notices when a detective decides what happened before he examines the evidence.”
His eyes cooled.
“I’ve already sent officers to secure the house.”
“Then tell them not to touch the security system.”
Grant slipped his hands into his jacket pockets.
“You think someone your family knew was involved?”
I thought about Harper’s name on the alarm log.
“I think whoever entered knew exactly when Violet would be alone.”
I walked away before he could ask another question.
Harper was sitting near the window when I joined her. Her phone lay facedown beside her.
As I lowered myself into the chair, the phone vibrated.
Harper grabbed it instantly.
Too instantly.
A message flashed across the screen before she turned it away.
I saw only six words.
Did Mason see the security log?
The sender’s name was Daniel Reese.
My closest friend.
My former teammate.
And Violet’s godfather.
Harper slowly lifted her eyes to mine.
The fear in her face told me something worse than a lie.
May you like
It told me she understood the question.
And she knew exactly why Daniel had asked it.
