Chapter 1 - THE MAN AT THE BACK DOOR
The back door opened three inches, then stopped.
I shifted Emily higher against my chest and backed toward the fence.
Mrs. Harris stood on the other side with both hands pressed to her mouth.
For one second, nobody moved.
Then the door opened wider.
Jason stepped onto the patio.
He was wearing gray sweatpants, a black T-shirt, and no shoes.
His hair looked damp, as if he had just showered.
He stared at me.
Then he stared at Emily in my arms.
The expression on his face changed so quickly that most people would have missed it.
Surprise became calculation.
Calculation became anger.
And then, almost unbelievably, he smiled.
"David."
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"You shouldn't be here."
Emily's fingers tightened in the back of my shirt.
I felt her shaking.
I kept my eyes on Jason.
"Where is Sarah?"
He lifted both hands as if he were the reasonable one.
"You need to put Emily down."
"Where is Sarah?"
"You're trespassing."
"You locked my daughter in an enclosure."
His jaw flexed.
"You don't know what you're looking at."
I almost laughed.
"I know exactly what I'm looking at."
Jason took one step off the patio.
Emily made a small sound against my shoulder.
I stopped moving.
"Stay there."
Jason's smile disappeared.
"David, you are standing on private property after breaking a lock, and you're carrying a child who is legally in her mother's custody this weekend."
"She was locked in a cage."
"She was in a secure enclosure because she was having a behavioral episode."
For a moment, I thought I had misheard him.
"A behavioral episode?"
"She was hurting herself."
Emily jerked her head up.
"No!"
The word exploded out of her.
Jason's eyes snapped to her.
I felt her body stiffen.
"Don't look at her like that."
He looked back at me.
"You have no idea what has been happening here."
"Then tell me."
"Put her down first."
"Not a chance."
His nostrils flared.
Behind me, Mrs. Harris called out.
"I've called the police."
Jason looked past me toward the fence.
That was the first time real fear entered his face.
It lasted less than a second.
Then he recovered.
"Good."
He nodded as if the police were exactly what he wanted.
"They need to hear what David has done."
I stared at him.
"Where is Sarah?"
He sighed.
"She left."
Emily shook her head violently.
"No."
Jason ignored her.
"She packed a bag Thursday night and took off."
"Without her phone?"
His eyes narrowed.
"How do you know she doesn't have her phone?"
I didn't.
Not until he said it.
The silence between us changed.
Jason realized his mistake.
So did I.
"Where is her phone?"
"I didn't say it was here."
"You just told me she left without it."
"I said no such thing."
Mrs. Harris shouted from the other side of the fence.
"I heard you."
Jason looked toward her again.
This time his face hardened.
"Stay out of this, Ruth."
Mrs. Harris froze.
I had never heard him call her by her first name before.
Neither had she, judging by her expression.
Jason came another step closer.
"David, this doesn't need to get ugly."
I glanced at the pool.
The black bags were still visible beneath the green water.
"What's in the pool?"
He looked at it without turning his head.
"Trash."
"Why throw trash into a swimming pool?"
"Because the garbage cans were full."
"Four large bags?"
"Renovation debris."
"Then you won't mind the police pulling them out."
Jason said nothing.
A siren sounded in the distance.
Emily buried her face against me.
Jason's posture changed again.
His shoulders dropped.
His voice softened.
"Emily, sweetheart, tell your father you were never in danger."
She didn't answer.
"Emily."
I moved backward.
"Don't speak to her."
His mouth tightened.
The siren grew louder.
Then another joined it.
Jason glanced toward the side gate.
That glance told me more than any confession could have.
He was thinking about running.
I shifted my footing.
"Don't."
His eyes came back to mine.
"Don't what?"
"Whatever you're considering."
For the first time, his calm cracked completely.
"You think you're some kind of hero because you jumped a fence?"
"No."
I looked down at Emily.
"I think I'm a father who should have come sooner."
That landed differently.
Emily started crying again.
I hated myself for every missed sign.
Jason laughed once under his breath.
"You always did like drama."
The first police officer came through the side gate with his hand near his holster.
A second officer followed.
Mrs. Harris was behind them, pointing toward us.
"That's him."
She pointed at Jason.
"And that's the father."
The first officer looked at me, then at Emily, then at the broken enclosure.
His expression changed immediately.
"Sir, put the child down carefully and keep your hands visible."
Emily panicked.
"No!"
She clung to my neck.
"Daddy, don't put me down."
The officer softened his tone.
"Okay."
He kept his voice gentle.
"You can hold her."
Jason stepped forward.
"Officer, he's trespassing and he's unstable."
The second officer held up a hand.
"Stay where you are."
Jason stopped.
The first officer looked at Emily.
"Sweetheart, are you hurt?"
Emily would not look at him.
"Can you tell me your name?"
She whispered it into my shoulder.
"Emily."
"Emily, do you know that man over there?"
Her breathing changed.
She nodded.
"Is he your stepfather?"
Another nod.
"Did he put you in that enclosure?"
Jason spoke immediately.
"She was a danger to herself."
The officer looked at him sharply.
"I wasn't asking you."
Emily's eyes stayed on my collar.
"Did Jason put you in there?"
She nodded.
"How long were you inside?"
Her lips moved, but no sound came out.
I felt the officer watching her hands.
They were scraped.
Her wrists had faint red marks.
The officer radioed for medical assistance.
Jason's face went pale.
"This is ridiculous."
The second officer moved toward the enclosure.
He crouched beside the broken lock, then looked at a plastic bowl inside.
It was empty.
Beside it sat a tipped-over bottle with only a few drops of water left.
"How long?" the first officer asked again.
Emily finally whispered.
"Since Friday night."
Everything inside me went cold.
It was Sunday afternoon.
The officer looked at Jason.
"Turn around and place your hands behind your back."
Jason blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"Now."
"On what charge?"
"Turn around."
Jason took half a step backward.
The second officer stood.
"Don't make this worse."
Jason slowly turned.
As the cuffs closed around his wrists, he looked directly at Emily.
Not at me.
Not at the police.
At Emily.
She began shaking harder.
"Daddy."
"I'm here."
"He said nobody would believe me."
The first officer heard that.
So did Jason.
Jason's face changed.
He stopped pretending.
"Emily, don't say another word."
The officer grabbed his arm.
"You do not speak to her."
Jason twisted around.
"You don't understand."
"You can explain it downtown."
"You're making a mistake."
"Maybe."
The officer looked toward the pool.
"We make fewer mistakes when we collect evidence."
Jason went still.
The second officer noticed.
He followed Jason's gaze to the water.
"What's in there?"
No one answered.
The officer looked at me.
I told him what Mrs. Harris had seen.
I told him what Emily had whispered.
I told him Sarah had disappeared.
Within ten minutes, the backyard was filling with people.
Paramedics checked Emily while she remained attached to my side.
Another patrol car arrived.
Then a supervisor.
Then a detective named Elena Ruiz.
Ruiz was in her early forties, with dark hair tied back and the kind of eyes that seemed to notice everything without advertising it.
She crouched beside Emily but did not touch her.
"I'm Detective Ruiz."
Emily looked at me.
I nodded.
"Your dad can stay right here."
Ruiz glanced at the pool.
"Did you see what Jason put in the water?"
Emily's face went white.
"I heard Mom."
Ruiz's voice remained calm.
"You heard your mom?"
Emily nodded.
"She was yelling at him."
"When?"
"Thursday."
"What was she saying?"
Emily swallowed.
"She said she knew about the storage place."
Ruiz glanced at me.
"What storage place?"
Emily shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Did your mom say anything else?"
Emily squeezed my hand.
"She said she had pictures."
Ruiz's eyes sharpened.
"Pictures of what?"
"I don't know."
"What happened after that?"
Emily's voice dropped.
"Jason got really quiet."
I had already learned that Jason quiet was worse than Jason angry.
Ruiz seemed to understand the same thing.
"And then?"
Emily looked at the house.
"He told me to go upstairs."
"Did you?"
"I went halfway."
"Why only halfway?"
"Because Mom screamed."
My chest tightened.
Ruiz did not react outwardly.
"What happened next?"
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
"I came back down."
"What did you see?"
"Mom was on the kitchen floor."
My grip tightened around her hand.
"Was she awake?"
Emily nodded.
"She was trying to get up."
"And Jason?"
"He was holding her phone."
Ruiz took that in.
"Then what?"
Emily looked toward the pool again.
"He saw me."
Her voice broke.
"He said if I told anyone, he'd make sure I disappeared too."
I closed my eyes for half a second.
When I opened them, Ruiz was watching me.
She knew how close I was to losing control.
"David."
Her tone was quiet.
"Stay with her."
I nodded.
Ruiz stood.
"Nobody touches the pool until crime scene gets here."
One of the officers asked if she wanted the house cleared.
Ruiz looked at Jason, now sitting handcuffed in the back of a patrol car.
"Yes."
"Warrant?"
"Exigent circumstances."
She pointed at the enclosure.
"We have a child unlawfully confined, a missing adult, and possible evidence destruction."
Two officers entered the house.
Three minutes later, one came back outside carrying a clear evidence bag.
Inside it was a phone.
Sarah's phone.
The screen was cracked.
There was dried mud around the case.
Ruiz stared at it.
Then she looked toward Jason.
"He said she left with a bag."
The officer nodded.
"Her purse is inside too."
I felt Emily grip my fingers.
"Daddy."
"I'm here."
She looked at the pool.
"Mom put something in my backpack."
I turned to her.
"What?"
"Before Jason locked me outside."
"What did she put in it?"
Emily's face tightened as she tried to remember.
"A little red key."
Ruiz stepped closer.
"Where is your backpack?"
Emily pointed toward the house.
"In my room."
Ruiz sent an officer upstairs.
He came back with a purple school backpack.
Emily clutched it to her chest.
Her hands trembled as she opened the front pocket.
Inside was a folded piece of paper.
And a small red key attached to a plastic tag.
The tag had one thing printed on it.
A number.
314.
Ruiz unfolded the paper.
Three words were written in Sarah's handwriting.
LOCKER 314.
TRUST DAVID.
I read the words twice.
Then I looked at the woman who had once been my wife, existing now only as a missing-person question nobody could answer.
Except maybe the man sitting in the patrol car.
Ruiz looked toward the pool.
Then she looked at the red key.
"We have two crime scenes now."
A technician in waterproof gear stepped toward the deep end.
A long hook went beneath the surface.
The first black bag slowly rose through the green water.
Emily buried her face against my side.
The bag broke the surface.
May you like
And the detective nearest the pool suddenly shouted for everyone to step back.
