Chapter 5 - The Purse Under the Floor
Danielle Mercer's purse changed the investigation in less than five minutes.
Until then, Deputy Quinn had been looking at two connected problems.
A child who had been hurt and confined.
A mother nobody could find.
The purse tied them to the same place.
Quinn did not tell me everything from the scene over the phone.
She did not need to.
The fact that Danielle's purse had been hidden beneath a loose floor panel inside the shed was enough.
Naomi pressed her fingers against her forehead.
"If she left voluntarily, why is her purse under the floor?"
I looked toward Leo's room.
"Maybe she didn't put it there."
"That is exactly what I am afraid of."
At 9:03 a.m., Leo woke again.
The swelling looked no worse.
That counted as good news.
His fever had dropped below 101.
That counted as better news.
He asked for apple juice.
That counted as the best news I had heard all morning.
Sarah brought him a cup with a straw.
He drank three careful sips and stopped.
"Too much?"
He shook his head.
"Saving it."
Sarah's expression tightened.
"There's more juice."
Leo looked at her.
"How much?"
"As much as you need."
He stared at the cup as if that answer made no sense.
I pulled a chair beside the bed.
"Leo, Deputy Quinn went to your house."
His hand froze around the cup.
"Greg there?"
"No."
"Mom?"
"Not yet."
His eyes dropped.
I chose my next words carefully.
"They found your mom's purse."
Leo looked up so quickly the straw slipped from his mouth.
"Where?"
"In the shed."
His face went pale.
"Where in the shed?"
"Under part of the floor."
He stopped breathing for a second.
Then he shook his head.
"No."
"What is it?"
"She didn't know about that."
"About what?"
"The floor."
His voice became thin.
"Greg said nobody knew."
Sarah quietly moved closer.
"What was under the floor before?" I asked.
Leo looked at the closed door.
"Stuff."
"What kind of stuff?"
"I don't know."
"Did you ever see him put anything there?"
A long pause.
"Once."
"What did he put there?"
"A box."
"What kind of box?"
"Brown."
"Big?"
He held his hands about two feet apart.
"What happened to it?"
"I don't know."
"Did your mom know about the box?"
Leo shook his head.
"Did she know about the loose floor?"
Another shake.
His lower lip trembled.
I stopped asking questions.
"Okay."
He looked at me.
"Is she dead?"
The question landed with the weight of the entire night.
I did not lie to him.
"We do not know where she is."
He swallowed hard.
"But people are looking for her right now."
"Greg said she ran away."
"What do you think?"
Leo stared at the apple juice.
"She wouldn't leave her blue sweater."
Sarah and I looked at each other.
"Why not?"
"She wears it when she's scared."
"Where is it?"
"On her bed."
That was not evidence in any legal sense.
But children know rituals adults miss.
A favorite sweater.
A certain mug.
A keychain always carried in one pocket.
Small habits become maps of a person.
Leo knew his mother's map.
To him, the sweater meant she had not planned to disappear.
Naomi entered a few minutes later with permission to ask Leo limited safety questions.
She did not mention the purse again.
Instead, she asked whether there was another adult he trusted.
Leo thought for several seconds.
"Aunt Claire."
"Claire what?"
"Mercer."
"Your mom's sister?"
He nodded.
"Do you know where she lives?"
"Portland."
"Do you have her number?"
"No."
"Does your mom?"
Leo looked toward me.
"She used to write it on paper."
"Where?"
"In my shoe."
Naomi blinked.
"In your shoe?"
Leo pushed the blanket down and pointed toward the chair where his wet sneakers had been placed in a plastic belongings bag.
Sarah brought the bag over.
Leo pointed to the left shoe.
"Under the inside part."
Sarah removed the damp insole.
Nothing was there.
Leo sat up straighter.
"It was there."
Naomi took the shoe gently.
"Maybe it slid."
She checked the toe.
Nothing.
Then Sarah examined the right shoe.
She pulled out the insole.
A tiny folded strip of paper was taped to the underside.
Leo exhaled.
"Mom switched it."
Naomi peeled the paper free.
There was a phone number written in blue ink.
Underneath it were three words.
IF SCARED, CALL.
Leo watched Sarah turn the shoes over in her hands.
"Mom said paper is safer than phones."
Naomi paused.
"Why did she say that?"
"Greg checks phones."
"Did he check yours?"
Leo looked confused.
"I don't have one."
"Your mom's?"
He nodded.
"Sometimes he takes it at night."
"Did she ever use another phone?"
"A little black one."
Naomi and I looked at each other.
A prepaid phone.
Maybe the same kind Danielle would later use to call Claire.
"Where did she keep it?"
"I don't know."
Leo rubbed the edge of his blanket.
"She said not knowing is safer too."
That sentence told me how long Danielle had been planning around surveillance.
It also told me Leo had been recruited into the planning whether she intended it or not.
Children in controlled homes learn adult logistics too early.
Which door squeaks.
Which floorboard gives away footsteps.
Which phone can be hidden.
Which relative can be called if everything goes wrong.
Naomi held the tiny paper with Claire's number.
"Do you like your aunt?"
Leo's face changed for the first time in a way that looked uncomplicated.
"She makes pancakes shaped like whales."
Sarah smiled.
"That sounds difficult."
"They don't really look like whales."
"Then that sounds easier."
Leo almost smiled.
"She lets me use too much syrup."
"Your secret is safe with us."
The almost-smile disappeared when he remembered why we were asking.
"Greg doesn't like her."
"Why?" Naomi asked.
"He says she fills Mom's head with garbage."
"What does your mom say?"
"Nothing when he's there."
"And when he isn't?"
Leo thought.
"She says Claire remembers who she was before."
Naomi looked at me.
That was not a child's sentence unless he had heard it more than once.
"Do you know what that means?" I asked.
Leo shook his head.
"No."
Then he pointed at the number.
"But Mom said if I ever used that, Aunt Claire would come."
"Do you believe her?" Naomi asked.
Leo stared at the paper.
"I want to."
That was enough reason to make the call carefully.
Before she called, Leo asked whether Claire would be angry with him.
"Why would she be angry?" Naomi asked.
"Because I didn't call sooner."
Naomi crouched beside the bed.
"The paper said call if you were scared."
Leo nodded.
"Were you scared before tonight?"
He looked down.
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you call?"
"Greg had the phones."
Naomi nodded.
"Then you did not fail the plan."
Leo looked at her.
"The plan failed you."
That distinction seemed to surprise him.
He touched the folded number with one finger.
"Will you tell her that?"
"I think she will already know."
Leo did not look convinced.
Naomi gave him a small smile.
"We can tell her together later if you want."
He nodded once.
Only then did she step into the hall.
Naomi stepped into the hall and dialed immediately.
The call rang twice.
A woman answered.
"Hello?"
"Is this Claire Mercer?"
"Yes."
"My name is Naomi Pierce."
"I'm with Clatsop County child welfare."
The silence on the other end lasted less than a second.
Then Claire said, "Where is Leo?"
Naomi looked through the glass at him.
"He is safe at North Coast Regional Hospital."
Claire inhaled sharply.
"Is Danielle with him?"
"No."
Another silence.
This one lasted longer.
"What happened?"
Naomi gave her only the necessary facts.
Leo had been brought to the ER.
He had a serious injury.
Greg had left.
Danielle was missing.
The sheriff's department was searching.
Claire interrupted.
"Greg left the hospital?"
"Yes."
"Then you need to move Leo."
Naomi straightened.
"Why?"
"Because Greg knows that hospital."
"How?"
"He took Danielle there last year."
"For what?"
Claire's voice dropped.
"A broken rib she told everyone came from falling in the bathtub."
I felt a pulse of anger behind my eyes.
Naomi asked, "Did you believe her?"
"No."
"Did she tell you Greg caused it?"
"Not then."
"When did she?"
"Three weeks ago."
The hallway seemed to narrow.
"What exactly did she tell you?"
Claire exhaled slowly.
"She said she was leaving him."
"She said she had started saving cash where he couldn't find it."
"She said she had copied documents."
"She said if she could get Leo away safely, she would drive to me."
Naomi looked at me.
"Did she say when?"
"Soon."
"Did you hear from her after that?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Monday night."
That was the night before Leo disappeared from school.
"What did she say?"
Claire's voice broke for the first time.
"She said, 'I think he knows.'"
Naomi gripped the phone harder.
"Knows what?"
"She would not say."
"Did she sound injured?"
"No."
"Afraid?"
"Yes."
"Was Greg there?"
"I don't know."
"Did you speak to Leo?"
"No."
"Did Danielle tell you where she was?"
"No."
"Did she call from her usual phone?"
"Yes."
The phone we had found in Leo's backpack.
I looked down the hallway.
A police officer had just stepped off the elevator.
Naomi asked the question I was already thinking.
"What documents did she copy?"
Claire was silent.
Then she said, "I don't know all of them."
"All?"
"She sent me one photograph."
"What photograph?"
Claire took a breath.
"A page from a notebook."
"What was on it?"
"Dates."
"Amounts of money."
"And Leo's name."
Naomi's pen stopped.
"Can you send it to me?"
"Yes."
"Please do that now."
"I will."
Naomi gave her a secure number.
Before she ended the call, Claire said, "Wait."
"Yes?"
"There's something else."
"What?"
"Danielle told me if she ever vanished, there was one person I should not believe."
Naomi's eyes flicked toward me.
"Greg?"
"No."
The answer surprised all of us.
"Then who?"
Claire's voice became very quiet.
May you like
"She said not to believe her."
