CHAPTER 5: THE MAN VANESSA FEARED
Ethan did not give Detective Grant the original note.
Instead, he photographed it while the officers examined the carrier. He sent the images to Rachel and placed the paper inside the inner pocket of his jacket.
Officer Morales called paramedics.
Detective Grant stood near Lucy, studying her with unusual intensity.
“You recognize the child?” Ethan asked.
Grant looked up.
“No.”
“You seemed familiar with her.”
“I’m trying to determine whether she appears injured.”
“You can do that from across the room?”
Grant’s expression tightened.
Before he could respond, Emma walked downstairs.
Ethan immediately moved toward her.
“I asked you to stay upstairs.”
“I heard the baby crying.”
Emma stared at Lucy.
“Is she Vanessa’s baby?”
The room became silent.
Grant turned sharply toward Ethan.
“Vanessa who?”
Ethan did not answer.
Emma stepped closer to her father.
“Vanessa Lockwood,” she said. “The woman who locked me outside.”
Officer Morales looked at Grant.
“You said the woman who abandoned the baby didn’t identify herself.”
“She didn’t,” Grant replied.
Ethan’s suspicion hardened.
He had not told the dispatcher Vanessa’s name.
Neither had Officer Morales.
Yet Grant had reacted before Emma finished speaking.
The paramedics transported Lucy to the hospital for examination. Ethan insisted on accompanying her because he had been the person who found her.
Emma stayed with Rachel.
Before Ethan left, he pulled Rachel aside.
“Do not take Emma home.”
“What happened?”
“One of the detectives is named Grant.”
Rachel’s face changed when Ethan showed her the note.
“I’ll take Emma to my place.”
“Lock everything.”
“I will.”
“And call Daniel.”
Rachel’s husband, Daniel, was a federal prosecutor. He had never been involved in Ethan’s personal problems, but this was no longer a family dispute.
At the hospital, doctors confirmed that Lucy was healthy but mildly dehydrated.
A social worker named Marissa Chen arrived shortly after midnight.
“We found a copy of the child’s birth certificate in the carrier,” Marissa said. “The mother is listed as Vanessa Margaret Lockwood.”
“The father?”
“The space is blank.”
“Vanessa knew who the father was.”
“Do you?”
Ethan hesitated.
“Her note mentioned Adrian Cole.”
Marissa stopped writing.
“The Adrian Cole?”
Adrian Cole was a billionaire real estate investor, media owner and political donor. For the past six months, news outlets had reported that he was preparing to run for governor.
He was also married.
Ethan showed Marissa the photograph of Vanessa’s note.
“I need this reported outside the local department.”
Marissa looked toward the hospital hallway.
“Why?”
“Because Vanessa specifically warned me about Detective Grant.”
Marissa made a phone call from a private office.
Twenty minutes later, two state investigators arrived.
By then, Detective Grant had disappeared.
The hospital security department reviewed the exterior cameras.
At 10:42 p.m., a dark sedan had stopped one block from Ethan’s home.
Vanessa stepped out carrying Lucy.
At 10:51 p.m., she left the baby on the porch.
At 10:53 p.m., a black SUV turned onto Ethan’s street.
Vanessa saw it and ran.
The camera lost sight of her behind a row of trees.
Another camera captured her three minutes later.
Two men forced her into the SUV.
The license plate was registered to a private security company owned by Cole Strategic Holdings.
Ethan stared at the frozen image.
Vanessa had abandoned Lucy.
But she had not abandoned her because she wanted to disappear.
She had done it because she knew someone was coming.
Marissa’s phone rang.
She listened for several seconds before slowly lowering it.
“What is it?” Ethan asked.
“The police searched Vanessa’s apartment.”
“And?”
“There was blood in the kitchen.”
May you like
“How much?”
“Enough that they’re no longer treating this as a missing-person case.”
