Chapter 10 - THE EMPTY KITCHEN
I called emergency services from my location while Nathan stayed connected with Sloane.
By the time we reached the Caldwell residence, police had secured the property.
The blood on the floor was real, but no one knew whose it was.
Grant told officers Marlene had become agitated and left after an argument.
His explanation changed three times within the first hour.
Sloane clung to Nathan and accused me of causing everything.
"You wouldn't leave us alone," she screamed. "Now Mom is missing."
I wanted to tell her that Marlene had spent two decades making sure I was the one who vanished from family pictures.
Instead, I asked whether she'd heard from her mother.
"No."
"Then help us find her."
An officer asked us to remain outside while detectives processed the kitchen.
Adrian, who had come as my friend rather than in an official Army capacity, brought me water I could barely swallow.
Near midnight, investigators located security footage of Marlene entering a car driven by an unidentified woman.
Marlene appeared frightened, but she walked without physical assistance.
Grant claimed he had never seen the driver.
Miguel later recognized the car's distinctive damaged bumper in photographs taken outside a warehouse linked to North Quay.
The next morning, Marlene contacted a detective through an attorney.
She was alive and wanted protective arrangements before making any statement.
Her lawyer informed us that she feared both Grant and an unnamed business associate.
Then Grant called a press conference.
Standing outside his company's headquarters, he tearfully described his wife as missing and accused me of manipulating events to seize family wealth.
The news broadcast showed my military photograph beside words about fraud, scandal and a family feud.
My phone filled with messages from strangers.
Some applauded me.
Others called me greedy.
I turned it off.
Rebecca arrived with an emergency court order requiring preservation of certain company records.
"Grant's narrative is already unraveling," she told me.
"Why?"
"Because your mother has agreed to speak."
"To us?"
"To investigators first."
She hesitated before adding the detail that made my knees feel weak.
May you like
"Claire, Marlene says she witnessed someone alter a safety report before your father's accident."
