[CHAPTER 8]
Nathan disappeared before police finished searching his office.
His phone was found in a trash bin near Union Station.
His car sat abandoned three blocks away.
By midnight, every airport and major crossing had his name.
Mother blamed herself.
I did not comfort her.
Not yet.
Emma heard the news and immediately asked the question I had been avoiding.
“Will he come here?”
I looked at her.
Fear had returned to her face.
The same fear that lived there after Grace died.
I hated Nathan for giving it back.
“No.”
“You don’t know that.”
She was right.
“I’ve increased security.”
“That’s not an answer.”
I sat beside her on my bed.
She had refused to sleep alone.
Eli was in the guest room across the hall, though I suspected he wasn’t sleeping either.
“I will do everything I can to keep you safe.”
Emma looked down.
“Mommy couldn’t keep herself safe.”
The words cut deep.
“No.”
I forced myself not to lie.
“She couldn’t.”
Emma’s chin trembled.
“But she tried to keep us safe.”
I showed her Grace’s photograph again.
“She spent the last weeks of her life making sure the truth could survive.”
Emma touched the corner.
“She was brave.”
“Yes.”
“Was she scared?”
“Yes.”
“Can you be both?”
I smiled through the pain.
“That’s what she kept trying to teach us.”
Emma crawled beneath my arm.
I held her until her breathing slowed.
At two in the morning, I heard movement in the hallway.
Eli.
He carried his backpack.
Again.
“Where are you going?”
He froze.
“Bathroom.”
“With your backpack?”
He looked annoyed that I had noticed.
I crossed my arms.
“Try again.”
He stared at the floor.
“I can’t sleep.”
“So?”
“I’m leaving.”
“No.”
“You don’t get to say no.”
“That’s fair.”
He looked surprised.
“I’m still going to ask you to stay.”
“Why?”
“Because a dangerous man is missing.”
“Exactly.”
He gestured toward Emma’s room.
“He’s after me.”
“He is after evidence.”
“I’m evidence.”
I stopped.
That sentence terrified me.
“I was the person Grace trusted,” Eli said. “He knows that.”
I stepped closer.
“And you think disappearing protects Emma?”
“Yes.”
“You think Grace wanted you to spend your life running?”
His face hardened.
“Don’t use her against me.”
He was right.
“I’m sorry.”
We stood in silence.
Then he whispered, “I’m scared.”
Finally.
The truth beneath everything.
I sat on the hallway floor.
After a moment, he sat too.
“I am too.”
He looked at me.
“Adults aren’t supposed to say that.”
“Adults say lots of stupid things.”
That almost earned a smile.
“I don’t know where Nathan is,” I continued. “I don’t know what he’ll do. I don’t know what will happen with your father.”
Eli’s jaw tightened.
“But I know running alone isn’t safer.”
“You have guards.”
“You have people.”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because guards are paid.”
I understood.
“What do you think I am?”
He looked at me.
“I don’t know yet.”
That answer was honest.
I respected it.
“I’m Emma’s father.”
“I know.”
“I loved Grace.”
“I know.”
“And I care what happens to you.”
He stared at me.
“Why?”
“Because Grace did.”
His expression closed.
I shook my head.
“That’s not the whole reason.”
He waited.
“Because I know you now.”
His eyes filled.
“You’re stubborn. You hide food in your pockets even when there’s more in the kitchen. You pretend you don’t like cartoons, but I saw you watching one with Emma.”
His cheeks reddened.
“That show is stupid.”
“You laughed.”
“Once.”
“Four times.”
He looked away.
“And you make my daughter feel brave.”
That silenced him.
“I can never repay that.”
“I didn’t do it for you.”
“I know.”
He looked toward Emma’s room.
“I did it for Grace.”
“And now?”
Long silence.
“For Emma.”
I nodded.
“That’s family behavior.”
His head turned sharply.
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t say things you might take back.”
I understood.
So I chose my words carefully.
“I’m not asking you to call us family.”
He relaxed slightly.
“I’m telling you that you don’t have to run tonight.”
He stayed.
At six, Marcus called.
Nathan had rented a car under another name.
The vehicle was found near St. Matthew’s Hospital.
I was in the kitchen when I heard that.
The hospital.
Grace.
The bench.
My blood froze.
“Why would he go there?”
Marcus answered, “We think he’s looking for something.”
“He already knows we found the box.”
“Maybe he thinks there’s more.”
Eli entered behind me.
“There is.”
I turned.
“What?”
He looked terrified.
“Grace gave me another message.”
I stared at him.
“When were you going to tell me?”
“I forgot.”
“You forgot?”
“I was nine!”
Fair.
“What message?”
Eli rubbed his forehead.
“She said if the key ever failed, I should remember the song.”
“What song?”
“I don’t know.”
Emma entered.
She had heard us.
“What did Mommy sing?”
Eli shrugged.
“She hummed something the last time I saw her.”
Emma’s face changed.
“What?”
She started humming.
A simple melody.
Grace used to sing it while cooking.
Blue Moon.
Eli’s eyes widened.
“That.”
My chest tightened.
Grace loved that song.
“Why would a song matter?”
Emma frowned.
“Mommy had a music box.”
I stared at her.
“What music box?”
“The silver one.”
I remembered.
Grace’s grandmother had given it to her.
After Grace died, Mother packed most of her personal things because I couldn’t bear touching them.
“Where is it?”
Emma looked at me.
“Grandma’s house.”
Twenty minutes later, we were in the car.
Marcus told us to wait for police.
I told him to meet us there.
Mother opened the door wearing yesterday’s clothes.
When I said music box, she went pale.
“I put it in the attic.”
We climbed the stairs.
The box sat inside Grace’s old storage trunk.
Emma opened it.
Blue Moon began playing.
Eli listened.
“That’s it.”
I turned the box over.
Nothing.
Emma touched the tiny dancing figure inside.
“Mommy showed me something once.”
She pressed down on the base.
A hidden compartment clicked open.
Inside was a memory card.
And a note.
For Michael, when he finally learns to listen to our daughter.
Despite everything, I laughed.
It was so Grace.
Then glass shattered downstairs.
Mother screamed.
Marcus shouted from outside.
I grabbed Emma and pulled her behind me.
Eli ducked beside us.
Footsteps thundered through the first floor.
A man yelled.
Another crash.
Then silence.
Marcus appeared at the attic entrance with his weapon drawn.
“Everybody okay?”
“Yes.”
He looked at the memory card in my hand.
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because Nathan wasn’t running from the country.”
My stomach dropped.
May you like
Marcus looked downstairs.
“He was coming here.”
