CHAPTER 4
By the next morning, the police had moved me again.
I hated it.
I hated leaving Tessa.
I hated being told not to use my own car.
I hated that every black SUV made my pulse jump.
Most of all, I hated feeling afraid of people I had served breakfast to for almost two years.
Detective Alvarez arranged a temporary room for me at a secured apartment building used for protected witnesses.
“I’m not a witness in a mafia movie,” I told her.
She gave me a look.
“A baby was nearly murdered for forty-eight million dollars.”
“Right.”
“And someone sent you clothing from the crime scene.”
“Right.”
“And an accountant is missing.”
I stopped arguing.
That afternoon, I met Eleanor Hale.
Daniel’s mother arrived with two attorneys and the kind of grief that seemed to make her smaller than she actually was.
I had met her before.
At Christmas dinners.
Birthday parties.
Company events.
She always remembered my name.
That mattered more now than it had then.
When she entered the interview room, she looked at the bruise across my cheek.
Her eyes filled.
“My son did that?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t hit me.”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“But I raised the man who did.”
I didn’t know what to say.
She sat across from me.
“Emma is being released tomorrow.”
My heart jumped.
“Where is she going?”
“With me, if the court approves it.”
“And Lucas?”
“Also with me.”
Relief nearly knocked the air from my lungs.
Eleanor folded her hands.
“I’ve already filed for emergency guardianship.”
“Daniel will fight you.”
“Yes.”
“Vanessa will too.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t seem worried.”
Eleanor looked tired.
“I’m terrified.”
Then she straightened.
“But I am done being intimidated by my son.”
One of her attorneys placed documents on the table.
Eleanor didn’t look at them.
“Arthur knew Daniel was stealing.”
“From the company?”
“From everyone.”
She swallowed.
“My husband spent his last months trying to stop him.”
I remembered Arthur Hale.
Quiet.
Old-fashioned.
He had once tipped every member of the household staff personally at Christmas because he said no one should receive gratitude from an assistant.
“What happened?”
“Daniel borrowed against company assets without authorization.”
“For what?”
“Investments. Gambling. Properties. Vanessa’s spending. Nobody knows the full amount.”
“And Emma’s trust?”
Eleanor’s face changed.
“Arthur believed Daniel needed to lose control before he destroyed the company.”
“Why put it in a baby’s name?”
“Because the trust would be untouchable until Emma turned twenty-five.”
“But if she died…”
“The shares reverted to Daniel.”
I shook my head.
“That makes no sense.”
“It was a legal flaw Arthur intended to correct.”
“When?”
“The week he died.”
I looked at her.
“Did Daniel know?”
“Yes.”
The room became very quiet.
“How did Arthur die?”
Eleanor’s attorney looked at Alvarez.
Alvarez answered.
“Officially, heart failure.”
“Officially?”
Eleanor’s eyes lowered.
“My husband had heart disease.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
She looked at me again.
“It isn’t.”
A chill moved through me.
“Do you think Daniel killed his father?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you think he could have.”
Eleanor began crying silently.
That answer frightened me more than words.
Later, Alvarez explained that Arthur’s body had been cremated.
No toxicology beyond standard hospital tests.
No evidence of foul play.
Nothing they could use.
“What about the missing accountant?”
“His name is Peter Sloan.”
“Was he working for Arthur?”
“Yes.”
“Did Daniel know?”
“Definitely.”
“Then find him.”
Alvarez almost smiled.
“We’re trying.”
The following morning, I was allowed to visit Emma.
A hospital social worker stayed in the room.
Eleanor sat in a chair holding her.
Lucas was beside her.
When he saw me, he ran.
“Grace!”
I dropped to my knees.
He slammed into me.
I wrapped both arms around him.
For the first time since the pool, I felt something inside me unclench.
“You okay?”
He nodded against my shoulder.
Then he whispered, “I’m scared Dad will come.”
“He can’t.”
“You promise?”
I almost said yes.
Then I remembered the box.
I remembered Daniel’s money.
I remembered how quickly his attorney had reached the house.
I chose different words.
“There are people protecting you now.”
Lucas pulled back.
“Are you one of them?”
My throat tightened.
“If they let me.”
Eleanor heard.
She looked at Mara from child services.
Then at me.
“I want Grace with us.”
Mara hesitated.
“Mrs. Hale—”
“Lucas trusts her.”
Lucas nodded quickly.
“And Emma knows her.”
The social worker looked toward me.
“You would need a background review.”
“Fine.”
“Interviews.”
“Fine.”
“And this arrangement could be temporary.”
I looked at Emma.
A tiny bruise marked her forehead from the stroller.
Her fingers curled around Eleanor’s blouse.
“I understand.”
Eleanor leaned closer.
“I have a guesthouse on my property. Separate entrance. Security.”
Security.
The word no longer comforted me.
“Who runs it?”
“I fired Daniel’s people this morning.”
That got my attention.
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
“Especially Mason Reed?”
Eleanor frowned.
“Daniel’s head of security?”
“Yes.”
“Why him?”
I remembered Mason ordering the guard to lock me in the pool house.
“He didn’t question Daniel.”
Eleanor’s expression hardened.
“He will never enter my property.”
I agreed to go.
Two days later, the court granted Eleanor temporary guardianship.
Daniel and Vanessa were allowed no unsupervised contact.
Their lawyers issued another statement.
They called Eleanor confused.
Vindictive.
Manipulated.
Daniel even claimed his mother had been “emotionally unstable since Arthur’s death.”
When Eleanor saw the interview, she switched off the television.
“He used to say that about me when he was sixteen.”
“What?”
“That I was crazy when I caught him lying.”
Lucas stared at the dark screen.
“Dad lies a lot.”
Eleanor turned to him.
“How much, sweetheart?”
Lucas looked at me.
Then he said something none of us expected.
“I know where he keeps the real things.”
Alvarez leaned forward.
“What real things?”
Lucas twisted his fingers together.
“Papers.”
“What papers?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where?”
“In the wall.”
Eleanor frowned.
“What wall?”
“Dad’s office.”
Lucas lowered his voice.
“There’s a little room behind the bookshelf.”
I stared at him.
“I’ve cleaned that office.”
“I know.”
“How did you find it?”
“I saw Dad open it.”
Alvarez sat straighter.
“What did he keep inside?”
Lucas’s answer changed everything.
“The baby monitor boxes.”
My skin prickled.
“What boxes?”
“All the old ones.”
“There were old monitors?”
Lucas nodded.
“Three.”
I had replaced Emma’s monitor three times.
Once because the battery supposedly failed.
Once because Vanessa claimed the camera overheated.
Once because Daniel said the connection wasn’t secure.
Lucas looked at me.
“Dad didn’t throw them away.”
I remembered the strange bottle.
The loose changing table.
The gas burner.
Maybe those cameras had recorded more than the pool.
Maybe Daniel hadn’t destroyed the evidence.
May you like
Maybe he had kept it.
And suddenly, for the first time since Emma fell into the water, I saw a way to fight back.
