CHAPTER 6
Mason was twice my size.
I knew that before I hit him.
I hit him anyway.
My shoulder slammed into his ribs.
He stumbled away from Emma’s crib.
I grabbed the baby.
“Eleanor!”
Mason caught the back of my shirt.
The fabric tightened around my neck.
I kicked behind me.
My heel struck his knee.
He cursed.
I twisted free.
Emma was screaming against my chest.
Then another man appeared in the hallway.
My stomach dropped.
“Grace!”
Eleanor’s voice came from behind her bedroom door.
“Stay inside!” I screamed.
The second man moved toward me.
I ran into the nursery bathroom and slammed the door.
There was no lock.
I shoved a laundry basket beneath the handle.
It wouldn’t hold.
My fingers shook so badly I almost dropped my phone.
I dialed 911.
“Someone broke into the house.”
The door shook.
“They’re trying to take the baby.”
The dispatcher asked for the address.
I gave it.
Another impact hit the door.
The basket slid.
Emma screamed louder.
“It’s okay, baby.”
I pressed my forehead against hers.
“I’ve got you.”
The door opened two inches.
Mason’s hand appeared.
I backed toward the bathtub.
Then an alarm erupted throughout the house.
A deafening siren.
Lights began flashing.
The men outside stopped.
Eleanor shouted from the hallway.
“I triggered the silent emergency system!”
Mason swore.
Footsteps thundered away.
I waited.
I didn’t move until I heard police announcing themselves downstairs.
Then I opened the door.
Eleanor ran toward me.
Lucas stood behind her crying.
“Emma!”
“She’s okay.”
I handed the baby to Eleanor.
My knees gave out.
I sat on the floor.
Lucas wrapped himself around my arm.
“You’re bleeding.”
I touched my temple.
My fingers came away red.
I hadn’t even noticed.
The police searched the property.
The intruders were gone.
They had entered through a basement window.
The new security system had been disabled remotely before they arrived.
That detail mattered.
Only four people had access codes.
Eleanor.
Her security consultant.
The alarm company.
And the administrator who had originally installed the system.
Mason Reed.
Detective Alvarez arrived before dawn.
She photographed my injuries.
Again.
I was getting tired of being photographed like evidence.
“Are you sure it was Mason?”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely sure?”
“I worked around him for almost two years.”
“What was he doing?”
“Leaning over Emma.”
“Did he touch her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he say anything?”
“No.”
“Did you see the second man?”
“Not clearly.”
Alvarez looked toward the nursery.
“Was anything taken?”
The police checked every room.
Nothing obvious was missing.
That made the break-in more frightening.
“They didn’t come to steal jewelry,” Eleanor said.
“No,” I replied.
“They came for Emma.”
Alvarez wasn’t convinced.
“Maybe.”
I stared at her.
“Maybe?”
“The nursery was searched.”
“What?”
An officer opened a drawer.
Blankets had been pulled out.
The changing table had been opened.
Storage boxes had been moved.
“They were looking for something,” Alvarez said.
I understood.
“The monitors.”
Lucas appeared in the doorway.
“They think I took them.”
Alvarez looked at him.
“Why would they think that?”
“Because Dad knows I know.”
“Know what?”
“The secret room.”
I crouched beside him.
“You never took anything from there, right?”
Lucas shook his head.
Then stopped.
My stomach tightened.
“Lucas?”
He looked guilty.
“I took one thing.”
Alvarez and I spoke at the same time.
“What?”
He ran to his bedroom.
We followed.
Lucas pulled a plastic dinosaur bin from beneath his bed.
He dumped toys onto the carpet.
Then he removed a loose cardboard panel from the bottom.
Underneath it was a memory card.
A tiny black square.
I stared at him.
“Where did you get that?”
“Dad’s secret room.”
“When?”
“The day before the pool.”
Alvarez put on gloves.
“Why?”
Lucas shrugged nervously.
“I wanted to see what was on it.”
“Did you?”
“My tablet couldn’t open it.”
I wanted to hug him and shake him at the same time.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I forgot.”
Alvarez raised an eyebrow.
Lucas corrected himself.
“I was scared.”
That made more sense.
The card went directly to digital forensics.
By noon, Mason Reed had disappeared.
His apartment was empty.
His phone was off.
His car was found near a train station.
Daniel denied knowing anything.
His lawyer called the break-in “an unfortunate consequence of reckless media coverage.”
I watched the statement from Eleanor’s kitchen.
“He sent Mason.”
Alvarez stood beside me.
“Probably.”
“You say probably a lot.”
“Because probably doesn’t convict people.”
I hated that she was right.
Two days later, the memory card came back.
Alvarez asked me to come to the station.
Eleanor stayed home with the children.
I sat in a small evidence room while Alvarez opened a laptop.
“What is it?”
“Video files.”
My pulse jumped.
“From Emma’s old monitors?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“Forty-three.”
I stopped breathing.
She clicked the first one.
The screen showed Emma’s nursery.
The date was six weeks before the pool.
I recognized the night.
Vanessa had accused me of leaving the gas burner on downstairs.
On the video, I put Emma in her crib.
I checked the monitor.
Then I left the room.
Five minutes later, Daniel entered.
He walked directly to the monitor camera.
He looked into it.
Then the recording stopped.
The next file began ten minutes later.
Daniel was gone.
Emma was asleep.
Nothing happened.
Alvarez clicked another video.
This one showed Vanessa mixing a bottle.
She added something from a small bottle.
I leaned closer.
“What is that?”
“We’re enhancing it.”
Vanessa carried the bottle to Emma.
Then Daniel entered.
They argued silently because the monitor had no audio in that recording.
Daniel took the bottle.
Vanessa grabbed it back.
He pointed toward the crib.
She shook her head.
The video ended.
My stomach twisted.
“There were attempts before the pool.”
“Maybe.”
I glared at Alvarez.
She held up a hand.
“Evidence, Grace.”
“What else is there?”
She opened another file.
This one had sound.
Daniel stood beside Emma’s crib.
Mason Reed was with him.
Daniel’s voice came clearly through the speaker.
“We need someone everyone will believe is careless.”
Mason asked, “The nanny?”
Daniel nodded.
“She already handles everything.”
My chest tightened.
Then Mason said something that made Alvarez pause the recording.
“What about Vanessa?”
Daniel smiled at the camera without knowing it was recording.
“If this goes wrong, Vanessa takes the fall.”
I stared at the frozen image.
“He planned to blame both of us.”
“Yes.”
“So Vanessa was never his partner.”
Alvarez shook her head.
“She was his partner.”
“Then why sacrifice her?”
“Because people like Daniel rarely have partners.”
She closed the laptop.
“They have tools.”
Before we left the room, an officer opened the door.
“Detective?”
Alvarez turned.
“What?”
“We found Mason Reed.”
“Where?”
The officer hesitated.
“In the river.”
My blood went cold.
“Alive?”
The officer looked at me.
May you like
“No.”
And just like that, the only man who could connect Daniel directly to the break-in could no longer speak.
