Chapter 6 - The Wrong Villain
At 6:10 the next morning, Marcus received confirmation from a private laboratory.
The residue inside the brown bottle matched the substance detected in Daniel’s spilled tea.
It could have caused a medical emergency if consumed.
Daniel did not need more detail.
He only needed to know Lily had saved him.
Police detained Nora again before sunrise.
Ethan remained missing.
Rebecca stayed in Daniel’s guest wing under Marcus’s protection.
At 8:00 a.m., Daniel canceled the board meeting.
At 8:07, the chairman called him personally.
At 8:15, three directors demanded explanations.
At 8:22, Daniel received an anonymous email.
The subject line contained one word.
RACHEL.
Attached was a scanned page from her journal.
Daniel opened it.
The handwriting was unmistakably hers.
Ethan is involved, but I no longer believe he understands what he is involved in.
Daniel read the sentence repeatedly.
Below it, Rachel had written another.
The person I fear most is someone Daniel trusts more than Ethan.
His chest tightened.
Marcus leaned over his shoulder.
“When was this written?”
“Six days before she died.”
Daniel scrolled down.
The bottom half of the page was missing.
Someone had deliberately cropped it.
A second email arrived.
YOU WANT THE REST.
COME ALONE.
Daniel looked at the address.
An abandoned storage facility fifteen miles away.
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
“They have Rachel’s journal.”
“Or a photograph of one page.”
“Either way, someone knows something.”
“And they want you alone.”
Daniel stood.
“Then we make them believe I’m alone.”
Two hours later, Daniel entered the storage facility.
Marcus and two former military contractors watched remotely from nearby buildings.
Daniel wore a concealed microphone.
The unit named in the email was unlocked.
Inside sat a single metal chair.
On it was a phone.
Daniel approached.
It rang.
He answered.
“Hello?”
A distorted voice spoke.
“Your daughter saved you.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Who are you?”
“You should be grateful.”
“For attempted murder?”
“For the interruption.”
Daniel froze.
“What does that mean?”
“If Nora wanted you dead, you would be dead.”
Daniel said nothing.
The voice continued.
“She needed Lily to see.”
Daniel’s heart stopped.
“To see what?”
“The bottle.”
“Why?”
“Because children tell the truth more convincingly than criminals.”
Daniel stared into the darkness of the storage unit.
“You’re saying the tea was staged?”
“I’m saying you are looking exactly where someone wants you to look.”
“At Nora?”
“At Ethan.”
Daniel’s thoughts raced.
“Who are you?”
“You have twenty-four hours to find Rachel’s bank box.”
Daniel looked at Marcus’s camera hidden in his jacket.
“Why?”
“Because after twenty-four hours, somebody else will.”
The call ended.
Daniel grabbed the phone.
Nothing else was stored on it.
Then he noticed something carved into the metal chair.
R + D.
Rachel and Daniel.
Rachel had carved those initials into an old picnic table during their first summer together.
Nobody knew about it except the two of them.
Daniel stared at the letters.
The caller had either known Rachel intimately.
Or had access to someone who did.
Marcus entered moments later.
“No signal trail.”
Daniel barely heard him.
He was staring at a second carving beneath the first.
Three numbers.
4.
5.
6.
Marcus frowned.
“What are those?”
Daniel knew.
May you like
April 17, 2023.
The date Rachel died.
