Chapter 6
The hotel became a crime scene.
Again.
Daniel stood in the hallway while detectives searched the room for fingerprints.
Lily sat wrapped in a blanket.
She kept staring at the empty place where her rabbit should have been.
Daniel hated Wade for taking it.
Not because the toy mattered to the investigation.
Because it mattered to Lily.
It had been a gift from Sarah.
One of the last toys Sarah bought before she died.
“Daddy?”
Daniel sat beside her.
“We’ll get Rabbit back.”
“What if he hurts him?”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“He’s a stuffed animal.”
“I know.”
Lily’s lower lip trembled.
“But Mommy gave him to me.”
Daniel pulled her close.
“We’ll get him back.”
Detective Moreno approached.
“We identified Wade.”
Daniel stood.
“Real name?”
“Caleb Wade Mercer. Former private security contractor. Worked for your father on and off for twelve years.”
“Criminal record?”
“Nothing major. Assault charge twenty years ago, dismissed.”
“Where does he live?”
“Officially? Nevada.”
“Actually?”
“We’re working on it.”
Daniel looked at Lily.
“He walked into this hotel.”
“He had a copied employee access card.”
“How?”
“We don’t know.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“That answer is getting old.”
Moreno did not take offense.
“So is this investigation.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means your father built layers around himself. Shell companies. Private contractors. Cash payments. People who knew only pieces.”
“And Ethan?”
Moreno hesitated.
“We found something else on Nora’s phone.”
Daniel waited.
“Messages between Nora and a number registered to a prepaid device.”
“Ethan?”
“We believe so.”
“What did they say?”
Moreno handed him a printed page.
Daniel read.
Nora: He signs tomorrow.
Unknown: Then tonight is the last chance.
Nora: Lily keeps watching me.
Unknown: She’s six.
Nora: She knows more than you think.
Unknown: Then keep her upstairs.
Nora: And after?
Unknown: After Daniel is gone, the trust stays unchanged.
Daniel’s hands shook.
“Gone.”
Moreno nodded.
Another message.
Nora: What if he doesn’t drink it?
Unknown: He always drinks what you make.
Daniel looked away.
There was no misunderstanding now.
No alternate explanation.
Nora intended to kill him.
Whoever had the prepaid phone knew about the trust.
Knew about Lily.
Knew Daniel’s routine.
“Trace the phone.”
“We did.”
“Where?”
“It was last active near your mother’s property.”
Daniel’s blood went cold.
“Ethan.”
“Most likely.”
“Most likely?”
Moreno pointed at the next message.
Unknown: My mother can never know what we did.
Daniel stared.
Ethan.
No question.
His brother.
Daniel sat.
His legs suddenly could not support him.
Nora and Ethan.
His wife and brother.
Planning his death.
“What did I do to him?”
Moreno stayed quiet.
Daniel looked down at the messages.
“I gave him everything.”
Job.
Money.
Second chances.
Daniel had covered Ethan’s $180,000 gambling debt six years ago.
He had loaned Ethan money for his failed restaurant.
He had defended him when Richard called him useless.
And Ethan had decided Daniel was worth more dead.
Moreno’s phone rang.
He stepped away.
Daniel stayed beside Lily.
Five minutes later Moreno returned.
“We found the prepaid phone.”
“Where?”
“Trash container behind a gas station.”
“Prints?”
“Being processed.”
“And Ethan?”
“Not there.”
“What about Wade?”
“Traffic camera caught a van matching the hotel surveillance vehicle heading north.”
Daniel stood.
“Where?”
“Toward Lake Briar.”
Daniel recognized the area.
His family owned an old hunting cabin there.
Almost nobody used it anymore.
“Dad had property there.”
Moreno’s eyes sharpened.
“Address.”
Daniel gave it.
Police units headed toward the cabin.
Daniel wanted to go.
Moreno refused.
“You’re a target.”
“That card belonged to Sarah.”
“And if Mercer is there, he may be armed.”
Daniel clenched his jaw.
“I’m not sitting here.”
“You have Lily.”
That stopped him.
Lily looked up.
Moreno was right.
For once, Daniel’s responsibility was not to chase answers.
It was to stay with his daughter.
Two hours passed.
Then three.
Finally Moreno received a call.
His expression changed.
“They found the van.”
Daniel stood.
“And Wade?”
“Cabin was empty.”
“The rabbit?”
Moreno shook his head.
“But they found blood.”
Daniel went pale.
“Whose?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“And evidence of someone staying there recently.”
“Ethan?”
“Maybe.”
Daniel wanted to throw something.
Instead he called his mother.
Margaret answered immediately.
“Daniel?”
“Did Ethan ever use the Lake Briar cabin?”
Silence.
“Mom.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“When he was younger. Sometimes with friends.”
“Recently?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“Did Dad meet Wade there?”
Another silence.
“I saw Caleb there once.”
“When?”
“A week after Sarah died.”
Daniel nearly dropped the phone.
“What?”
“Richard told me they were discussing security.”
“You never thought that was strange?”
“I thought everything was strange that week.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I was barely functioning.”
“So was I.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
His voice cracked.
“You had information. I had guilt.”
Margaret began crying.
“I know.”
Daniel hung up before anger made him say something worse.
That evening, police moved them to another location.
A private residence normally used to protect witnesses.
Lily slept on a sofa while Daniel and Moreno reviewed evidence.
The stolen memory card remained missing.
Moreno believed Sarah might have copied Richard’s financial records onto it.
Daniel remembered Sarah always carried small SD cards for her camera.
She took hundreds of photographs.
She could have hidden digital files among them.
“Could Wade destroy it?”
Daniel asked.
“Yes.”
“Then why steal it instead of destroying it in the room?”
Moreno considered that.
“Maybe he needs to know what’s on it first.”
“Or somebody else needs it.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel looked at the messages again.
Nora was still missing.
Ethan missing.
Wade missing.
Three people.
One conspiracy.
But Daniel suspected their goals were no longer identical.
Ethan wanted money.
Nora wanted Daniel dead.
Wade wanted Sarah’s evidence.
What connected them?
His father.
The answer came at 11:26 p.m.
A detective called Moreno.
They had found an abandoned storage unit rented through one of Richard’s shell companies.
Inside were old computers.
Corporate files.
Surveillance photographs.
And a locked steel box.
They forced it open.
Inside were photographs of Sarah.
At the grocery store.
At Lily’s preschool.
Driving.
Meeting a lawyer.
Dozens.
Daniel felt sick.
Then Moreno showed him one photograph.
Sarah stood outside a law office.
Beside her was a man Daniel recognized.
Ethan.
The date was two days before Sarah died.
Daniel stared.
“Why was she meeting my brother?”
Moreno zoomed in.
Ethan was handing Sarah an envelope.
Daniel whispered.
“He was helping her.”
Moreno nodded slowly.
“Possibly.”
That changed everything.
If Ethan had helped Sarah expose Richard four years ago, why would he now help Nora kill Daniel?
Unless Ethan was not the person Daniel thought.
Unless he had changed.
Or unless someone was forcing him.
Moreno opened another recovered file.
A handwritten page in Richard’s notebook.
E.C. knows.
Keep him controlled.
Daniel stared.
“Dad was controlling Ethan.”
“With what?” Moreno asked.
Daniel suddenly remembered Ethan’s phone call.
I never wanted Lily involved.
It did not sound like triumph.
It sounded like fear.
Daniel grabbed his phone.
“Ethan might not be running from you.”
Moreno frowned.
“What?”
“He may be running from Wade.”
At that exact moment, Daniel’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
No voice.
Instead, a child cried.
Daniel’s heart stopped.
“Hello?”
Then Nora spoke.
“Daniel.”
He stood.
“Where are you?”
She laughed softly.
“You really think the police can hide you?”
Moreno motioned for Daniel to keep her talking.
“What do you want?”
“My life back.”
“You tried to kill me.”
“You ruined everything.”
Daniel clenched his teeth.
“Where’s Ethan?”
Silence.
“Nora?”
“You still care about him?”
“He’s my brother.”
“Your brother chose himself a long time ago.”
“What does that mean?”
Nora’s voice sharpened.
“It means Ethan promised me you would be dead before morning.”
Lily woke at the sound of Daniel’s voice.
She stared at him from the sofa.
Daniel turned away.
“And Wade?”
Nora went silent.
That silence mattered.
“You’re afraid of him.”
Nora laughed.
But this laugh sounded forced.
“You don’t know anything.”
“I know he worked for my father.”
No answer.
“I know he followed Sarah.”
Nora inhaled.
“I know he took Lily’s rabbit.”
Nora finally spoke.
“Then he found the card.”
“Where is he?”
“Daniel…”
For the first time, her voice shook.
“You need to stop looking.”
“Why?”
“Because your father didn’t only steal money.”
Daniel frowned.
“What did he do?”
“He kept records.”
“Of what?”
“Everyone.”
“Who is everyone?”
“Politicians. Contractors. Judges. People who owed him favors.”
Daniel felt cold.
Richard had not just built a business.
He had built leverage.
Nora whispered.
“That card can destroy people who are still very much alive.”
Daniel looked at Moreno.
“Then why do you want it?”
“I don’t.”
“Ethan?”
“He thought it would make us rich.”
“Us?”
Nora began crying.
“He said we could sell it.”
Daniel’s stomach turned.
There it was.
Ethan discovered evidence Sarah had hidden.
Instead of using it to expose Richard’s crimes, he planned to sell it.
“And killing me?”
Nora whispered.
“You were going to remove me from the trust.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“So you decided to murder me.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
Suddenly a loud bang came through the phone.
Nora screamed.
Daniel heard a man shouting.
Then another impact.
“Nora!”
She gasped.
“He found me.”
“Who?”
But Daniel already knew.
“Wade.”
May you like
Nora whispered one sentence before the line went dead.
“Daniel, Ethan is tied up in your father’s basement.”
