[CHAPTER 13]
I hung up.
Then I called Ruiz.
Within twenty minutes, officers were tracing the number.
Prepaid phone.
Already dead.
Victor had planned that.
I stood in the kitchen staring at nothing.
Ask Daniel.
I did not want another secret.
Especially not his.
But secrets had nearly destroyed us.
I went to see him the next morning.
Daniel sat behind glass this time.
He knew from my face.
“What happened?”
“Victor called me.”
Daniel went pale.
“What did he say?”
“That you signed Thomas away before the crash.”
Silence.
I laughed once.
“There it is.”
“Sarah.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
“When?”
“Three weeks before the accident.”
My fingernails cut into my palms.
“What did you sign?”
“A temporary guardianship authorization.”
“For Vivian?”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me?”
“Yes.”
I stood.
Daniel pressed closer to the glass.
“Please listen.”
“I am so tired of listening to reasons people betrayed me.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
I pointed at him.
“Every person in my life decided they knew what I could survive.”
His eyes filled.
“Vivian said she needed the authorization so Thomas could stay with her if you were questioned over the financial investigation.”
“What financial investigation?”
“The one she was preparing against me.”
“You signed our son into her custody.”
“Temporarily.”
“You keep using legal words like they change what happened.”
He lowered his head.
“I know.”
“Did you tell my father?”
“Yes.”
That surprised me.
“What did he say?”
“He told me not to sign.”
“Then why did you?”
“Because Vivian had evidence connecting your bank account to the stolen money.”
“Fake evidence.”
“I didn’t know that yet.”
I sat again.
“So Victor was telling the truth.”
“Partly.”
“Why partly?”
“The document was never supposed to survive thirty days. Arthur created a revocation.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Of course.
Ruiz later confirmed Daniel’s story through Sloan.
Vivian had used the temporary authorization as the foundation for the forged hospital discharge.
But Daniel’s signature had given the lie an appearance of legitimacy.
That was why he carried so much guilt.
Thomas learned about it before I decided how to tell him.
Someone leaked court documents to the press.
A headline appeared online.
DEAD FATHER SIGNED AWAY “DEAD” BOY BEFORE DISAPPEARANCE.
Thomas saw it on Emily’s phone.
He walked into the kitchen holding the screen.
“Is this true?”
I cursed whoever leaked it.
“Part of it.”
He stared at me.
“Dad signed me to Grandma?”
“For temporary guardianship.”
His face hardened.
“You sound like him.”
I stopped.
He was right.
“Yes. He signed.”
Thomas handed me the phone.
“Why?”
“He was afraid.”
“He’s always afraid.”
I had no defense.
Thomas went to his room.
I let him have ten minutes.
Then I knocked.
“Can I come in?”
“No.”
I sat outside.
“Okay.”
Silence.
“You don’t have to forgive him.”
Nothing.
“You also don’t have to decide today how you feel.”
Still nothing.
Then his voice.
“Did you ever give me away?”
My heart cracked.
“No.”
“Did you sign anything?”
“No.”
“Did you stop looking?”
“No.”
The door opened.
His face was wet.
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
He fell against me.
“I hate him.”
“I understand.”
“I love him too.”
“I understand that more than you know.”
He cried.
“I wish he was just bad.”
“So do I.”
Bad people were easier.
Daniel was not simple.
He was weak at terrible moments.
Brave at others.
He loved Thomas.
He failed Thomas.
Both things could be true.
That afternoon, Caroline brought another surprise.
She had found a letter Dad mailed to her twenty years earlier.
It never arrived.
Vivian intercepted it.
Dad had kept a copy.
Caroline read it aloud.
If you ever receive this, please know I never stopped looking.
She stopped twice to cry.
I held her hand.
When she finished, Thomas said, “Everybody in this family thought somebody stopped looking.”
Caroline nodded.
“Vivian’s favorite lie.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Maybe that was the true shape of what she had done.
She had isolated us by convincing each person the others had chosen absence.
Ruiz arrived with news.
Victor had been spotted.
Traffic cameras captured him near a bus terminal.
Police closed in.
He escaped again.
But they found his abandoned bag.
Inside were cash, fake identification, and a notebook.
The notebook contained dates.
Payments.
Names.
One page was titled BENNETT ACCIDENT.
Under it were three entries.
Vivian — 10,000.
Arthur — 15,000.
D.B. — 20,000.
My stomach dropped.
D.B.
Daniel Bennett.
“No.”
Ruiz looked grim.
“We’re asking him.”
I drove back to the detention center.
Daniel saw the notebook photograph.
He closed his eyes.
“You paid Victor?”
“Yes.”
Rage exploded.
“For what?”
“To stop the crash.”
I froze.
“What?”
Daniel explained.
Victor contacted him anonymously.
He said Vivian was planning something involving my car.
Daniel paid twenty thousand dollars for details.
Victor promised to disable Vivian’s plan.
“You gave him money two days before my brakes were cut.”
“Yes.”
“And you believed him?”
“I was desperate.”
“You didn’t warn me?”
“I tried.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I called your house.”
“When?”
“The night before.”
I remembered a call.
My mother answered.
She told me it was a telemarketer.
Of course.
“I should have come in person,” Daniel whispered.
“Yes.”
“I should have risked everything.”
“Yes.”
“I know.”
I stood.
“I can’t do this with you right now.”
He nodded.
I left.
Outside, Ruiz waited.
“There’s more.”
I almost laughed.
“What now?”
“Victor’s notebook includes a future date.”
She showed me.
Two days from now.
Beside it was one word.
EMILY.
My blood went cold.
“What does it mean?”
“We don’t know.”
Then Ruiz pointed to a second notation.
School route.
My daughter had not attended school in days.
But Victor apparently expected her to.
May you like
He was planning something.
And unlike Vivian, Victor had not yet been caught.
