Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO DISAPPEARED
Daniel called Melissa Grant before he reached the elevator.
She answered on the first ring.
“The children are safe.”
“Get them away from the windows.”
“What happened?”
“Someone is watching the house.”
Melissa did not waste time asking questions.
Daniel heard her calling to the officers assigned outside.
Detective Ellis requested an emergency tactical response.
Marcus contacted the private security team members he still trusted.
Within minutes, Lake Briar was surrounded.
No intruder was found.
A trail of footprints led from the woods to a ridge overlooking the kitchen.
A camera lens cap lay beneath a pine tree.
Whoever had taken the photograph had left before police arrived.
Daniel forwarded the threat to Detective Ellis.
“It could be Serena,” he said.
“She was standing near us when it arrived.”
“She could have scheduled it or used someone else.”
“Yes.”
“Julian?”
“Possibly.”
“What about Victor Hale?”
Detective Ellis looked at him.
“Do you have evidence against the attorney?”
“No.”
“Then do not accuse him yet.”
Daniel understood the warning.
A powerful attorney could transform careless anger into legal ammunition.
They drove to St. Matthew’s Hospital under police escort.
Rosa Martinez lay in a private room guarded by two officers.
Daniel almost did not recognize her.
She had lost weight.
A healing cut crossed her temple.
Her dark hair had been cut unevenly around the wound.
When Daniel entered, she began crying.
“I am sorry.”
He moved toward the bed.
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
“I left them.”
“You were hurt.”
“I should have told you before.”
Daniel sat beside her.
“Tell me now.”
Rosa glanced toward Detective Ellis.
The detective activated a recorder.
Rosa had worked for the Brooks family for four years.
During the first two, Serena behaved kindly around the children.
The change began gradually.
She criticized Ava’s weight.
She called Noah weak.
She punished them for mentioning Rachel.
At first, Rosa believed Serena was strict.
Then she discovered Ava locked in the pantry.
When Rosa threatened to tell Daniel, Serena showed her photographs of Rosa’s undocumented younger brother.
“She said immigration would take him,” Rosa whispered.
“She knew where my mother lived.”
Daniel’s hands curled into fists.
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“She showed me videos of you angry.”
“What videos?”
“You shouting in your office.”
Daniel remembered an argument with a supplier.
The footage had been edited.
“She said you had hurt people before.”
“I never touched her.”
“I know that now.”
Rosa wiped her eyes.
“Then I saw her put medicine in your drink.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“When?”
“Many times.”
His mind returned to evenings when he became unusually tired.
He remembered losing parts of conversations.
Serena said stress was affecting him.
Rosa continued.
“She wanted people to believe you were sick.”
“Did Julian Voss visit the house?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hear them speak?”
Rosa nodded.
“They talked in the red room.”
“One night, I listened through the door.”
“What did they say?”
“They said the children were the key.”
Daniel felt sick.
Rosa explained that Daniel’s controlling shares were held through a family trust.
If he died, became incapacitated, or lost custody because he was declared dangerous, the children’s guardian could exercise voting authority until they reached adulthood.
Serena planned to become that guardian.
Julian would run the company.
They would divide the money.
“What about my father?” Daniel asked.
Rosa hesitated.
“He knew Serena was collecting information about you.”
“How?”
“I heard her call him.”
“What did she say?”
“She told him you were becoming unstable.”
“And he believed her?”
“I don’t know.”
Rosa looked away.
“She said your father had helped before.”
Daniel’s heart slowed.
“Before what?”
Rosa began trembling.
Detective Ellis paused the interview.
A nurse checked her blood pressure.
After several minutes, Rosa continued.
Six months earlier, she entered the red room while Serena was away.
She found recordings, forged documents, and a file about Rachel’s accident.
Before she could copy everything, Serena returned.
They argued.
Serena struck Rosa with a glass paperweight.
Rosa escaped through the service entrance.
She called Marcus for help.
Daniel turned toward Detective Ellis.
“Marcus?”
Rosa nodded.
“He met me outside the city.”
“What happened?”
“He said he would protect me.”
Her voice broke.
“He drove me to a motel.”
Detective Ellis asked what occurred next.
Rosa said Marcus gave her water.
She woke two days later in a hospital with drugs in her system and no identification.
The hotel room had been registered under a false name.
Her phone and documents were gone.
Daniel stood.
He had defended Marcus at the hospital.
He had wanted to believe him.
“Did Marcus drug you?”
“I did not see him put anything in the water.”
“Was anyone else there?”
“No.”
Daniel walked toward the window.
Rain struck the glass.
Marcus had access to every property.
Every camera.
Every schedule.
He had known which hospital held the children.
Detective Ellis contacted officers assigned to locate him.
Marcus’s phone had been turned off.
His vehicle was found in the Brooks Meridian parking garage.
He was gone.
Rosa reached for Daniel’s sleeve.
“There is something else.”
He returned to the bed.
“The night before Serena attacked me, she was speaking to someone on the phone.”
“Julian?”
“No.”
“Victor?”
“I do not know.”
“What did she say?”
Rosa closed her eyes, remembering.
“She said Rachel had been easier because Rachel trusted the car.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“What exactly did she say?”
“Those words.”
Rosa opened her eyes.
“She said, ‘Rachel was easier. She trusted the car.’”
Detective Ellis and Daniel exchanged a look.
Rachel’s death had been ruled accidental.
A brake-line failure caused her vehicle to leave the highway.
The car had been destroyed before Daniel requested an independent inspection.
His father’s lawyers had arranged it.
Daniel called Richard.
This time, his father answered.
“I need the truth about Rachel’s accident.”
Richard was silent.
Daniel continued.
“Did you know the brakes had been altered?”
“Do not discuss this over the phone.”
The answer was not denial.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Then tell me now.”
Richard’s voice lowered.
“Daniel, some truths do not protect children.”
“They protect empires.”
The line disconnected.
Detective Ellis requested a warrant for the old accident files.
A nurse entered with Rosa’s medication.
Daniel stepped into the hallway.
His phone rang again.
The caller was Marcus Reed.
Daniel answered.
“Where are you?”
“I cannot tell you.”
“Rosa says you drugged her.”
“I saved her life.”
“You left her unconscious in a motel.”
“Because Serena’s people were following us.”
“Who are Serena’s people?”
Marcus breathed heavily.
“Daniel, I made mistakes.”
“Start naming them.”
“I gave Serena access to the cameras.”
“I know.”
“I also helped erase evidence after Rachel died.”
Daniel gripped the phone.
“Why?”
“Your father ordered me to.”
“What evidence?”
“The original maintenance report from Rachel’s car.”
“Where is it?”
Marcus did not answer.
“Where is it?”
“In a safe-deposit box.”
Daniel heard a vehicle approaching on Marcus’s end of the call.
Then a door opened.
Marcus whispered.
“They found me.”
A sharp sound followed.
The call ended.
Daniel stared at the phone.
Detective Ellis was already tracing it.
Thirty seconds later, the location appeared.
An abandoned warehouse near the river.
Police reached it twelve minutes afterward.
Marcus was gone.
May you like
Blood marked the concrete floor.
Beside it lay a torn photograph of Rachel standing next to Serena six years before Daniel claimed they had ever met:
