Chapter 12 - The Red Bird
The bird was a heron.
Red Heron Cold Storage had shut down eight months earlier.
Its trucks still appeared around town, sold off in batches.
The property had recently been purchased through one of Mercer’s companies.
The clue alone proved nothing.
Combined with Danner’s recent movements and the metallic noise on the call, it gave investigators a place to look.
I learned that afterward.
At the time, I knew only that Ortiz suddenly stood up and left the room.
No promises.
No dramatic speech.
Just movement.
At 5:06, my phone buzzed.
Emily.
Please answer.
Ortiz had asked me to preserve every message.
I showed another investigator.
Then I answered on speaker.
“Daniel?”
“What?”
“Colin isn’t thinking clearly.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I don’t know where he is right now.”
“Where was he?”
She started crying.
For the first time, it sounded messy.
“I told him to let her leave.”
“When?”
“After Paul brought her.”
My chest tightened.
“You saw Caroline?”
Silence.
“Emily.”
“Yes.”
“Was Lucy there?”
“No.
We couldn’t find her.”
We.
One small word.
I stared at the wall.
“You searched for her.”
“I needed to know what Caroline had given her.”
“Not whether she was hurt?”
“That’s not fair.”
I almost couldn’t speak.
A frightened child had spent the night behind our wall.
My wife had been worried about what was in her pockets.
“Tell the investigator everything,” I said.
“If I help, will you help me?”
There it was.
Even now.
A trade.
“I’ll tell the truth about what you do.”
She cried harder.
I handed over the phone.
At 5:34, we were told officers had located Danner’s truck.
At 5:42, Ruth arrived with Lucy and the advocate because she couldn’t bear waiting alone.
Lucy sat beside me, swinging her feet above the floor.
“Is Mommy mad I called you Daddy?”
“No.”
“I know you’re not.”
“I know you know.”
She considered that.
Then leaned against my arm.
At 5:51, Ortiz called.
I stood.
Ruth stood with me.
“We have Caroline,” she said.
My knees nearly gave out.
“She’s alive.
Paramedics are with her.”
Ruth made a sound I had never heard another person make.
Part laugh.
Part collapse.
I crouched in front of Lucy.
“They found your mom.”
Her mouth opened.
May you like
Then she asked the question none of us had thought to answer.
“Can she come back to me?”
