Chapter 10 - THE MAN OUTSIDE
Bell arrived with patrol officers.
Daniel handed over the envelope without touching it again.
Elena checked every window while her mother sat with the children.
“Was it Wade?” Daniel asked.
“We’re working on that.”
“He knows where my kids are.”
“And we’re moving you somewhere he doesn’t.”
By two in the morning, the family was in a hotel under Elena’s maiden name.
An officer stayed nearby.
Noah asked if they were on vacation.
Daniel crouched in front of him.
“We’re staying somewhere quiet while the police finish their work.”
“Can Aunt Vivian come here?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
Daniel held his gaze.
“She is not allowed near you.”
In the bathroom, Elena turned on the faucet and cried into a towel.
Daniel stood outside the door.
He wanted to help.
He also understood why she needed one place where nobody asked her to be strong.
The next morning, a number Daniel didn’t recognize called six times.
Bell had told him to report any contact.
He sent her the number.
Then a voicemail appeared.
Wade Mercer sounded out of breath.
“I didn’t send that picture. Listen to me. I know how this looks, but I didn’t.”
Daniel played it for Bell.
She arranged a monitored callback.
Wade answered immediately.
“Ruth had somebody following you before any of this happened.”
“Who?”
“A private investigator. She said it was about stolen estate property.”
“Where are you?”
“I want a lawyer.”
“Then get one,” Bell said, identifying herself. “And stop running.”
Wade went silent.
Daniel leaned toward the phone.
“You gave my daughter her brother’s hoodie.”
“I know.”
“You helped cover him up.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t ask me to feel sorry for you.”
“I’m not.”
For the first time, Wade’s voice cracked.
“I’m asking you to make sure Ruth can’t say I planned it.”
He agreed to surrender at his attorney’s office that afternoon.
His statement gave detectives more than a confession.
He had saved messages.
Ruth had instructed him to fasten the service panel after Noah climbed down.
When he objected, she told him the boy would be released as soon as Vivian got Daniel to sign the estate papers.
But the disappearance brought police.
Then cameras.
Then neighbors.
They panicked.
Each waited for someone else to undo it.
At the end of the recorded statement, Wade supplied the investigator’s name.
Bell called Daniel that evening.
“We found the person who delivered the envelope.”
“Who hired him?”
“The payment came through Harbor Ridge.”
May you like
She paused.
“Your sister’s company.”
