Chapter 9 - THE AIRPORT TRAP
Emily was sitting at Claire’s kitchen table eating macaroni when I arrived.
I hugged her so hard she complained.
“Daddy, I can’t breathe.”
“Sorry.”
She looked at my face.
“What happened?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
She gave me that seven-year-old stare that said she knew adults lied badly.
“Rebecca?”
“Yes.”
“Is she coming?”
“No.”
I hoped.
Detective Hall arranged protection outside Claire’s house.
Meanwhile, police checked the airport.
The tickets were real.
Two seats.
Rebecca Sloan.
Emily Carter.
Booked three months earlier.
Three months.
Rebecca had planned an international exit before the wedding invitations were even mailed.
Then Mark called.
“We found the company receiving the trust transfers.”
“Whose?”
“A holding company in Delaware.”
“Owner?”
“Alan Mercer.”
Rebecca’s ex-husband.
There it was.
The missing center of the web.
Mercer wasn’t just helping her fake psychological records.
He was receiving money.
Hall obtained a warrant for his office.
By midnight, they found copies of Emily’s records.
Fake records.
And dozens of files belonging to other children.
Other families.
Parents fighting custody cases.
Trust funds.
Inheritance disputes.
Rebecca and Mercer weren’t improvising.
They had done versions of this before.
“How many?” I asked.
Hall looked tired.
“At least nine families.”
My stomach turned.
“And Rebecca?”
“Still missing.”
At 1:17 a.m., my phone buzzed.
A photo.
Emily asleep on Claire’s couch.
Taken from outside the window.
I was standing six feet from her when it arrived.
The message said:
YOU CAN’T WATCH HER EVERY SECOND.
I ran outside.
Police searched the street.
Nothing.
Then Claire shouted from inside.
“Daniel!”
I ran back.
The power had gone out.
Emily screamed.
I found her in the living room.
Claire was holding her.
Police flashlights swept through the house.
Then someone yelled from the backyard.
A gate slammed.
I ran toward it.
A woman in dark clothes climbed over the fence.
I caught her jacket.
She fell.
She spun around.
Diane.
Rebecca’s sister.
“Get off me!”
I held her until police reached us.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to warn you!”
“With a camera?”
She threw something onto the grass.
A phone.
“I took the picture because Rebecca made me.”
I stared at her.
“Where is she?”
Diane started crying.
Not pretty tears.
Not dramatic.
Real panic.
“She’s insane.”
“You helped her.”
“I know.”
“You forged documents.”
“I know.”
“You tried to send my daughter away.”
“I thought it was temporary.”
I almost laughed.
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
Diane grabbed my sleeve.
“She has Mercer.”
“What does that mean?”
“They’re not leaving the country.”
“Then what are the plane tickets?”
“A distraction.”
My blood turned cold.
“Where are they?”
Diane looked at Hall.
“I want immunity.”
“No,” I said.
Hall stepped between us.
“Tell us where the child is at risk.”
Diane looked toward Emily through the window.
Then back at me.
“She wants Daniel arrested.”
I stared at her.
“For what?”
“Murder.”
For a second, no one spoke.
“Whose murder?”
Diane swallowed.
“Rebecca’s.”
I laughed once.
“She’s alive.”
“Right now.”
My smile disappeared.
Diane whispered:
May you like
“But she doesn’t plan to be, on paper.”
Then she told us what Rebecca was going to do.
