Chapter 11 - THE OTHER MAN
Caroline started toward Ortiz’s car, but Victoria caught her.
“We’ll find her.”
“Daniel wasn’t working alone,” Caroline said. “He told someone where she was.”
Ortiz reached the hotel officer by phone. She had been struck from behind in the service hallway. Emma had gone with a man who claimed he was taking her to her mother. Security footage showed his face clearly.
Peter Vale.
Victoria stared at the image Ortiz sent her. “He was hurt in his apartment.”
“He made sure we’d find him,” Caroline said.
At the hospital, Peter was gone. He had left minutes after speaking to Victoria.
Caroline looked at the photograph on Ortiz’s phone. “Peter kept the accounts. Dad trusted him more than Daniel. If the files go public, Peter loses everything he stole.”
“He doesn’t know we have them,” Ortiz said.
“He might,” Victoria replied. “I called him from the marina. I told him we were looking for Daniel. He could hear officers discussing the card.”
Ortiz sent out Peter’s vehicle details and an alert for Emma. A traffic camera picked up his car heading toward a bridge into Brooklyn.
Victoria’s phone rang. Unknown number.
She answered on speaker.
“Emma wants to say hello,” Peter said.
A small voice followed. “Aunt Victoria?”
Victoria nearly dropped the phone. Emma had called her that for the first time.
“I’m here, sweetheart. Are you hurt?”
“No. He said Mom was waiting, but she wasn’t.”
Caroline stepped close. “Emma, it’s Mom.”
“Mom?” Emma’s voice cracked.
Peter took the phone back. “Send me the memory card. You have forty minutes.”
Ortiz signaled for Victoria to keep him talking.
“Where?” Victoria asked.
“You’ll get an address. If I see police, I leave with the girl.”
May you like
The call ended. Caroline looked at Victoria.
“He’s lying,” she said. “He won’t leave Emma alone with what she’s seen.”
