Chapter 5 - THE MAN AT THE DOOR
Detective Hayes waited outside like a man who owned the house.
I stayed at the top of the stairs.
“What do you want?”
“We received a domestic disturbance call.”
“From who?”
Hayes glanced toward Vanessa.
She shook her head.
Not her.
Interesting.
“One of your neighbors.”
“My nearest neighbor is half a mile away.”
“Then perhaps one of your employees.”
Daniel stepped beside me.
“My client is represented.”
Hayes smiled.
“Daniel Brooks. Of course.”
“You have a warrant?”
“No.”
“Then you’re not entering.”
Hayes put one hand inside his coat.
The two uniformed officers shifted.
My pulse jumped.
Then he slowly removed a folded paper.
“Emergency protective order.”
“For who?”
“Mrs. Mercer.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“I didn’t request anything.”
Hayes looked up.
“You called us.”
“No, I didn’t.”
For the first time, his smile disappeared.
Vanessa moved beside me.
“I never called you.”
Hayes studied her.
Then I understood.
Someone else had contacted him pretending to be Vanessa.
Or someone had triggered a plan.
Daniel took the document from the officer.
He read it.
“This is unsigned.”
Hayes didn’t answer.
Daniel looked at him.
“It’s not valid.”
One officer frowned.
“Detective?”
Hayes’s jaw tightened.
“Administrative issue.”
“No,” Daniel said. “It’s a fake order.”
The foyer changed instantly.
The uniformed officers looked at Hayes.
“Sir?”
Hayes reached for his radio.
I lifted my phone.
“Before anybody leaves, I think you should see something.”
Hayes looked at me.
“What?”
I turned my screen toward the officers.
The recording played.
Vanessa.
Hayes.
Cash.
“The woman is gone.”
Hayes went pale.
One officer whispered, “Jesus.”
Hayes lunged.
“Give me that phone!”
Daniel stepped between us.
Hayes stopped himself.
Too late.
Everyone had seen it.
“Turn around,” the older officer said.
Hayes stared at him.
“What?”
“Turn around, Colin.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“Turn around.”
Hayes laughed.
Then ran.
He sprinted toward his unmarked car.
The younger officer chased him.
I followed to the doorway.
Hayes made it three steps before a black SUV came screaming down the driveway.
For one terrifying second, I thought it would hit him.
Instead, the passenger window lowered.
A gun appeared.
Daniel yanked me backward.
Three shots cracked across the property.
The front glass shattered.
Vanessa screamed.
Hayes dropped behind his car.
The SUV tore away.
The officers shouted into their radios.
Maria rushed the children into the back hallway.
I turned.
Vanessa was on the floor.
She looked completely terrified.
Not acting.
“Who was that?” I demanded.
“I don’t know.”
“Who?”
“I DON’T KNOW!”
Hayes staggered up from behind his car.
He wasn’t hit.
But something in him had broken.
“They found me.”
He looked toward Vanessa.
“This is your fault.”
She backed away.
“Don’t.”
“You said he’d never see the archive.”
“I didn’t know there was an archive!”
Hayes laughed wildly.
The officers grabbed him.
He shouted at Vanessa.
“You think they’ll protect you?”
“Shut up!”
“You think Mercer knows what you did to Claire?”
Vanessa went white.
I stepped outside.
“What did she do?”
Hayes looked at me.
Then smiled through bloody teeth where he had bitten his lip.
“Ask your wife about Briarwood.”
Vanessa whispered, “No.”
“What is Briarwood?”
Hayes laughed.
“Ask her where Claire spent the first nine months after the crash.”
My knees nearly gave out.
“She was alive?”
Hayes stared at me.
“Very.”
Vanessa covered her face.
I grabbed the doorframe.
“Where is Briarwood?”
Hayes looked toward the road where the SUV had vanished.
Then his expression changed.
“They’ll kill us both.”
“Who?”
He swallowed.
And spoke one name.
“Richard Mercer.”
May you like
My father.
A man who had been dead for seven years.
