Chapter 7 - THE PERSON AT SCHOOL
Emma was with Caleb at my house, but seeing her name in that message made my hands shake.
Ruiz called him immediately. He confirmed that the doors were locked and Emma was sitting beside him, drawing on the living room floor.
“Stay there,” Ruiz told him. “Officers are coming.”
We examined the other files while we waited for news. Nora’s recordings showed that Ava’s mother had repeatedly accused Ava’s father, Sam Mercer, of frightening her. Ava told Nora something different: she said a man with a camera came into her room and told her which stories she was supposed to remember.
That man was Martin Vale.
Nora had taken the camera from Ava’s room after Sam received temporary permission to visit. She’d hoped its recordings would show how Ava had been coached. Instead, the card also revealed Vale entering the room when Ava was asleep.
Ava’s mother moved her away before Nora could give the footage to Sam’s attorney.
“Where is Ava now?” I asked.
Ruiz checked a message on her phone. “Celia listed an address in Oregon. It’s vacant. We have people trying to locate them.”
An officer called from my house. Everything there was secure. Then Ruiz received another call, from Emma’s preschool.
Diane had shown up asking to take Emma home. The school told her Emma was absent. She left before the director could call me.
“She tried the school first,” I said.
Ruiz nodded. “Now she knows Emma’s home.”
I called Caleb. “Pack a bag for both of you. The officers will take you somewhere safe.”
Emma asked to speak to me.
“Daddy, is Grandma mad?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart.”
“She gets mad when people touch the bird.”
I stopped walking. “Has she been to your room?”
“She comes in when you make breakfast.” Emma paused. “She says she’s checking on me.”
That night, I joined Emma and Caleb at a small apartment the department used for witnesses. Emma refused to sleep without her rabbit, so Ruiz had the lab remove the transmitter and return it to her.
As I tucked her in, she whispered, “Mommy knew Grandma was doing something bad.”
“I think she did.”
“Did Grandma make Mommy go away?”
I could not answer.
A knock came at the apartment door. One of the officers checked the peephole and opened it for Ruiz.
“We found Sam Mercer,” she told me. “He’s been searching for Ava all this time.”
“Does he know where she is?”
“He got a message from her yesterday.”
Hope rose so fast it hurt.
Ruiz held out her phone. On the screen was a photograph of Ava, older now, standing in front of a roadside motel.
May you like
She was holding a handwritten sign.
PLEASE FIND EMMA BEFORE THEY MOVE HER TOO.
