Chapter 4
Marcus took the threat seriously.
Within twenty minutes, two officers were stationed outside Evelyn’s hospital room.
Maisie did not understand why.
Evelyn intended to keep it that way.
“What are the policemen doing?” Maisie asked.
“They’re making sure nobody bothers us.”
Maisie considered this.
“Can they come to your house?”
“If we need them.”
“I think we need them.”
Those words hurt more than Evelyn expected.
Marcus traced the threatening call.
Burner phone.
Purchased with cash.
No useful registration.
The sedan’s partial plate matched dozens of vehicles.
But Evelyn remembered something else.
“There was a dent.”
Marcus looked up.
“Where?”
“Rear passenger door. Long scratch above it.”
That narrowed the search.
By afternoon, traffic cameras found a matching sedan leaving the hospital district.
The registered owner was Grant’s business partner.
Patrick Sloan.
Evelyn knew Patrick.
She had sat beside him at Grant and Vanessa’s wedding.
Patrick had raised a champagne glass and called Grant “the most loyal man I know.”
Marcus located him at his office.
Patrick denied everything.
Then police showed him the traffic image.
His confidence disappeared.
“I loaned Grant the car.”
“Grant is in custody.”
Patrick swallowed.
“Then Vanessa must have arranged it.”
“Vanessa is also in custody.”
Patrick looked toward his attorney.
Marcus leaned forward.
“Someone driving your vehicle threatened a witness in an investigation involving possible child abuse and a suspicious death.”
Patrick finally cracked.
“I didn’t make the call.”
“Who did?”
Patrick stared at the table.
“Grant’s father.”
Evelyn received that news thirty minutes later.
She sat down hard.
“Thomas?”
Marcus nodded.
Thomas Carter was eighty.
Grant’s father.
Evelyn’s ex-husband.
They had divorced twenty-two years earlier after Thomas repeatedly lied about money.
Evelyn had barely spoken to him since.
But Grant had remained close to his father.
“Why would Thomas protect him?”
“We’re trying to determine that.”
Evelyn already knew one possibility.
Money.
With Thomas, it was always money.
That evening, investigators searched Thomas’s apartment.
They found the burner phone.
They also found copies of Rachel’s financial records.
Thomas was arrested.
He requested an attorney immediately.
Then he said something strange.
“I never touched Rachel.”
Marcus asked, “Why are you talking about Rachel? We arrested you for witness intimidation.”
Thomas realized his mistake.
Too late.
Police began digging deeper.
Grant’s financial records revealed transfers from Maisie’s protected trust.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The money moved through companies controlled by Grant, Patrick, and Thomas.
Rachel had discovered it.
She had threatened to report them.
Suddenly, her death looked much less accidental.
Evelyn spent that night at home with Maisie.
Police sat in a patrol car outside.
Maisie slept in Evelyn’s bed.
At 2:13 a.m., Evelyn woke to a small voice.
“Grandma.”
She opened her eyes.
Maisie was sitting beside her.
“What is it?”
“I remembered something.”
Evelyn switched on the lamp.
“You can tell me.”
“The bad night.”
Evelyn’s heart began beating faster.
“What bad night?”
“When Mommy went away.”
Evelyn did not move.
Maisie had been barely over a year old when Rachel died.
Could she truly remember anything?
“Mommy was crying.”
Evelyn gently took her hand.
“You remember Mommy crying?”
Maisie nodded.
“And Daddy was loud.”
That could have been a dream.
A fragment.
Something Vanessa had told her.
Evelyn refused to lead her.
“What else do you remember?”
“A song.”
“What song?”
“Mommy’s car song.”
Evelyn frowned.
Rachel always played music in the car.
“What happened with the song?”
“Mommy put it in my bear.”
Evelyn looked toward the chair.
Maisie’s old stuffed bear sat there.
Rachel had bought it before Maisie was born.
Maisie still carried it almost everywhere.
“Your bear?”
Maisie nodded.
“She said, ‘Grandma.’”
Evelyn’s skin prickled.
She picked up the stuffed animal.
It felt normal.
Then she squeezed its stomach.
A familiar lullaby played.
Maisie smiled.
“See?”
Evelyn listened.
Then she heard something underneath the music.
Static.
A woman’s voice.
Almost hidden.
Evelyn pressed the bear closer to her ear.
Rachel.
She was certain.
The message lasted less than five seconds.
“Evelyn, check the blue house.”
Then the lullaby continued.
Evelyn stared at Maisie.
Blue house.
She knew exactly what Rachel meant.
Rachel’s grandmother had owned a small blue cottage near Lake Mercer.
Grant had claimed it was sold after Rachel died.
Evelyn reached for her phone.
Marcus answered immediately.
May you like
“I know where Rachel hid something.”
Before he could respond, the power in Evelyn’s house went out.
