Chapter 7
Officer Aaron Cole had worked for the department for nine years.
He had no disciplinary record.
He also had eighty thousand dollars hidden in a bank account under his brother’s name.
Vanessa had bought herself a police officer.
Cole used his badge to collect Emma from the babysitter.
Then he disabled the patrol car’s tracking system.
Traffic cameras showed the car heading north.
After that, it disappeared.
I sat beside Melissa’s hospital bed while Ruiz coordinated the search.
Melissa had a concussion and three broken ribs.
She kept apologizing.
“I should have told you about the accident,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“I should have gone to the police.”
“Yes.”
“Do you hate me?”
I looked at my sister.
Part of me was furious.
Part of me still saw the little girl who used to wait outside my bedroom during thunderstorms.
“I hate what you did,” I said. “But I don’t want you dead.”
Tears rolled into her hair.
“That’s more kindness than I deserve.”
“Help me find Emma.”
Melissa told us Vanessa had mentioned a lake house.
Our family had owned one when Michael and I were children.
Richard sold it after the company failed.
At least, that was what he told us.
Property records showed he had transferred it to North Valley Consulting.
Vanessa knew exactly where it was.
Police helicopters were delayed by a storm.
Ruiz and I drove north with two unmarked cars.
Rain hammered the highway.
Halfway there, my phone rang.
Emma was crying.
“Daddy?”
“I’m here, sweetheart.”
“Mom says Grandma lied about everything.”
“Listen to me. None of this is your fault.”
Vanessa took the phone.
“Turn around.”
“Let Emma go.”
“You took my life from me.”
“You did that when you pushed Mom.”
“She was going to expose me.”
“She should have exposed you twelve years ago.”
Vanessa went silent.
Then she whispered, “You know about Michael.”
“We found the recording.”
“And the car?”
“The police have it.”
A broken laugh came through the phone.
“Then Richard will kill all of us.”
“He’s in custody.”
“No, he isn’t.”
I looked at Ruiz.
She immediately called the station.
Richard had complained of chest pain during questioning.
At the hospital, he attacked a guard and escaped.
Vanessa had not been running from the police alone.
She had been running from him.
“Where is my father?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
Emma screamed in the background.
A man shouted.
The call disconnected.
Ruiz pressed harder on the accelerator.
We reached the lake house twenty minutes later.
Cole’s patrol car stood beside the road.
The driver’s door was open.
Cole lay on the ground, unconscious but breathing.
His gun was missing.
The front door of the house had been forced open.
Ruiz ordered me to remain behind the police line.
Then a gunshot came from the lake.
I ran.
Emma stood on the dock.
Vanessa held her by one arm.
Richard faced them with Cole’s gun.
“Give me the recording,” Richard shouted.
“I don’t have it!” Vanessa screamed.
“You ruined everything.”
“You forced me to stop Michael!”
“I told you to scare him.”
“You told me to do whatever it took.”
Emma saw me.
“Daddy!”
Vanessa turned.
Richard raised the gun.
I threw myself at him as he fired.
The bullet struck the water.
We crashed onto the wet boards.
Richard hit me with the gun.
Pain exploded across my forehead.
Vanessa dragged Emma toward a small boat.
Emma bit her hand.
Vanessa screamed and released her.
Emma ran to me.
Richard lifted the gun again, but Ruiz shot him in the shoulder.
He collapsed.
Vanessa jumped into the boat and started the engine.
Moments later, she disappeared into the rain.
I held Emma against my chest.
“You came,” she sobbed.
“I will always come for you.”
Richard laughed from the dock as officers handcuffed him.
“You still don’t understand,” he said. “Vanessa doesn’t need Michael’s recording anymore.”
Ruiz pressed a bandage against his shoulder.
“What does she need?”
“The original power of attorney.”
“It’s evidence.”
Richard smiled at me.
“No. The original is a map.”
I remembered the strange numbers printed along the bottom of the document.
They were not account numbers.
They were coordinates.
Richard leaned closer.
“Your mother hid the rest of the money somewhere only she could reach.”
Then my phone rang.
It was the hospital.
May you like
Mom had disappeared again.
This time, security footage showed her leaving voluntarily.
