Chapter 5
I read the message six times after Detective Cole sent me a screenshot.
Make sure the kid keeps quiet until Daniel signs.
My daughter had been hurt because she knew something.
Not because she had tantrums.
Not because Rachel was overwhelmed.
Because Sophie had seen evidence.
“What papers?” I asked.
“We don’t know yet,” Cole said.
“And who is M?”
“We’re tracing the number.”
“Could it be Carol using another phone?”
“Possible.”
I paced Laura’s kitchen.
Sophie was upstairs watching cartoons with my sister.
“Rachel was trying to get money from Sophie’s trust.”
“Yes.”
“So maybe Sophie saw those documents.”
“Maybe.”
“Then Rachel hurt her to keep her quiet.”
“We need evidence before we say that.”
I hated how calm Cole sounded.
Then I remembered calm was her job.
Mine was to keep Sophie safe.
That afternoon, Sophie had a forensic interview at a child advocacy center.
I wasn’t allowed in the room.
That almost destroyed me.
“You mean I just leave her with strangers?”
“They’re trained interviewers,” Cole explained. “You’ll be nearby.”
Sophie grabbed my hand.
“No.”
I crouched in front of her.
“You don’t have to be scared.”
“You said you wouldn’t leave me.”
“I’m not leaving the building.”
“That’s what Rachel said.”
My heart cracked.
“What?”
“She said you weren’t leaving me. She said you were leaving the house.”
Cole looked away.
I pulled Sophie close.
“I’m right outside. The second you’re done, I’ll be there.”
She finally agreed.
The interview lasted fifty-three minutes.
I counted every one.
When the door opened, Sophie ran to me.
I lifted her.
The interviewer, a woman named Megan, spoke quietly to Cole.
They didn’t tell me everything.
They couldn’t.
But Cole’s face told me enough.
“What did she say?”
“We’ll talk after Sophie leaves.”
Laura took Sophie for ice cream.
I stayed.
Cole sat across from me.
Megan remained beside her.
“There are multiple allegations,” Megan said.
My chest tightened.
“What kind?”
“Isolation. Physical punishment. Food restriction.”
I stared.
“Food?”
“Sophie says Rachel sometimes refused to let her eat dinner.”
I thought about all the evenings Rachel told me Sophie had already eaten.
I had believed her.
“She’d say Sophie ate early.”
Megan wrote that down.
“What else?”
Cole answered.
“Sophie described being locked in the closet overnight more than once.”
I pressed both hands over my face.
“She said five nights.”
“Five is the number she remembers clearly.”
I looked up.
“There were more?”
Neither woman answered directly.
Megan continued.
“She also described Rachel telling her that you wanted a new family.”
I couldn’t speak.
“She told Sophie you would eventually send her away.”
“Why?”
“Control.”
That word again.
Control.
Everything Rachel had done came back to it.
“She also mentioned another adult.”
My head snapped up.
“Who?”
“She calls him Uncle Mike.”
“I don’t know an Uncle Mike.”
Megan and Cole exchanged a glance.
“Rachel has a brother?”
“No. She told me she was an only child.”
“Male friends?”
“A few coworkers, I guess.”
Megan leaned forward.
“Sophie says this man came to the house twice while you were working.”
My heart started pounding.
“What did he do?”
“He talked to Rachel.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all Sophie described.”
“Did he hurt her?”
“She didn’t say that.”
I exhaled shakily.
“What did they talk about?”
“Sophie remembered one sentence.”
I waited.
Megan read from her notes.
“Once Daniel signs, the house is ours.”
I stared at her.
“The house?”
Not the lake house.
Our house?
My home had belonged to Emily and me before I ever met Rachel.
After Emily died, her share passed into her estate.
Samuel had helped structure everything.
I called him immediately.
His answer made my stomach drop.
“Daniel, your house is complicated.”
“What does that mean?”
“Emily’s will left her ownership interest to Sophie.”
I gripped the phone.
“So half my house belongs to my daughter?”
“Essentially, yes.”
“And Rachel knew?”
“She may have discovered it from the documents she took.”
“Could I sell the house?”
“Not freely. Sophie’s interest would need protection and court approval.”
I sat down.
That explained Rachel’s obsession with the trust documents.
She wasn’t just after cash.
She wanted the property.
“Samuel, has anyone tried to do anything with my house?”
Silence.
“Samuel?”
“There was an inquiry.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
“By whom?”
“A real-estate attorney named Michael Trent.”
Mike.
Uncle Mike.
“Do you know him?”
“No.”
Samuel sounded disturbed.
“He claimed to represent you and your wife.”
“I’ve never met him.”
I immediately called Detective Cole.
Before I could finish explaining, she interrupted.
“We identified M.”
My mouth went dry.
“Michael Trent?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
Cole continued.
“And Daniel?”
“What?”
“Michael Trent isn’t just Rachel’s attorney.”
The silence stretched.
“He and Rachel have been making calls to each other for almost a year.”
“How many?”
“Hundreds.”
I looked toward the stairs where Sophie had slept the previous night.
May you like
Then Cole said the sentence that changed the investigation again.
“Most of those calls happened while you were at work.”
