Chapter 9
Saturday was less than thirty-six hours away.
Ethan called Detective Harris before Charles finished speaking.
The police asked Charles to remain at the house.
This time, Ethan let him inside.
Not because he trusted him.
Because the evidence mattered more than anger.
Charles sat at the far end of the living room.
He didn’t ask to hold Noah.
I noticed that.
He barely looked at him.
Like even seeing the baby felt like something he had not earned.
Detective Harris arrived with another officer.
Charles repeated everything.
The storage unit.
The crib.
The clothes.
The passport application.
The airline reservation.
Harris took notes.
“Did you remove anything from the unit?”
“The reservation printout.”
“That’s evidence from a location you entered illegally.”
“I know.”
“Anything else?”
Charles hesitated.
“A notebook.”
Ethan stared at him.
“You have it?”
Charles nodded.
“In my car.”
Harris closed his eyes briefly.
“Do not touch anything else.”
“I understand.”
The notebook was retrieved by police.
Harris wore gloves before opening it.
Linda’s handwriting covered the pages.
Dates.
Expenses.
Names.
Plans.
I sat across the room holding Noah while the detective read.
His face grew more serious with every page.
“What?” I asked.
He looked up.
“This appears to be a timeline.”
“For what?”
He hesitated.
“Removing Noah from the country.”
My throat closed.
Ethan stood.
“Read it.”
Harris turned a page.
“Hospital intake Friday. Obtain guardianship confirmation. Bank funds Monday.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Ethan said. “The flight is Saturday.”
Harris nodded.
“There are multiple versions of the plan.”
I felt sick.
“Versions?”
“She seems to have revised it several times.”
He turned another page.
“Earlier version: Emily hospitalized. Ethan persuaded child needs quiet environment. Linda takes Noah out of state temporarily.”
“Persuaded?” Ethan repeated.
Harris continued.
“Later version: Ethan resists. Use emergency guardianship claim.”
My husband’s face hardened.
“She planned for me to fight her.”
“Yes.”
“What happens in her plan when I refuse?”
Harris stopped.
I saw the answer before he spoke.
“What?”
He looked at Ethan.
“She wrote, ‘Ethan may need to be removed from decision-making.’”
“What does that mean?”
“We don’t know.”
Charles shifted in his seat.
Harris looked at him.
“What?”
Charles rubbed his jaw.
“Linda asked me something strange two weeks ago.”
Ethan stared.
“What?”
“She asked whether you still had anxiety attacks.”
My husband went still.
I had known about Ethan’s anxiety.
He had struggled with panic attacks in college.
They were rare now.
Maybe once every few years.
“Why would she ask that?”
Charles looked ashamed.
“I thought she was worried about you becoming a father.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“She was gathering weaknesses.”
That was exactly what she had done to me.
My exhaustion.
My medication.
My fears.
Now Ethan’s history.
Harris flipped through more pages.
“There are references to Ethan’s anxiety here.”
My stomach dropped.
“What does it say?”
“‘If necessary, show instability runs in household.’”
Ethan whispered, “Jesus.”
I stared at the notebook.
Linda had not simply tried to make me look unfit.
She had prepared to make both of us look unfit.
Then Noah would need someone stable.
Someone experienced.
Someone already holding a guardianship document.
Her.
The detective kept reading.
Then stopped.
His face changed.
“What?”
“There’s another name.”
“Who?”
“Victor Kane.”
Charles frowned.
“That may be the lender.”
Harris nodded slowly.
“I know the name.”
The other officer looked at him.
“Same guy?”
“Probably.”
I didn’t understand.
“Who is he?”
Harris looked at us.
“Victor Kane has been investigated for predatory private lending. He gives high-risk personal loans, then uses threats and coercion to collect.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“So Linda borrowed from a criminal.”
“That’s the allegation around him.”
“How does that connect to Noah?”
Harris kept reading.
Then he said, “Maybe it doesn’t.”
“What?”
“Several entries suggest Linda was planning to leave the country herself.”
I stared.
“With my baby.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Possibly because she believed she couldn’t repay Kane.”
Charles leaned forward.
“She wasn’t taking Noah because she wanted him.”
I looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“She needed leverage.”
My skin crawled.
Ethan stared.
“Against who?”
Charles looked at us.
“Against me.”
Silence.
“I have money.”
Ethan’s expression turned suspicious.
“How much?”
Charles ignored the question.
“Linda knows I sold my construction company.”
Harris asked, “When?”
“Two years ago.”
“For how much?”
“About eight million.”
Ethan actually stepped back.
He stared at the father he thought was dead.
“You have eight million dollars?”
“Not eight anymore.”
“That isn’t the point.”
Charles lowered his head.
“No.”
I suddenly understood.
Linda contacted Charles after learning I was pregnant.
She invented a medical emergency.
He gave her money.
Then she discovered he had much more.
Maybe Noah became another way to control him.
“What would Noah give her leverage over you?” I asked.
Charles looked at Ethan.
“Because she knows I want a relationship with my son.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“You don’t get one because you pay money.”
“I know.”
“But Linda thought you would.”
Charles nodded.
“She told me if I helped financially, she might convince you to speak with me.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
I felt sick.
She had been selling access to him.
Using Ethan’s grief.
Using Charles’s guilt.
Using Noah.
Everyone was a resource.
Everyone was leverage.
Harris’s phone rang.
He answered.
We watched his expression change.
“All right.”
He stood.
“Where?”
He listened.
“We’re on the way.”
He hung up.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Linda made bond.”
My heart dropped.
“What?”
“The fraud-related charges were processed first. Her attorney got an emergency hearing.”
Ethan’s face turned red.
“You said you were seeking a protective order.”
“We are.”
“So she’s free?”
“For the moment.”
I immediately stood.
“Where is she?”
Harris looked at me.
“We don’t know.”
“Then find her.”
“We’re trying.”
“She planned to steal my baby tomorrow.”
“I know.”
“She knows this house.”
“We’ll place an officer outside.”
“That isn’t enough.”
Harris nodded.
“You’re right. I recommend you leave tonight.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere she doesn’t know.”
Ethan looked at me.
“My coworker has a cabin.”
I shook my head.
“Linda knows your coworkers.”
Rachel.
No.
Linda knew her address.
My parents.
No.
She knew theirs too.
Charles said quietly, “I have a place.”
Everyone turned.
Ethan’s face became hard.
“No.”
“It’s secure.”
“No.”
“It’s twenty minutes away. Gated. Cameras. Linda doesn’t know the address.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She thinks I live in Springfield. I moved last year.”
Ethan hesitated.
Charles continued.
“You don’t have to trust me.”
“I don’t.”
“Trust the cameras.”
Harris said, “I can have an officer check the property first.”
Ethan looked at me.
This decision was mine too.
I hated it.
But I hated staying in a house Linda knew even more.
“Check it.”
An hour later, we left.
I packed one bag.
Diapers.
Clothes.
Medication.
Documents.
Noah’s blanket.
Ethan carried the car seat.
A patrol vehicle followed us.
Charles drove separately.
The house was not a mansion.
But it was large.
Quiet.
Behind a tall gate.
The police walked through every room.
Checked doors.
Windows.
Garage.
Then Harris told us it was secure.
Charles gave Ethan all the keys.
“I’ll sleep somewhere else.”
Ethan looked surprised.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because this is your safe place tonight.”
Charles looked at me.
“And Emily shouldn’t have to wonder whether she can trust another person in the house.”
For the first time, I saw Ethan’s anger soften.
Only slightly.
Charles left.
We locked the doors.
Noah slept between feedings.
Ethan stayed awake beside me.
At 2:13 a.m., the security system chimed.
Both of us sat up.
Motion detected.
Front gate.
Ethan grabbed his phone.
The camera showed a black SUV stopped outside.
My heart slammed.
“Call the police.”
He did.
A figure stepped out of the vehicle.
A woman.
Linda.
She stood under the gate light.
Then looked directly into the camera.
She knew we were watching.
She smiled.
Ethan whispered, “How did she find us?”
Linda lifted her phone.
Then the gate started opening.
I stopped breathing.
“She has the code.”
Ethan ran toward the hallway.
I grabbed Noah.
The SUV rolled slowly onto the property.
Police were on the way.
But Linda was already inside.
Then the passenger door opened.
A man stepped out.
Tall.
Broad.
Dark coat.
Ethan stared at the screen.
“Who is that?”
I remembered the name from the notebook.
May you like
Victor Kane.
Linda had not come alone.
