Chapter 4
Detective Lena Brooks did not let me go to the closed store.
She didn’t ask.
She told me.
“You stay with Sophie.”
“Vanessa is there.”
“Possibly.”
“Mark expects me.”
“Good.”
I stared at her.
“Good?”
“He’ll be watching for you, not the officers entering from the rear.”
I hated every second.
But Sophie needed me more than Vanessa did.
For once, I understood that clearly.
Rachel stayed with Sophie while I sat in a police command vehicle two blocks from the store.
Technically, I had obeyed.
Barely.
Lena gave me a phone.
“If Mark calls, keep him talking.”
He called eleven minutes later.
“David.”
His voice sounded almost casual.
“Mark.”
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“No police?”
I looked at Lena.
“They don’t know.”
A lie.
He laughed.
“You were always terrible at lying.”
I nearly said the same about him.
Instead:
“Let Vanessa go.”
“Bring the phone.”
“You don’t need it. There are copies.”
Silence.
Good.
He hadn’t known for certain.
“Where?”
“Cloud storage. USB drives. Police.”
Lena gave me an approving nod.
Mark’s voice hardened.
“You called police.”
“You kidnapped my wife.”
“Your wife?”
He laughed again.
“That’s generous.”
I closed my eyes.
“Is she alive?”
A pause.
Then Vanessa screamed in the background.
“Yes.”
“Let me talk to her.”
“No.”
“Then I assume she’s already dead and I leave.”
Another pause.
Then Vanessa came on.
“David.”
She was crying.
“Are you hurt?”
“My head.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“Stay calm.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not now.”
“I need you to know—”
The phone moved.
Mark returned.
“Touching.”
I kept him talking.
“Why put money in Sophie’s name?”
He went quiet.
“So you found that.”
“Yes.”
“Smart lawyer.”
“You planned to blame her?”
“No.”
“What then?”
“Leverage.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“If the money was discovered, you’d do anything to protect Sophie.”
He knew me.
Or thought he did.
“You’d sign whatever I put in front of you.”
I felt sick.
“Why?”
“Because you’re predictable, David.”
“What about Vanessa?”
“She was useful.”
The word told me everything.
Vanessa had destroyed her marriage for a man who considered her equipment.
“Does Elaine know?”
This time, silence lasted longer.
Then Mark said:
“Who told you about Elaine?”
I smiled despite myself.
“Your dead wife seems surprisingly active.”
His breathing changed.
“You have no idea what you’re touching.”
“Then explain.”
“Elaine built MVC.”
“For fraud?”
“You call it fraud. I call it restructuring.”
“You stole from our company.”
“Our company?”
Anger entered his voice.
“You own most of the profitable locations because your father gave you the first building.”
“That building was failing.”
“And I saved it.”
“We saved it.”
“No.”
There it was.
Old resentment.
He had carried it silently for eighteen years.
“You got credit. I got percentages.”
“You signed the partnership agreement.”
“I was desperate.”
“So stealing from me fixes that?”
“Taking what should have been mine.”
I almost laughed.
Every betrayal seemed to require the same story.
I deserved more.
Therefore your pain became acceptable.
Lena raised a finger.
One minute.
Her team was moving.
I asked, “And Sophie?”
“She should’ve stayed out of adult business.”
“She is a child.”
“She recorded me.”
“Because you threatened her.”
“She didn’t understand.”
“She understood enough.”
Then gunshots exploded faintly through the phone.
Mark cursed.
The line disconnected.
I stood.
Lena grabbed my shoulder.
“Stay here.”
“Was that gunfire?”
“Yes.”
“Vanessa—”
“We don’t know.”
The next seven minutes were the longest of my life.
Then Lena’s radio crackled.
“Female victim secure.”
I closed my eyes.
“Suspect?”
Another transmission.
“Suspect fled through east loading exit.”
Mark escaped.
Vanessa was alive.
Officers brought her out on a stretcher.
I saw blood near her hairline.
Her wrists were bruised.
She saw me.
“David.”
I did not go to her immediately.
That surprised both of us.
Lena approached first.
“Mrs. Reed, you’re safe.”
Vanessa began crying.
“He’s going after Sophie.”
My chest tightened.
“What?”
She looked at me.
“He knows she copied everything.”
“We know.”
“No.”
Vanessa grabbed my hand.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then tell me.”
“He put something in her backpack.”
Sophie’s backpack.
My mind raced.
“What?”
“A flash drive.”
“Why?”
“To make it look like she stole company data.”
The investment account wasn’t enough.
Mark was building layers.
“When?”
“Last week.”
I called Rachel.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
My heartbeat accelerated.
I called Sophie.
No answer.
Lena immediately radioed units at Rachel’s house.
Then Rachel finally answered.
“David?”
“Where’s Sophie?”
“She went upstairs.”
“Go check.”
“Why?”
“Now!”
I heard Rachel running.
A door opening.
Then silence.
“David.”
My legs weakened.
“What?”
“She’s not here.”
I nearly dropped the phone.
“What do you mean?”
“Her bedroom window is open.”
Lena heard.
Police moved immediately.
“Did she leave a note?”
Rachel searched.
Then:
“Yes.”
“What does it say?”
Rachel read:
DAD, I’M SORRY.
MARK TEXTED ME.
HE SAID IF I DON’T COME, HE’LL HURT AUNT RACHEL.
I HAVE TO FIX THIS.
My daughter had left to protect my sister.
Mark knew exactly how to manipulate people who cared about one another.
I asked, “When did she leave?”
“I don’t know. Fifteen minutes? Maybe twenty.”
Lena traced Sophie’s phone.
Location active.
Moving east.
Then it stopped.
Balboa Park.
Police converged.
I went too.
Nobody could stop me this time.
They found Sophie’s backpack first.
On a bench near a service road.
Her phone inside.
The flash drive Vanessa mentioned taped beneath the lining.
But no Sophie.
A witness had seen a teenage girl entering a dark sedan.
“She looked scared?” Lena asked.
The witness shook his head.
“No.”
My heart sank.
“Did she go willingly?”
“Kind of.”
“With who?”
“Woman driver.”
Not Mark.
“Description?”
Dark hair.
Forties.
Thin.
I already knew before the witness finished.
Elaine Collins.
The dead wife.
Anthony sent a driver’s-license photograph.
The witness confirmed it.
Elaine had Sophie.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A woman spoke.
“Mr. Reed.”
“Elaine.”
She laughed softly.
“Finally.”
“Where is my daughter?”
“Safe.”
“Put her on.”
A pause.
Then Sophie:
“Dad?”
My knees nearly buckled.
“I’m here.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did she touch you?”
“No.”
Elaine took the phone again.
“You have a very brave daughter.”
“You have ten seconds to tell me what you want.”
“I want Mark.”
“He’s running.”
“Find him.”
I stared at Lena.
“You want me to find your husband?”
“He is not my husband anymore.”
“Legally he is.”
“Unfortunately.”
“What do you want with him?”
Elaine’s voice turned cold.
“He stole from me too.”
There it was.
The conspiracy was breaking apart.
“What does Sophie have to do with your marriage?”
“She knows where Mark keeps the master ledger.”
I looked at Lena.
“What ledger?”
Sophie’s voice came faintly:
“I saw it in the video.”
Elaine continued.
“Your daughter noticed something none of you adults did.”
A strange echo of the whole nightmare.
“What?”
“In the first recording, behind Mark, there’s a red notebook.”
My stomach tightened.
“The ledger?”
“Every transfer. Every account. Every payoff.”
“If you know where it is, go get it.”
“I don’t.”
“But Sophie does?”
“She recognized the room.”
I closed my eyes.
Our lake cabin.
Sophie had spent summers there since she was five.
Elaine said:
“Mark hid the ledger at your cabin.”
Then another voice came through.
A man.
Mark.
“Elaine.”
Everything inside me stopped.
He was with them.
Elaine cursed.
The phone moved.
Sophie screamed.
Then Mark’s voice came directly into my ear.
May you like
“Now we can finally negotiate.”
The call ended.
