Chương 13
“Promise.”
Outside, Renee stood with Morales and a detective I had not met.
He introduced himself as Daniel Cho.
He looked as tired as everyone else.
“We obtained additional information from the prepaid phone.”
“Victoria’s?”
“We believe she was using it.”
“Who texted her?”
“We are not ready to identify the person.”
“You know.”
“We have a probable identity.”
“Who?”
Cho looked toward Chloe’s room.
“Before I answer, I need to ask whether you know a man named Eric Bell.”
The name meant nothing at first.
Then Margaret made a noise.
I turned.
“You know him?”
“Julian’s business partner.”
“Former business partner,” Cho said.
I searched my memory.
I had met Eric twice.
Tall, soft-spoken, expensive glasses, the kind of man who carried his own sparkling water to dinner.
“He left the company.”
“When?” Cho asked.
“Last year.”
“Do you know why?”
“Julian said they disagreed over money.”
Margaret said, “He said Eric stole from him.”
I looked at her.
“When did he tell you that?”
“When he borrowed the twenty thousand.”
Another fact I had not known.
Cho took note.
“Mr. Bell claims the opposite.”
“Of course he does.”
“He alleges Julian diverted money from several property investment accounts.”
My stomach tightened.
“How much?”
“We’re not investigating that matter directly tonight.”
“How much?”
Cho hesitated.
“Potentially several hundred thousand dollars.”
Margaret sat down.
“That’s why he needed money.”
“Possibly.”
There was that word again.
Cho continued.
“Mr. Bell says he confronted Julian last summer and threatened civil action.”
“What does Victoria have to do with it?”
“According to Bell, she discovered the financial irregularities before he did.”
I stared at him.
“She knew.”
“Yes.”
“And she used it against Julian.”
“That is one possibility we are examining.”
Chloe’s words returned.
She’ll ruin him.
She already did.
“What did she want?”
Cho folded his arms.
“We believe she wanted Julian to cooperate with plans involving Chloe.”
“That sounds very polite.”
“It is deliberately neutral.”
“Why?”
“Because we are separating what we can prove from what we suspect.”
Margaret stood again.
“Does Eric Bell have Victoria?”
“We don’t know.”
“Was he the one texting her?”
Cho did not answer directly.
“The prepaid phone exchanged messages with a number associated with him.”
My stomach dropped.
“About Chloe?”
“Some appear to concern travel.”
“To where?”
“We are still reviewing them.”
“You said the phone was locked.”
“We obtained access after a warrant and assistance from the device manufacturer’s standard legal process.”
I nodded without really hearing the explanation.
“Was Eric helping Victoria disappear?”
“We don’t know his full role.”
“But he knew about the plan.”
“He appears to have known that Victoria intended to leave Chicago with Chloe.”
“Did he know everyone would think Chloe was dead?”
Cho’s expression changed slightly.
“That is less clear.”
Margaret said, “Then call him.”
“We have.”
“And?”
“He answered initially.”
My skin prickled.
“What did he say?”
“That he had no idea where Victoria was.”
“Do you believe him?”
“He stopped answering after detectives asked him to come in.”
“That sounds persuasive.”
Cho ignored the sarcasm.
“We have officers attempting to locate him.”
“Where does he live?”
“Naperville.”
“Is he there?”
“No.”
I looked at Morales.
“You have two missing adults now.”
“Yes.”
“One of them helped fake my granddaughter’s death.”
“That is being investigated.”
“And the other may have been waiting for her.”
“Yes.”
A terrible thought arrived.
“Was Chloe supposed to leave the country?”
Cho remained silent.
“Tell me.”
He looked at Renee.
She gave the smallest nod.
“There are messages discussing Toronto.”
Margaret swore.
“Canada?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Likely by car.”
I understood why the airport ticket had existed.
Victoria would leave the Lexus at O’Hare, create a record suggesting she flew west, then disappear in another vehicle.
“Eric was picking her up.”
“We cannot yet establish that.”
“But that was the plan.”
“It is a reasonable inference.”
I stared at him.
“Where were they going after Toronto?”
“We don’t know.”
“Did they have another identity for Chloe?”
Cho hesitated.
That hesitation answered first.
“What?”
“We found an image on Victoria’s prepaid phone.”
“What image?”
“A photograph of a birth certificate.”
“Whose?”
“The document lists the name Caroline Elizabeth Ward.”
I almost laughed because the alternative was screaming.
“That isn’t Chloe.”
“The date of birth matches.”
Margaret gripped the back of a chair.
“Fake?”
“It appears fraudulent.”
“And whose last name is Ward?”
Cho looked at us.
“Eric Bell’s mother’s maiden name.”
The hallway shifted beneath me.
This was not improvisation after a school nurse noticed bruises.
Someone had prepared another life for my granddaughter.
“How long ago was the picture taken?”
“The metadata indicates approximately five months.”
Five months.
Before Rosa’s Christmas question.
Before Julian asked Margaret for fifty thousand.
Before the school began pressing about attendance.
Victoria had been planning an exit while the rest of us were still exchanging pictures from Chloe’s spring recital.
“Did Julian know?”
“We don’t know.”
“I think he knew some of it.”
Cho’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“He said there was somewhere Victoria could take Chloe.”
“Yes.”
“But he acted like he didn’t know where.”
“That could be true.”
“You believe him?”
“I don’t believe or disbelieve people for a living.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It is.”
Margaret touched my shoulder.
“What happens now?”
Cho looked toward the elevators.
“We find Victoria.”
“And Bell.”
“Yes.”
“And Kaminski?”
“He is still being questioned.”
“Is he cooperating?”
“Partially.”
“What does that mean?”
“He admits signing the document.”
My throat tightened.
“Why?”
“He says Victoria threatened to expose prescription practices from his years at the treatment center.”
“What practices?”
“He allegedly wrote medications outside appropriate clinical circumstances.”
“Illegally?”
“That is under review.”
“So she blackmailed him too.”
“That is what he claims.”
“And he agreed to pretend a child was dead.”
Cho’s face hardened.
“He claims he was told Chloe would be closely monitored and revived within minutes.”
“Revived?”
“He used that word.”
“She wasn’t dead.”
“I know.”
“He’s a doctor.”
“I know.”
May you like
“He left her there.”
Cho did not defend him.
