Chương 7
Then I told him about Saturday.
The tablet calls.
The threat to shut off the Wi-Fi.
Bell did not interrupt until I finished.
“Is Leo with you now?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t question him further tonight.”
Guilt flashed hot through me.
“I wasn’t interrogating him.”
“I’m not saying you were.”
“He came downstairs on his own.”
“I understand.”
His voice remained calm.
“But from here, let the investigator handle the details so nobody can later claim his account was shaped by repeated questioning.”
I looked at Leo through the doorway.
He had curled against the arm of the couch.
Nora was putting a blanket over his legs.
“All right.”
“Also, the call logs came back from the tablet account.”
My grip tightened on the phone.
“And?”
“There are multiple outgoing calls to Gideon beginning Saturday.”
“How many?”
“Seventeen over six days.”
I closed my eyes.
“Did he answer?”
“Some.”
“Can you tell how long they lasted?”
“Yes.”
Bell paused.
“Several were under a minute.”
I pictured Leo alone at the kitchen table, holding a tablet and trying to determine whether hunger or fear qualified as important enough to risk another call.
“Any calls to me?”
“No.”
That somehow hurt too.
Not because Leo had failed to call.
Because Gideon’s instruction had worked.
Bell continued.
“There’s something else you should know.”
I waited.
“We spoke with Daniel Ruiz again.”
“The handyman.”
“Yes.”
“He remembered why Gideon had his number available so quickly.”
I leaned against the counter.
“Why?”
“Daniel did not work on your fence two months ago.”
“What?”
“He says he gave Gideon an estimate but never got the job.”
I frowned.
“Then why would Gideon call him to check on Leo?”
“That’s what Daniel wondered afterward.”
“Did he say?”
“Gideon told him everyone else was out of town.”
I looked toward Nora.
“But Gideon has neighbors’ numbers.”
“Yes.”
“My sister lives forty minutes away.”
“Yes.”
“His brother could have called someone.”
“Yes.”
“Why choose a handyman he barely knew?”
Bell let the silence answer before he did.
“Daniel says Gideon offered him fifty dollars to stop by, knock once, leave twenty dollars if nobody answered, and not go inside.”
The cold feeling returned.
“Knock once?”
“That was the instruction.”
“But Leo said he knocked repeatedly.”
“Daniel says he ignored that part because he could hear movement upstairs.”
I turned toward the window.
So somebody had heard Leo.
Somebody had known a child was inside.
“What did Gideon say when Daniel called him?”
Bell answered carefully.
“He told Daniel the boy was shy and not to push it.”
I pressed my forehead against the cabinet.
The visit had not been designed to check whether Leo was safe.
It had been designed to create the appearance that someone had checked.
A paid stranger.
A sealed envelope.
Twenty dollars.
Enough for Gideon to say there had been arrangements.
Not enough for anyone to enter the house and see what those arrangements actually were.
Bell said my name.
“I’m here.”
“There’s one more development.”
I almost laughed.
Of course there was.
“Go ahead.”
“The Tennessee troopers contacted us.”
“About Gideon?”
“Yes.”
“He’s still there?”
“For the moment.”
“What happened?”
“He consented to officers securing the children’s luggage while Shannon arranged to pick them up.”
I waited.
Bell continued.
“Camila asked for her backpack.”
My pulse changed.
“She opened it looking for her charger.”
I knew before he said it that she had found something.
“What was inside?”
“A folder.”
“What kind of folder?”
“Travel documents.”
I closed my eyes.
Bell’s next words came slowly.
“There’s a printed copy of the original airline reservation with all five names.”
The paper Leo had seen beside the printer.
“And?”
“There’s also a handwritten note.”
I stopped breathing.
“Whose handwriting?”
“Camila says it’s Gideon’s.”
“What does it say?”
Bell hesitated.
When he read it, his voice became flatter, almost formal.
“Cancel Jen and Leo Thursday night.”
I gripped the counter.
He continued.
“Tell Jen the airline changed the flight after her mom calls.”
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Bell said, “Mrs. Mercer, it appears your mother’s death did not create Gideon’s plan.”
I looked through the doorway at my sleeping son.
“No.”
May you like
The funeral had only given him a better excuse.
By dawn, the police had confirmed that the handwritten instruction in Camila’s backpack matched the same blue-ink notepad Gideon used at home, although nobody was calling it proof yet.Officer Bell used words like consistent, relevant, and needs examination, while I sat at Nora’s breakfast bar watching Leo line up three cereal pieces along the rim of his bowl.He ate the first one.Then the second.He left the third untouched.“You don’t like those?”“They’re fine.”He pushed the bowl away.“You can have toast.”“I’m not hungry.”Nora opened her mouth.I shook my head before she could encourage him.Food had become another thing adults had monitored too closely.Leo climbed down from the stool and wandered toward the living room, where Ben was asleep under a blanket with one leg hanging off the couch.My nephew had surrendered his bedroom without complaint and then apparently decided the couch was less comfortable than the floor but more dignified.Leo stopped beside him.Ben opened one eye.“You staring at me is creepy.”Leo almost smiled.“You snore.”“That’s slander.”“You do.”“Prove it.”Leo held up his old phone.Ben sat up immediately.“You recorded me?”“No.”“Then you have nothing.”Leo tucked the phone into his pocket.For thirty seconds, they were simply cousins.I looked down at my coffee before either of them could see me watching.Nora stood beside me cutting strawberries.“You need to sleep.”“So do you.”“I slept two hours.”“That’s not sleep.”“It counts after forty.”Mark walked through wearing his work clothes and carrying one shoe.“Where’s the other one?”Nora pointed without looking.“Dog bed.”“We don’t have a dog.”“Exactly.”He found the shoe behind an armchair.Nobody explained how it got there.The stupidity of the moment eased something in the room.Then my phone rang.Shannon.I answered.Her voice sounded scraped raw.“I have Roger and Camila.”I stood.“You reached them?”“About twenty minutes ago.”“Are they okay?”“They’re exhausted.”A car door shut behind her.“Camila won’t stop crying.”My hand tightened around the phone.“Is Gideon with you?”“No.”“Where is he?”“The troopers released him after interviewing him.”I looked at Nora.She saw my face and put down the knife.“Released him?”“They didn’t have an Ohio warrant.”“Is he driving home?”“I assume.”“Did he speak to the kids?”“Not after I arrived.”Shannon paused.“Roger refused.”I had never heard Roger refuse his father anything important.“He said that?”“He said, ‘I’m not going with him.’”The sentence carried more weight than its words.“Camila?”“She wouldn’t look at Gideon.”I closed my eyes.None of this was supposed to belong to them.Gideon’s choices had dragged every child into the wreckage.“Where are you taking them?”“Home.”“To Cincinnati?”“Yes.”“Good.”“Jennifer.”Her tone changed.“What?”“Camila says the folder wasn’t hers.”“I know.”“No, I mean she says she didn’t put it in her backpack.”I waited.“She thinks Gideon did.”“Why would he?”“She doesn’t know.”“Maybe he was moving papers.”“Maybe.”Shannon sounded unconvinced.“There was something else in the folder.”My stomach tightened.“What?”“A Hilton Head property brochure.”I frowned.“That’s not strange.”“With an appointment time written on it.”I stood very still.“What appointment?”“Saturday afternoon.”“For what?”“Condo sales presentation.”The answer made no immediate sense.Then a memory surfaced.Three months earlier, Gideon had mentioned that Hilton Head property prices were holding better than Columbus.I had laughed and asked whether he was planning to become a beach landlord.He said he was just looking.“Was he buying something?”“I don’t know.”Shannon continued.“Roger says Gideon disappeared for almost three hours Saturday.”“Where did he say he was going?”“To return the rental bikes.”“For three hours?”“Apparently.”We had not rented bikes.At least, not when I was still part of the trip.Shannon exhaled.“I’m telling you because the kids keep remembering things and I don’t know what matters.”“All of it might.”“That’s what scares me.”For the first time in the years I had known her, Shannon sounded less angry than tired.“Roger keeps asking whether he should have known.”I looked toward the living room.Leo was kneeling beside Ben’s coffee table arranging game controllers.“No child should have known.”“I told him that.”“Tell him again.”“I will.”She was silent.Then she said, “Gideon did this kind of thing when we were married.”My fingers went cold.“What kind of thing?”“Not this.”She corrected herself immediately.“Never with the kids.”I waited.“He would make a decision first.”Her voice slowed.“Then build a story around it so by the time I found out, I felt like I had somehow agreed.”I leaned against the counter.“What decisions?”“Money mostly.”“Money?”“A truck once.”“A truck.”“He traded my car toward it.”I blinked.“What?”“I came home and my car was gone.”“That’s legal?”“It was titled jointly.”Her laugh held no humor.“He told me I’d said I wanted something safer.”“Had you?”“I had said the brakes squealed.”I closed my eyes.“When I got angry, he spent three days explaining that I was embarrassed because I didn’t understand finances.”Nora was close enough now to hear Shannon through the phone.Her mouth tightened.“Why didn’t you tell me this?”I asked.Shannon gave a dry little laugh.“When exactly would that conversation have happened?”I said nothing.“At one of Camila’s recitals?”She continued.“While you were standing beside him?”“That’s fair.”“No.”Her voice softened.“It isn’t.”I looked at the floor.“I wouldn’t have believed you.”“I know.”That hurt because she was probably right.She added, “I didn’t believe his first girlfriend when she called me either.”I straightened.“What girlfriend?”“The woman before you.”“I didn’t know there was one.”“He told you he was single after our divorce?”“He said he dated casually.”Shannon was quiet.Then, “Her name was Elise.”“What happened?”“I don’t know everything.”“Why did she call you?”“She wanted to know whether Gideon had ever taken money from an account without permission.”My mouth went dry.“What did you tell her?”“That our accounts had been joint.”“Did he take money from her?”“She said he moved twelve thousand dollars.”“Police?”“She never told me.”“Why?”“I think she got it back.”Shannon inhaled.“Jennifer, check your accounts.”I did not move.“Now.”The command snapped through me.I opened our banking app.Checking.Savings.Mortgage.Credit card.Everything appeared normal at first glance.Then I opened the savings account.The balance looked wrong.Not dramatically wrong.Wrong enough.We kept emergency money there.Thirty-two thousand dollars after my mother reimbursed us for part of the roof replacement the previous year.The balance was nineteen thousand and change.My heart began pounding.I opened transactions.There it was.TRANSFER OUT.$12,500.Thursday.8:41 p.m.Twenty-three minutes before Leo asked about the dolphin cruise.“Shannon.”“I’m here.”“Twelve-five.”Silence.“What?”“He transferred twelve thousand five hundred Thursday.”“To where?”“I don’t know.”The app only showed an external transfer reference.Shannon swore quietly.“Call the bank.”“I will.”“Now, Jennifer.”“I said I will.”My voice came out sharper than I meant.She did not react.“Okay.”I ended the call.Nora stared at me.“Tell me.”I did.Her first question was not about Gideon.“Was any of that Mom’s money?”The timing of the question struck hard.“Some.”“How much?”“Eight thousand.”Nora turned away.Our mother had given me the money after the roof leaked because she said she was tired of hearing me complain about buckets.She had refused repayment.I had bought her a ridiculous espresso machine instead.It still sat on her kitchen counter in Chicago.Nora pressed her lips together.“He took Mom’s money.”“He took ours.”“Don’t defend him.”“I’m not.”“You sounded like you were.”“I’m correcting you.”“Jesus, Jen.”She stepped back.“You’re still doing it.”“Doing what?”“Making every sentence technically fair to him.”My anger flared.“I am not.”“Yes, you are.”“I just found out my husband left my son alone, lied about it, stole money, and apparently planned it before my mother died.”My voice rose.“I don’t need you grading how angry I’m doing it.”Leo appeared in the doorway.Everything in me stopped.Nora saw him too.Her shoulders dropped.“Hey, buddy.”Leo looked at me.“Are you fighting?”“No.”Nora answered at the same time.“A little.”I closed my eyes.She was right.Leo looked between us.“Because of Gideon?”“Partly,” I said.Nora nodded.“Mostly because your mom is stubborn.”I stared at her.She added, “Runs in the family.”Leo looked uncertain.Then Ben called from the living room.“It absolutely does.”A small laugh escaped Leo.The tension broke just enough.I crouched beside him.“You didn’t do anything.”“I know.”He said it automatically.I was beginning to hate how often he needed to.“Go beat Ben at something.”“I already did.”Ben shouted, “Lies.”Leo went back into the living room.Nora lowered her voice.“I’m sorry.”“So am I.”We stood there awkwardly.Neither of us hugged.Our family did not solve arguments that efficiently.I called the bank.After three transfers, two security questions, and a hold recording that played the same fifteen seconds of piano until I wanted to throw the phone outside, a fraud specialist named Keisha confirmed that the transfer had gone to an account in Gideon’s name only.“Can you reverse it?”“Not automatically.”“Why not?”“The transfer originated from a jointly accessible account using valid credentials.”“But I didn’t authorize it.”“I understand.”“That money is partly mine.”“I understand.”Her patience made me angrier.“What can I do?”“We can restrict outgoing transactions from the joint account.”“Yes.”“That may also affect your own access until identity verification is complete.”“Fine.”“We can open a dispute.”“Do that.”“And if you believe funds were moved as part of a criminal matter, you can provide the report number.”I gave her Bell’s information.Then I asked where the money had gone after reaching Gideon’s account.She could not tell me.By the time the call ended, my coffee was cold.Officer Bell called twenty minutes later.I told him about the transfer.He asked me to email screenshots and not access Gideon’s devices or accounts without authorization.“I’m not planning to become a hacker.”“You’d be surprised.”“I probably wouldn’t anymore.”He almost laughed.Then his tone shifted.“We received another call.”“From who?”“Shannon.”“She called you?”“She forwarded photos of the brochure.”I waited.“The property appointment was with a vacation-condo sales office.”“So he was looking at a condo.”“Possibly.”“That takes twelve thousand dollars?”“Maybe not.”He paused.“But the brochure has a handwritten figure on the back.”“What figure?”“Twelve thousand five hundred.”The exact transfer.I sat down.“What does it say beside it?”“Deposit.”Nora heard that.She pulled out the chair across from me.Bell continued.“We’re not assuming the purchase happened.”“But he moved the exact amount.”“Yes.”“When?”“The appointment appears to have been scheduled several days before your mother died.”Another decision made before grief gave Gideon cover.“Why cancel me?”I asked.Bell did not answer.He could not.But the answer was beginning to take shape anyway.If Gideon planned to put money down on a property without telling me, bringing me to Hilton Head would have made secrecy harder.Leaving Leo behind solved another problem.Two unwanted witnesses removed from the trip at once.My phone buzzed.A text from Gideon.I am coming home.Then another.We need to talk before you destroy my relationship with my children too.I stared at the screen.Not our children.My children.His wording had finally stopped pretending.Bell said, “Mrs. Mercer?”“I’m here.”“Is that him?”“Yes.”“What did he say?”I read the messages aloud.Bell was quiet for a moment.“Do not meet him alone.”“I won’t.”“If he comes to Nora’s house, call us.”“He doesn’t know we’re here.”Nora shook her head sharply.I corrected myself.“I don’t think he knows.”Bell said, “Assume he can find out.”After we hung up, I went upstairs.Leo had left his borrowed clothes in a pile beside Ben’s dresser.His green suitcase was not there because Gideon had put it on a garage shelf and driven away without him.I stood in that borrowed bedroom surrounded by another boy’s posters and dirty socks and finally understood that going home could not mean returning to the life we had left.Home was now evidence.Home was where Gideon might arrive.Home was the place my son had learned how loudly a refrigerator sounded at midnight when no adults were there.My phone rang again.This time the caller ID showed our home security company.I answered.An automated voice informed me that the front door had been unlocked using Gideon’s code.I looked at the time.8:17 a.m.He had made it back to Columbus.Then the camera notification appeared.Motion detected at front entrance.The image loaded slowly.Gideon stood on our porch wearing the same clothes he had driven in from Tennessee.His face was gray with exhaustion.One hand held his suitcase.The other held a stack of mail.For a second he looked almost ordinary.Then he looked directly toward the doorbell camera.He knew I could see him.He raised his phone.My screen rang.I did not answer.Another security notification appeared.Front door opened.Gideon entered the house.Three minutes later, the camera feed went offline.Nora came beside me.“He disconnected it.”“Yes.”“What’s in the house that he doesn’t want anybody seeing?”I was already calling Bell.Because Gideon had returned to a house the police had photographed, and whatever he had driven eleven hours to reach before sleeping was important enough for him to make sure nobody could watch him find it.
