Chương 9
She turned back to him.
“Ambulance leaves now.”
Daniel stepped down.
“No.”
Sophie called, “Daddy.”
He stopped.
Ortiz lowered her voice.
“If someone exited through that panel, they are not in the house anymore.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
She looked toward Sophie.
“It’s supposed to make you leave.”
Daniel stared at her for a second longer.
Then he climbed back in.
The ambulance doors closed.
The sudden enclosure made the sirens and voices outside feel distant.
Sophie reached for his hand.
Daniel gave it to her.
As the ambulance pulled away from the curb, she looked through the small rear window.
“Are we coming back?”
Daniel watched the house shrink behind them.
Blue lights flashed against the cream exterior Claire had insisted looked warmer than white.
He had complained about the price of repainting.
Claire had told him houses should look like somebody wanted to come home.
“I don’t know,” he said.
Sophie turned forward.
“That’s okay.”
Daniel looked at her.
She was exhausted enough to accept uncertainty now.
He envied her.
At the hospital, fluorescent light replaced police strobes.
A nurse with silver-framed glasses took Sophie’s name twice because the first computer terminal froze.
Another nurse brought apple juice in a plastic cup.
Sophie drank half and asked whether the rest could come home with her.
Daniel said yes without knowing where home would be.
The doctor examined the marks on her wrists and documented them carefully.
He found no burns on her face.
Daniel felt a rush of relief so strong it nearly made him dizzy.
Then shame followed.
No burns had become good news.
The doctor asked whether Sophie had lost consciousness, been hit, or swallowed anything.
She said no.
When he asked whether anyone had hurt her anywhere else, Sophie looked at Daniel.
Daniel stood.
“I can step outside.”
Her fingers closed around his sleeve.
“No.”
The doctor waited.
Sophie shook her head.
“Only my hands.”
Daniel sat again.
The doctor nodded and moved on.
A hospital social worker arrived twenty minutes later.
Her name was Megan, and she spoke to Sophie first about the cat bandage she had lost in the ambulance.
“That was the good one,” Sophie told her.
Megan agreed this was unfortunate.
Daniel watched the conversation with suspicion he knew was unfair.
He had become suspicious of everyone who spoke softly.
Megan eventually asked whether Sophie felt safe with Daniel.
Sophie looked offended.
“He’s my daddy.”
Megan smiled gently.
“I know.”
Daniel looked at the floor.
He knew what the question meant.
He also knew nobody could assume anything tonight.
His phone vibrated.
Ortiz.
He stepped just outside the curtain around Sophie’s treatment bay and answered.
“What happened?”
“We cleared the corridor.”
“And?”
“No person.”
Daniel pressed two fingers against his forehead.
“You said there was an open exterior panel.”
“Yes.”
“Footprints?”
“Some disturbance in the mulch.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning somebody could have used it.”
“Could have.”
“Yes.”
Daniel hated that phrase now almost as much as complicated.
“What else?”
Ortiz paused.
“We found the camera.”
“In the hidden room?”
“Yes.”
“Who installed it?”
“Too early.”
“What was it connected to?”
“A small wireless unit.”
“Can you trace it?”
“We’re working on it.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“What about Vanessa’s phone?”
“We have it.”
“Did the messages keep coming?”
Another pause.
“One did.”
His eyes opened.
“What did it say?”
“‘Too late.’”
Daniel gripped the phone harder.
“That’s all?”
“Yes.”
“Can you trace the number?”
“We’ll try.”
“That doesn’t sound encouraging.”
“It shouldn’t.”
Daniel leaned against the wall.
A cleaning cart squeaked past him.
The woman pushing it gave him an apologetic smile because one wheel was noisy.
The ordinariness of the gesture nearly undid him.
“Detective.”
“Yes?”
“What did you find in Claire’s office?”
Ortiz was quiet.
“Who told you we found it?”
“You did not deny it.”
“I’m going to start regretting talking to you.”
“Get in line.”
For the first time, Ortiz almost laughed.
It disappeared quickly.
“We located the rental records from the address Ethan gave us.”
“And?”
“Claire rented the room for nine months before her death.”
Daniel looked through the gap in the curtain.
Sophie was arranging cotton swabs into little parallel rows while Megan pretended this was normal.
“Was she there the night she died?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“What was in it?”
“Mr. Mercer.”
“Daniel.”
“Daniel, you need to understand something.”
“I understand that everyone knew my wife except me.”
“That’s not what I was going to say.”
He said nothing.
Ortiz continued.
“We are now dealing with at least three connected crime scenes.”
He let the number settle.
“Your house, the office, and possibly the crash site if the old case is formally reopened.”
“Possibly.”
“Yes.”
“What would it take to reopen it?”
“Evidence.”
“I gave you evidence.”
“You gave us a memory card we have not examined yet.”
Daniel looked at his reflection in the darkened glass of a nearby door.
The red mark from Vanessa’s slap had faded.
He almost wished it had not.
Something visible would have been easier.
“When are you examining it?”
“Tonight.”
“Can I see it?”
“Not during forensic extraction.”
“After?”
“If legally appropriate.”
“That means no.”
“It means I’m not promising you something I don’t control.”
Daniel rubbed his eyes.
“Fine.”
Ortiz’s voice softened slightly.
“Get your daughter somewhere safe.”
“I can’t go home.”
“No.”
“My parents are in Arizona.”
“Hotel.”
“Whoever sent those texts knows my name.”
“Then don’t book under yours.”
Daniel almost snapped at her.
Then he stopped.
“That sounds like advice from someone who thinks we’re actually in danger.”
“I think caution is appropriate.”
“Another phrase.”
“Yes.”
“Do detectives take classes in saying terrifying things calmly?”
“We get a laminated card.”
Daniel laughed once despite himself.
Ortiz let the moment pass.
Then she said, “There’s one more thing.”
His laughter vanished.
“Of course there is.”
“We searched Vanessa before transporting her.”
“And?”
“She had a key.”
“To what?”
“We don’t know.”
Daniel waited.
May you like
Ortiz continued.
“It’s an older brass key, not for your house.”
