Chương 6
Shaw turned the handwritten page toward me.
“What did Daniel say about three signatures?”
“Nothing.”
“This procedure was internal.”
“Meaning?”
“These transfers required approval by three authorized employees.”
“Daniel was one.”
“Yes.”
“Erin?”
“Yes.”
“Marcus?”
“Yes.”
“Then how does someone force Daniel to move money if he needs two other people?”
Shaw stared at the names.
“That is one of the problems.”
Noah looked at me.
“Maybe Dad wasn’t the only one being threatened.”
I looked back at Shaw.
He said nothing.
“You thought of that already,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Did Erin have family?”
Shaw’s expression changed slightly.
“A sister.”
“Children?”
“No.”
“Marcus?”
“Divorced.”
“Children?”
“One daughter.”
“How old?”
“Twenty-two.”
Noah pulled his blanket higher.
The room’s air conditioner clicked on.
For a few seconds no one spoke.
A cart rattled past the doorway outside, and somewhere down the hall a child began crying.
The ordinary hospital sounds made the whole conversation feel obscene.
I said, “What happened Tuesday?”
Shaw looked at Pike before answering.
“Erin left work at six twelve.”
“You know the exact time.”
“Building access records.”
“And?”
“Her vehicle remained in the garage overnight.”
“How did she leave?”
“We don’t know.”
“Cameras?”
“The garage cameras were down for maintenance.”
Noah groaned.
“Of course they were.”
Pike said, “It wasn’t convenient for us either.”
Shaw continued.
“Her phone stopped communicating with the network shortly after seven.”
“Where?”
“Near the riverfront district.”
“Did Daniel’s phone put him there?”
Pike answered this time.
“No.”
I turned toward him.
“Then why did detectives ask where he was?”
“Because Vale’s work laptop had records showing she scheduled a meeting with him.”
“When?”
“Seven.”
“Where?”
“Undetermined.”
I pictured Daniel leaving our house Tuesday evening in his navy jacket, kissing my forehead, complaining that the client had chosen a steakhouse across town because apparently no one respected traffic anymore.
“What did Daniel tell you?”
“That he met a client.”
“Which client?”
“He provided a name.”
“Was it real?”
Pike’s silence answered.
“No,” I said.
“No,” he confirmed.
I pressed my fingers against my eyelids.
Noah said quietly, “Mom.”
“I’m okay.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I know.”
Shaw asked, “Did Daniel leave the house again after returning Tuesday?”
“I was asleep.”
“What time did he come home?”
“I don’t know.”
“Before midnight?”
“I think so.”
“You think.”
“I fell asleep on the couch.”
“Did you hear the garage?”
“No.”
“Did you wake during the night?”
I lowered my hands.
“Around two.”
“Why?”
“The dishwasher beeped.”
Pike wrote something down.
“What?”
“It does that after a cycle.”
“What did you see?”
“Nothing.”
“Was Daniel in bed?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
I pictured the dark bedroom.
The red numbers on the clock.
Daniel on his side facing the wall.
“I saw him.”
“Did he appear asleep?”
“Yes.”
“What was he wearing?”
I frowned.
“Why does that matter?”
“Mrs. Mercer.”
“A T-shirt.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t know.”
Noah said, “Dad sleeps in that old Michigan shirt a lot.”
I looked at him.
“Tuesday?”
He shrugged.
“I wasn’t checking.”
A memory came back anyway.
Not because Pike asked.
Because of the dishwasher.
I had gotten water after waking.
Daniel’s work shoes had been near the back door.
One had a dark smear along the edge.
I had noticed because I almost stepped on it barefoot.
At the time I assumed mud.
“What?” Pike asked.
I realized all three of them were watching me.
“His shoes.”
Shaw straightened.
“What about them?”
“They were by the back door.”
“Is that unusual?”
“Not really.”
“What did you notice?”
“There was something on one.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“Color?”
“Dark.”
“Blood?”
“I don’t know.”
Noah went very still.
“Mom.”
“I said I don’t know.”
Pike closed his notebook.
“We need those shoes.”
“If they’re still there.”
“They weren’t in the kitchen when we entered.”
My stomach dropped.
“Then where are they?”
Pike and Shaw exchanged another look.
“What?” I asked.
Pike said, “We searched the accessible areas of the house.”
“And?”
“No shoes matching Daniel’s work pair.”
“Maybe he wore them tonight.”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw what he was wearing.”
I pictured the black leather shoes Daniel had slipped on before dinner.
Different pair.
Shaw said, “Do you keep footwear anywhere else?”
“Bedroom closet.”
“Checked.”
“Garage.”
“Checked.”
“Laundry room.”
“Checked.”
Noah said, “There’s the donation box.”
I looked at him.
“What donation box?”
“In the basement.”
“We don’t have a donation box.”
“Yes, we do.”
“Since when?”
“Dad put one down there last week.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“He told me to throw old clothes in it.”
Daniel had not mentioned it to me.
Pike was already moving toward the door.
He stopped.
“Where in the basement?”
“Near the furnace room.”
Pike left.
Shaw remained.
I said, “Why would Daniel hide shoes in a donation box?”
Noah looked down at his hands.
“Maybe he didn’t.”
The phone on the wall beside the bed rang.
All three of us jumped.
A nurse answered from the hallway, then entered and handed the receiver to Shaw.
“For you.”
He listened.
His face changed almost immediately.
“What?”
He turned away from us.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Secure it.”
He hung up.
I stood.
“What happened?”
Shaw looked toward the doorway where Pike had disappeared.
“Officers found the box.”
My throat tightened.
“And the shoes?”
“Yes.”
“Was that blood?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“What else?”
He hesitated.
Noah said, “You keep doing that before bad news.”
Shaw’s gaze moved to him.
Then back to me.
“There was a woman’s scarf in the box.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“What kind of scarf?”
“Blue wool.”
I thought of Tuesday night.
Daniel had come home later than usual.
When I kissed him, his face had been cold.
There had been a strand of red hair caught against the collar of his coat.
I had plucked it away and held it up.
He had laughed and said the restaurant hostess shed like a golden retriever.
I had laughed too.
I sat down slowly.
May you like
“Erin had red hair?”
Shaw did not need to answer.
