Chương 3
“He has four.”
The ordinary sentence opened something in the room.
Not relief exactly.
Just enough space for Sophie to breathe.
Victoria said, “What happened before you came here tonight?”
Sophie’s eyes immediately went guarded.
“You don’t have to tell me everything.”
“Dad picked me up.”
“From your house?”
“Dance.”
“What kind?”
“Ballet. I’m bad at it.”
Victoria nodded as if this were relevant.
“My teacher says I’m not bad. She says I’m impatient.”
“Those can look similar.”
Sophie considered that.
“My dad was waiting outside. He said Mom had a migraine.”
“Does she get migraines?”
“Sometimes.”
“Did that seem unusual?”
“No.”
“He picked you up often?”
“Before Maya left.”
There it was again.
Maya.
Victoria did not ask immediately.
Sophie kept going.
“Dad used to pick us up on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Then Mom said he couldn’t come inside the house anymore. Then he started meeting us places. Then Maya stopped going with him. Then she disappeared.”
“How long ago?”
“Forty-three days.”
Victoria looked at her.
“You counted?”
Sophie shrugged.
“It’s not hard.”
“What did your parents tell you?”
“That Maya was safe.”
“Both of them?”
“Mom said she thought Maya was safe. Dad said he didn’t know where she was.”
“But last night you heard a message from her on his phone.”
Sophie nodded.
“What exactly did Maya say?”
The child’s face tightened.
Victoria added, “Only what you remember. You don’t have to make it perfect.”
Sophie looked at the floor.
“She said, ‘Dad, please. I’ll say whatever you want. I just want to come home.’”
Victoria felt the muscles between her shoulders tighten.
“Anything else?”
“She was crying.”
“Did she say where she was?”
“No.”
“Did she say anyone was hurting her?”
“No.”
“She said, ‘You can’t keep doing this because of Marcus.’”
“Who is Marcus?”
“My mom’s boyfriend.”
Victoria remained still.
Sophie added, “Dad hates him.”
“Do you know why?”
“Maya hates him too.”
“Do you?”
Sophie made a face that, for one second, made her look exactly nine.
“He chews ice.”
Victoria waited.
“He’s okay.”
Another pause.
“He tries too hard.”
Victoria understood that sentence better than Sophie probably intended.
The terminal door opened behind them.
Two uniformed airport police officers entered, shaking rain from their shoulders. One was a broad-shouldered man in his fifties. The other was a younger woman with a dark braid pulled tight against her neck.
Victoria stood.
The younger officer approached Sophie slowly.
“My name’s Officer Vega.”
Sophie glanced at the badge.
“Am I in trouble?”
“No.”
“Is my dad?”
“We’re trying to understand what happened.”
“That means maybe.”
Officer Vega nodded.
“That means maybe.”
Sophie seemed to appreciate the answer.
Victoria gave the officers the facts without adding conclusions: Daniel had arrived with Sophie approximately twenty-five minutes earlier. His charter was scheduled for departure at 9:40 p.m. The destination listed in the operator paperwork was Nassau, with a planned refueling continuation listed to San Juan the following morning. Sophie had fled from Daniel near the boarding corridor. She had made the statement everyone heard. The boarding credential carried Maya Carter’s name.
“Where is the credential now?” Vega asked.
Sophie lifted it.
Vega did not take it.
“Can I see without you handing it to me?”
Sophie held it out.
The officer read the name, flight tail number, date, and passenger sequence.
“Who printed this?”
Victoria said, “Our handling desk, from the manifest submitted by the charter broker.”
“So the manifest says Maya?”
“Yes.”
“And the child presented for boarding is Sophie?”
“Yes.”
Vega looked at Sophie.
“Do you have identification?”
“My dad has my passport.”
Victoria looked at her.
“You knew you had a passport with you?”
“I saw it in the car.”
That added another fact.
Vega asked, “Did your dad tell you where you were going?”
“He said dinner.”
“At the airport?”
“He said a restaurant near the airport.”
“Did you know there was a plane?”
“No.”
“When did you realize?”
“When we came through the private entrance.”
“What did he say then?”
Sophie looked toward Conference Two.
“He said it was a surprise.”
“What kind of surprise?”
“He said Maya was waiting for us.”
Vega’s eyes lifted.
Sophie’s chin started trembling.
“I thought that was good.”
Nobody said anything.
“He said Mom didn’t know because Mom would ruin it. He said Maya wanted to see me and we had to go right away. I asked where she was. He said outside Miami.”
Vega said gently, “But this flight was going to Nassau.”
“I don’t know where that is.”
“The Bahamas.”
“Oh.”
That frightened her again.
“My mom definitely doesn’t know.”
Victoria sat beside her.
Vega asked, “What made you run?”
Sophie stared at the boarding credential.
“He gave this to the lady at the desk.”
“And?”
“She said, ‘Maya Carter?’”
“What did your dad say?”
“He said yes.”
“And you heard that?”
Sophie nodded.
“I said I’m Sophie. Dad squeezed my shoulder and said it was just a paperwork mistake.”
Vega’s expression remained neutral.
Sophie continued.
“Then I asked why my passport was inside his jacket instead of with the boarding card. He told me to stop asking questions.”
“Was he angry?”
“No.”
That answer surprised Vega.
Sophie thought about it.
“He was scared.”
“Of what?”
“I don’t know.”
“He grab you?”
“No.”
“Threaten you?”
“No.”
“He ever hurt you?”
“No.”
The answer came so fast it almost overlapped the question.
“My dad doesn’t hit people.”
Then Sophie added, with the ruthless accuracy of children, “He breaks things sometimes.”
Victoria looked at her.
“What kind of things?”
“Cups. Once the remote.”
“When he’s angry?”
Sophie nodded.
“But not at me.”
Officer Vega wrote something.
Sophie noticed.
“You’re making him sound bad.”
“I’m writing what you told me.”
“He’s not bad.”
Vega looked at her.
Sophie’s eyes filled, and she became furious at herself for it.
“He’s just lying.”
In Conference Two, Daniel sat with his elbows on his knees and stared at his own hands.
May you like
Luis stood near the door.
The older airport officer, Sergeant Robert Mendez, sat across from him.
