Chương 4
Daniel had asked for an attorney thirty seconds after hearing that police were on the property.
Then he had changed his mind and started talking anyway.
Mendez had stopped him.
“You can wait for counsel.”
“I don’t need counsel to tell you my daughter is not in danger.”
“You may want counsel before explaining why another child’s name appears on travel documents.”
“It’s not a travel document in the legal sense.”
Mendez stared at him.
Daniel shut his eyes.
“That sounded terrible.”
“It did.”
“It’s a boarding credential for a charter terminal. Her passport is valid and in her own name.”
“Then why is your other daughter on the manifest?”
Daniel sat back.
Rain moved down the dark window like cracks.
“Because Maya was originally supposed to be on the flight.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Where is Maya?”
Daniel hesitated.
Mendez noticed.
“That is going to become the most important question in the building very quickly.”
“She’s safe.”
“You understand how bad that phrase sounds under the circumstances.”
“Yes.”
“Then stop using it instead of an answer.”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“Can I talk to Victoria?”
“No.”
“She knows me.”
“That does not help you.”
“I wasn’t saying it should.”
Mendez waited.
Daniel rubbed the indentation on his ring finger where his wedding band had once been.
He and Laura had divorced fourteen months earlier.
The skin had remained paler for a long time.
Now even that was gone.
“Maya is in Eleuthera.”
Mendez frowned.
“The Bahamas?”
“Yes.”
“With whom?”
“My sister.”
“Your adult sister?”
“Rachel. She’s forty-one.”
“How long has Maya been there?”
“Forty-three days.”
Mendez’s expression changed.
Daniel saw it.
“She went willingly.”
“Your ex-wife knows?”
“No.”
“You have been hiding your fifteen-year-old daughter outside the United States for forty-three days?”
“Sixteen.”
“That correction is not helping.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“She called me at two in the morning forty-four days ago. She was at a gas station in Coconut Grove. Barefoot. No phone. She’d borrowed the cashier’s.”
“What happened?”
“She wanted out of the house.”
“Why?”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Because of Marcus Bell.”
“Your ex-wife’s boyfriend?”
“Fiancé now, apparently.”
“What did he do?”
“Maya said he came into her room while she was changing.”
Mendez remained still.
“She said he had his phone out. She said it wasn’t the first time.”
“Did she report it?”
“She told her mother.”
“And?”
“Laura said she had misunderstood.”
“Did you call police?”
“I called an attorney.”
Mendez’s expression made Daniel look away.
“I know.”
“You called an attorney.”
“I was in a custody fight. My lawyer had told me for months not to make accusations I couldn’t substantiate.”
“So you called your lawyer.”
“I called her, yes.”
“What did she tell you?”
“To take Maya somewhere safe inside the state and file an emergency motion in the morning.”
“And you did?”
Daniel did not answer.
Mendez leaned back.
“No.”
Daniel pressed his hands together.
“Maya refused.”
“Refused what?”
“She refused to stay anywhere Marcus could find her.”
“That does not explain the Bahamas.”
“My sister owns a house there.”
“So you put your daughter on a private jet before sunrise.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Yes.”
“Under whose name?”
“Her own.”
“And her mother?”
“I texted Laura when Maya landed.”
“You told her the location?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Maya begged me not to.”
“You were the adult.”
“I was also her father.”
“Those are supposed to be the same thing.”
Daniel flinched.
Mendez had not raised his voice.
That made it land harder.
“What happened after that?”
“Laura called police. Police called me. Lawyers got involved. Maya spoke to someone by video.”
“Police?”
“A family attorney. Then an investigator. I’m not sure who everyone was by day three. It became a circus.”
“Was Maya ordered home?”
“No.”
“Were you ordered to disclose her location?”
Daniel paused.
Mendez said, “That pause has been doing a lot of work tonight.”
“My attorney told the court where she was under seal.”
“So somebody in the system knows.”
“Yes.”
“Why tell Sophie you didn’t know?”
“Because Laura was asking Sophie questions.”
“You lied to a nine-year-old because you didn’t want your ex-wife getting information.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked sick as he said it.
“I thought I was protecting Maya.”
“And tonight?”
Daniel’s hands tightened.
“Maya called yesterday.”
“What did she want?”
“To come home.”
“Then why are you taking Sophie to the Bahamas?”
Daniel stared at the floor.
“Because she changed her mind.”
Mendez said nothing.
“She called again this morning. She said she didn’t want to come back unless Sophie came with us.”
“Us?”
“I was going to bring them both back tomorrow.”
“Why take Sophie out just to return tomorrow?”
Daniel’s eyes lifted.
“Because Maya said she would tell me everything if Sophie was there.”
Mendez frowned.
“Everything about what?”
“Marcus.”
Mendez studied him.
“You believed a sixteen-year-old needed her nine-year-old sister present before disclosing something serious about an adult man.”
“No. I believed Maya was trying to protect Sophie.”
“From what?”
Daniel’s voice became quieter.
“I don’t know.”
For the first time, the answer sounded completely true.
Mendez stood.
“Stay here.”
“Can I see Sophie?”
“No.”
“Can I call Laura?”
“We’re contacting her.”
Daniel pushed to his feet.
“Do not tell Laura where Maya is.”
Mendez looked at him.
“If there is a lawful reason to protect that location, provide it. Otherwise, you do not get to decide what information police withhold.”
“She’ll tell Marcus.”
“Then you should have reported Marcus properly forty-three days ago.”
“I tried.”
“You tried to control it.”
Daniel opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Mendez left.
At 10:07 p.m., Laura Carter answered the fourth call from an unknown number because her Lyft driver had just missed her exit and she was too angry to keep declining anything.
She had left a charity dinner in Coral Gables after discovering that the dance studio had been trying to reach her.
Sophie had never been picked up by the friend Laura believed was driving her home.
May you like
Daniel had.
By then Laura had called Daniel nine times.
