Chương 3
“They were supposed to be.”
Daniel shifted Lily higher against his shoulder.
“Somebody,” he said slowly, “needs to start speaking in complete sentences.”
Mercer agreed.
The family room remained unused.
Instead, the officers cleared a corner of the lounge and moved the other passengers farther away. Airport medical staff examined Lily behind a portable privacy screen while Daniel sat beside her and held her hand.
The abrasion was superficial.
That word should have relieved him.
It did not.
The paramedic cleaned it, applied a thin dressing, and asked Lily a series of simple questions.
Did her head hurt?
No.
Did anyone hit her?
No.
Did anyone touch her anywhere that made her uncomfortable?
Lily looked confused.
The paramedic rephrased gently.
“No.”
Had anyone tied her hands?
“One hand.”
Daniel’s grip tightened on the chair.
The paramedic kept her attention on Lily.
“With what?”
“The black thing.”
“The wristband?”
Lily nodded.
“Can you tell me how?”
Lily glanced toward Daniel.
He forced his face to stay neutral.
“You can tell her.”
“Victor put it on me.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Only for a second.
The paramedic asked, “Why?”
“He said people would think I worked there.”
“Did he say why he wanted people to think that?”
Lily picked at the edge of the paper covering the examination table.
“He said we had to go through a door.”
“What door?”
“The gray one.”
Daniel looked toward Mercer.
The officer was listening from several feet away.
“Did you want to go with Victor?”
Lily shook her head.
“Why did you?”
“He said Dad got hurt.”
Daniel looked down.
A pressure formed behind his eyes.
He had spent years teaching Lily what to do if a stranger approached her. They had passwords. Rules. She knew not to leave with anyone without calling him.
Victor was not a stranger.
Victor had eaten Thanksgiving dinner in their house.
Victor had taught Lily how to hold a pool cue.
Victor had attended her seventh birthday and brought a telescope so expensive Daniel had made him return it for a cheaper one.
Trust had defeated every rule Daniel had given her.
“What exactly did he say about me?” Daniel asked.
The paramedic glanced at him, then allowed it.
Lily frowned, trying to remember.
“He said you fell by the plane.”
“And you believed him?”
The instant the words left Daniel’s mouth, he regretted them.
Lily looked down.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel felt ashamed so quickly it almost hurt.
“No. Hey.”
He crouched in front of her.
“No, no. That came out wrong.”
She kept looking at the floor.
Daniel touched her knee.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I was supposed to ask for the password.”
“You were scared.”
“You told me to always ask.”
“I know what I told you.”
She wiped beneath one eye with the heel of her hand.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“I’m the grown-up. Victor is the grown-up. He lied to you about me being hurt. That belongs to him, not you.”
Lily nodded without looking convinced.
The paramedic gave them a minute.
Daniel sat beside his daughter.
Through the privacy screen he could hear Mercer speaking to someone over the radio. Rain tapped steadily against the windows. Somewhere beyond the terminal, an aircraft engine climbed in pitch and faded.
Lily leaned against him.
After a while she said, “Your shirt is scratchy.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Sorry.”
“You always buy scratchy shirts.”
“That is not true.”
“It is.”
“Your mother buys half my shirts.”
“Those ones aren't scratchy.”
Daniel looked at her.
A tiny smile appeared and disappeared.
He kissed the top of her head.
For perhaps twenty seconds, they were simply father and daughter again.
Then Lily said, “Claire was trying to help me.”
Daniel did not answer immediately.
“What happened in Claire’s room?”
Lily looked toward the screen.
“Victor put me there.”
“Why?”
“He said stay quiet until he came back.”
“Did he lock the door?”
“He pressed something.”
“And then?”
“I waited.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Were you scared?”
She shrugged.
Daniel recognized the shrug. It meant yes and please stop asking.
He stopped.
A few minutes later Mercer asked to speak with him privately.
Daniel refused to leave Lily, so the officer stood near the screen while she drank apple juice supplied by the lounge.
“We’re treating this as a potential unlawful restraint situation until we understand more,” Mercer said. “Local law enforcement is on the way.”
“What about Victor?”
“He’s being detained here voluntarily at the moment.”
“Voluntarily?”
“He agreed not to leave.”
“And Claire?”
“Same.”
Daniel looked past him.
Claire sat alone near the rain-covered windows.
Victor was across the room with the second officer.
They had been separated.
“Why did Victor say he was protecting Lily from Claire?”
“We’re working on that.”
“The tracker?”
“We’ve secured it.”
“Can you tell if it’s active?”
“Not yet.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
His phone had seventeen missed notifications.
He had been downstairs in the aircraft operations office dealing with a maintenance delay when Lily disappeared. He had left her in the private lounge under the supervision of a concierge he knew by name.
Fourteen minutes.
That was how long he had been gone before returning upstairs.
Fourteen minutes had been enough.
He opened his messages.
Three were from Claire.
CALL ME.
WHERE ARE YOU?
DANIEL GET UPSTAIRS NOW.
The first had arrived six minutes before he returned.
Another message was from Victor.
Everything is fine. Stay downstairs.
Daniel stared at it.
The message had arrived one minute after Claire’s first warning.
He showed Mercer.
The officer photographed the screen.
“Don’t delete anything.”
“I won’t.”
“Do you know why either of them would be tracking your daughter?”
“No.”
“Any custody dispute?”
“No.”
“Threats against you?”
Daniel hesitated.
Mercer noticed.
“What?”
“I own a security logistics company.”
“What kind?”
“Corporate travel. Executive protection. Aviation security consulting.”
Mercer stared at him for a moment.
Daniel could almost hear the irony forming.
“You have enemies?”
“I have competitors.”
May you like
“That wasn’t my question.”
Daniel looked toward Lily.
