Chapter 10 - The School List
Amanda did not go to Lily's school.
That would have been too obvious.
Instead, she changed the emergency contact list online.
At 8:12 the next morning, the school secretary called Claire.
“A man named Trent Walker is now listed as Lily's authorized uncle.”
Claire nearly dropped the phone.
Naomi was already calling the district to lock the account.
Ethan sat at the hotel desk with Lily beside him.
“She wants Lily,” he said.
Claire looked at him. “She wants control.”
“Same thing.”
No one corrected him.
Detectives obtained warrants for Amanda and Trent's phones, offices, and vehicles.
Trent's office was empty.
Amanda's car had been found near the airport.
No sign of either of them.
Then Fairbanks Hospital called.
Daniel had opened his eyes.
Claire put the phone on speaker.
His voice was weak and rough.
“Ethan?”
Ethan couldn't speak at first.
“Buddy?”
“Dad.”
“Hey.”
That one word broke something open inside him.
“Why did you go?” Ethan asked.
Silence.
Claire looked at him but did not interfere.
Daniel breathed carefully.
“I thought I had put enough safeguards in place.”
“You didn't.”
“I know.”
“You knew she didn't feed me.”
“I knew something was wrong. I didn't know how bad.”
“You should've asked me.”
Daniel's voice cracked.
“Yes.”
Ethan swallowed hard.
“I pressed the button.”
“I heard.”
Ethan looked up. “You heard it?”
“Naomi sent me the files after I woke up.”
Daniel exhaled shakily.
“I'm sorry, son.”
Ethan did not say it was okay.
Because it wasn't.
Daniel did not ask him to.
Instead he said, “There is one more thing you need to know.”
Naomi leaned closer to the phone.
Daniel continued.
“Before I left, I changed the trust. Amanda can no longer access either child's accounts. But there was a delay in filing one part of it.”
Naomi's face tightened.
“What part?”
“The temporary guardianship letter.”
Claire went still.
“If something happened to me,” Daniel said, “I named Claire.”
Lily looked at Claire.
“But until that letter is filed, Amanda still has parental rights to Lily.”
The hotel room seemed to shrink.
Claire asked, “Where is the original?”
“In my home office safe.”
Everyone looked at everyone else.
The house was under police seal.
Naomi grabbed her coat.
“We go now.”
They reached the Brooks house with Detective Ramirez forty minutes later.
The office safe was open.
Empty.
On Daniel's desk sat a single sheet of paper.
A handwritten note from Amanda.
IF YOU WANT LILY SAFE, STOP DIGGING.
Below it was an address.
May you like
And a time.
6:00 P.M.
