Chapter 15 - Darius Came Back
Darius had been released on bail six hours earlier.
Nobody had told me yet.
By the time police reached the house, the back door was open.
Simone was gone.
There was blood on the kitchen floor.
Not much.
Enough.
A chair had been knocked over.
Cabinets were open.
The safe in my office had been forced.
Rollins met me outside.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“It’s my house.”
“It’s an active scene.”
“Is she alive?”
“We don’t know.”
Despite everything, fear hit me.
Simone was the woman I had married.
The mother of two children I loved.
I didn’t want her hurt.
I wanted truth.
Consequences.
Not a body.
Police found tire tracks in the wet grass behind the property.
A neighbor’s camera showed Darius’s truck leaving at 8:42 p.m.
Simone’s SUV remained in the driveway.
An alert went out.
At 10:11, Marcus called.
“Caleb’s gone.”
My blood turned to ice.
“What?”
“He climbed out the bathroom window.”
“Why?”
“He left a note.”
“What does it say?”
Marcus read it.
I HAVE TO FIND MOM. I KNOW WHERE UNCLE DARIUS GOES.
I nearly dropped the phone.
Zoe screamed in the background.
Maya heard from the hallway.
“What happened?”
I couldn’t lie.
“Caleb left.”
“Where?”
“He thinks he knows where Darius is.”
Her eyes widened.
Then she ran to get her shoes.
“No.”
“I know where Caleb means.”
I blocked the door.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“Dad, listen!”
“Maya—”
“Uncle Darius takes them to the lake cabins.”
I stopped.
“What cabins?”
She spoke fast.
“Last summer. Simone made me stay with Aunt Tiana, but Caleb told me they went to a cabin. He said Uncle Darius keeps ‘business stuff’ there.”
I called Rollins.
Within minutes, state police were checking properties around the lake.
There were dozens.
Then Zoe remembered a detail.
A blue mailbox shaped like a fish.
An officer knew it.
Old rental cabins off Route 18.
We raced there behind police.
Rollins made me stay at the roadblock.
This time, I listened.
Twenty minutes felt like hours.
Then a radio crackled.
“Juvenile located.”
I almost collapsed.
“Caleb?”
Rollins nodded.
“Alive.”
“And Simone?”
His face changed.
“They found her too.”
I exhaled.
Then he added, “Darius isn’t there.”
“What happened?”
“Caleb says Darius left five minutes before officers arrived.”
“Where did he go?”
Rollins looked at me.
“Caleb says he was heading to your construction yard.”
My company’s main yard held equipment, fuel tanks, records—and the backup server.
May you like
I knew exactly what Darius wanted.
He was going to erase the evidence.
