Chapter 18 - No More Locked Doors
Price told them not to pursue Sloane. Officers were already checking the marina, the airport, and the properties connected to Victor.
"Caleb is safe with Lucille," Ethan said, repeating the words until he believed them. "He's at home with someone he trusts."
They drove to the house together, not because everything between them was healed but because both wanted to see their son.
Lucille opened the door before they reached it. Caleb ran straight into Isabel's arms.
"The judge said I get Tuesdays," he announced. "And some Saturdays."
"That's what she said. And we'll keep working on a plan that's good for you."
He considered this. "Can I keep my toothbrush at your place?"
"Absolutely."
Ethan laughed through sudden tears. "I'll buy a second toothbrush."
"I already have a dinosaur one," Isabel said. "Green."
"I like dinosaurs," Caleb replied seriously. "They don't lie."
It was the first joke he'd made in weeks, and the adults laughed a little too hard.
Records also linked the white van outside Caleb's school to Victor's consulting company. Across the bay, investigators found Sloane aboard a small charter boat, waiting for Victor. He never arrived. His attorney had delivered the financial records that morning, and Price had already obtained a warrant for Sloane's arrest on financial and evidence-tampering charges. Officers took her into custody without a chase.
When she called Ethan from the detention center, he answered with Olivia listening on a separate line.
"Tell them I would never hurt Caleb," Sloane pleaded. "You know me."
Ethan thought of the room, the camera, the hidden letters, and the evenings Caleb had cried behind a door he could not open.
"No," he said. "I knew the person you wanted me to see."
She began to cry. "I did it because I was afraid of losing everything."
"You had everything a person needs to be decent," he said. "You chose not to be."
He ended the call.
That evening, Ethan removed the outside lock from the blue room and handed the hardware to Detective Price as supplemental evidence. With the investigation team finished documenting the space, he asked Caleb what should happen to it.
The boy stared at the empty doorway for a long time.
"Can it be a place for paints?" he asked. "With a door that never locks?"
"Yes," Ethan said. "And you get to pick the color."
Caleb took Isabel's hand and pulled her toward the wall.
"Yellow," he decided. "Bright yellow."
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The next morning, Isabel received a letter from the county: the certified dismissal record from her old criminal case had finally arrived. She opened the envelope with trembling fingers.
Tucked behind the notice was an invitation from the foundation's new board to speak at its public accountability meeting.
