Chapter 6 - The Empty Music Box
Daniel took the stairs two at a time.
Lily’s bedroom window stood open. Rain blew across the carpet. The shelf above her dresser was empty.
“No,” Sarah said behind him.
The small cherrywood music box had been there that morning. Daniel remembered dusting around it.
He rushed to the window.
Below, a dark figure ran across the lawn toward the tree line.
Daniel started after him, but Sarah grabbed his arm.
“Don’t leave Lily.”
He stopped.
She was right, and he hated that being a father sometimes meant letting the enemy run.
Police arrived twelve minutes later. Daniel told the dispatcher to send state police, not local officers. Vanessa surrendered without resisting.
The first trooper handcuffed her on the front steps.
“Grant Cole is armed,” Daniel said. “And Detective Paul Rourke may be involved.”
The trooper’s expression hardened. “Rourke retired last year.”
“Find him anyway.”
Sarah was taken to County Memorial. Daniel rode with Lily while another cruiser followed.
In the emergency room, doctors treated dehydration, a cracked rib, and bruising. Lily sat beside Sarah’s bed holding her hand as if she could prevent her mother from disappearing again by refusing to let go.
Daniel stood near the door, overwhelmed by everything he wanted to ask.
Finally Sarah looked at him.
“You remarried?”
“No. Vanessa and I were engaged.”
Sarah nodded once. Pain flickered across her face, but she buried it.
“You had every right.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“What was in the music box?”
“A flash drive. Bank records. Audio. Enough to prove Grant was moving company money through shell vendors.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried. The night I disappeared, I was driving to meet you.”
A nurse entered and handed Daniel his phone. “State police are asking for you.”
He answered.
A captain introduced himself, then said, “Mr. Mercer, we found Detective Rourke.”
Daniel braced himself.
“Where?”
“Dead in his garage.”
Sarah went pale before Daniel said another word.
The captain continued.
“And we found your missing music box on the passenger seat of his car.”
Daniel looked at Sarah.
May you like
The captain’s voice dropped.
“The flash drive was gone.”
