Chapter 9 - The Call From My Husband
Daniel called at 11:43 that night.
The number appeared as unknown, but I recognized his breathing before he spoke.
“Did you enjoy opening the box?” he asked.
Federal agents were already monitoring my phone. Agent Reed raised one finger, signaling me to keep Daniel talking.
“You killed my father.”
Daniel laughed softly.
“Your father had a weak heart.”
“He recorded everything.”
“Thomas recorded suspicions. Suspicion is not proof.”
“The ledger is proof.”
Silence.
I had confirmed what he wanted to know.
Agent Reed’s expression tightened.
Daniel spoke again, more carefully.
“Where is Lily?”
“Safe.”
“She needs her father.”
“She is afraid of you.”
“You made her afraid.”
“You kidnapped her from a hospital.”
“I rescued her from people who were going to turn her against me.”
He still believed he was the victim.
Or he needed to pretend he did.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“The original ledger.”
“We gave it to the FBI.”
“You gave them a copy.”
My pulse quickened.
He knew the memory card contained scans.
“The original was destroyed,” I said.
“No. Thomas never trusted digital records. He kept handwritten evidence.”
Agent Reed wrote something on a pad.
Ask about Celeste.
“Celeste says you are going to kill again.”
Daniel’s tone changed.
“You spoke to her?”
“She contacted me.”
“What did she say?”
“That the entire plan was yours.”
“That is what she wants you to believe.”
“Did she purchase the magnets?”
“She chose them.”
“Did you tell Patricia to feed them to Lily?”
“I told my mother to create a minor emergency. Celeste changed the plan.”
Daniel’s need to shift blame was making him careless.
Agent Reed continued writing.
Keep him angry.
“You stood in the hospital and accused me while Lily was fighting for her life.”
“I had to make it believable.”
“You did not even ask whether she was alive.”
“I knew she would survive.”
“No, Daniel. You hoped she would die.”
His breathing grew louder.
“You have always thought the worst of me.”
“I spent eight years believing your lies.”
“I gave you eight years. I tolerated your father treating me like a criminal. I lived inside a house purchased with his money. I watched you control everything while pretending you were helpless.”
“I did not control you.”
“The trust controlled me.”
There it was.
The resentment beneath everything.
Daniel had not viewed Lily’s inheritance as protection for his daughter. He viewed it as money withheld from him.
“You hurt your own child for money.”
“I did what was necessary to fix what your father destroyed.”
“What did he destroy?”
“My future.”
The line crackled.
Agents traced the signal through several relay points. Daniel was moving.
“You have until noon tomorrow,” he said. “Bring the ledger to the botanical garden. The hummingbird courtyard.”
“I told you we do not have it.”
“Then find it.”
“What happens if I do not?”
A second voice entered the call.
Weak.
Female.
“Rachel?”
My blood froze.
It was Marissa Cole, the social worker.
Daniel had taken her.
“She left the hospital twenty minutes ago,” he said. “She thought she was meeting a child services supervisor.”
Marissa cried out as something struck nearby.
Daniel continued calmly.
“If you involve police, she dies.”
The call ended.
Agent Reed immediately mobilized teams to locate Marissa’s car. It was found abandoned outside a parking structure with her identification and phone inside.
Daniel had chosen her because she helped protect Lily.
He wanted to punish anyone who stood between him and control.
I could not give him the original ledger because I did not know where it was.
But Lily might.
The next morning, Dr. Ward gently asked her about Grandpa’s treasure games.
Lily remembered the ceramic bird.
She also remembered a “red storybook” her grandfather told her never to open until she was older.
“Where did he put it?” I asked.
“In the princess house.”
The only princess house Lily owned was a wooden dollhouse at my mother’s home in Sedona.
My mother, Evelyn, had been traveling in Europe for three months. The house stood empty.
Daniel knew about the dollhouse.
He had helped my father carry it upstairs.
Agent Reed sent a team to Sedona while I prepared to go to the botanical garden wearing a wire.
The plan was to convince Daniel the ledger had been recovered and trade a false copy for Marissa.
At 11:50, I entered the hummingbird courtyard alone.
Families walked along nearby paths. Children laughed beside the fountain, unaware that agents watched from maintenance vehicles and rooftops.
A red notebook sat on the bench.
Daniel was not there.
My phone rang.
“Pick it up,” he said.
Inside the notebook was a photograph of my mother standing outside an airport.
The photograph had been taken that morning.
“Your mother returned early,” Daniel said. “She wanted to surprise you.”
My heart pounded.
“Where is she?”
“Not with Marissa.”
He had taken two hostages.
One to control the police.
One to control me.
“Bring the real ledger to the address I am sending,” he ordered. “No wire. No agents.”
A text appeared with coordinates outside the city.
Before the call ended, I heard Celeste shouting in the background.
“You promised we were leaving!”
Daniel snapped, “Be quiet.”
Then came a sound like a struggle.
Celeste screamed.
The line disconnected.
Agent Reed looked at the coordinates.
They pointed to a private airstrip near the desert.
A plane had filed a flight plan for Mexico at one o’clock.
May you like
Daniel was preparing to disappear.
And he intended to take my mother, Marissa and possibly Lily’s stolen fortune with him.
