Chapter 4 - Uncle Daniel
I had no brother.
Taylor did.
Daniel Carter.
Her older brother.
Forty-one years old.
Divorced twice.
Always broke despite somehow driving expensive cars.
And, according to Taylor, the black sheep of her family.
I hadn’t seen him in nearly a year.
“What was Daniel doing in the house?” I asked.
Detective Morrison didn’t answer immediately.
“We’re confirming identity.”
“Lily only has one uncle on Taylor’s side.”
“Understood.”
“What does the video show?”
“It’s short. Evelyn is standing in the hallway. The male voice says, ‘If she talks, this whole thing falls apart.’”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“What thing?”
“We don’t know.”
“And Evelyn?”
“She replies, ‘She won’t. Taylor already made sure Ryan looks unstable.’”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
Morrison continued carefully.
“That’s why I’m calling. We need to review your divorce filings.”
I already knew what she meant.
During the custody proceedings, Taylor’s attorney had repeatedly framed me as volatile.
Controlling.
Emotionally unpredictable.
They brought up an argument I’d had with Taylor after discovering she had emptied our joint savings account.
They quoted texts I sent late at night.
They even claimed Lily seemed anxious after returning from weekends with me.
I had spent months defending myself.
“What if that wasn’t about custody?” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“What if they needed nobody to believe me because they were afraid Lily would tell me?”
Silence.
Then Morrison said, “That is one possibility.”
The next morning, my attorney called.
Megan Foster had handled the divorce reluctantly.
She had told me more than once that Taylor’s family seemed unusually coordinated.
At the time, I thought she was talking about legal strategy.
Now I wondered if it was something else.
“You need to sit down,” Megan said.
“I’m sitting.”
“I pulled the property documents again.”
“And?”
“The house wasn’t supposed to go solely to Taylor.”
I frowned.
“What?”
Aspen Ridge had been Taylor’s biggest victory in the divorce.
She claimed she had contributed most of the down payment using money inherited from her grandfather.
Her attorneys produced bank records.
I had been exhausted and desperate to stop fighting.
So I agreed to walk away from the equity.
Megan continued.
“I called the title company this morning. The inheritance documents used during mediation don’t match the original transfer records.”
My stomach dropped.
“Explain that in English.”
“The money used for the down payment did not come from Taylor’s grandfather.”
“Then where?”
“Your father.”
I stood.
“My father?”
Two years before his death, my dad had given us $85,000 toward the home.
I remembered it clearly.
But Taylor claimed the money had been repaid when her grandfather’s estate settled.
Megan spoke again.
“There is no evidence it was repaid.”
“So Taylor lied?”
“Potentially under oath.”
I walked to the window.
Lily was at the kitchen table drawing.
“She and Evelyn kept talking about losing the house.”
“Ryan, listen to me carefully. There’s more.”
Of course there was.
“The financial disclosure Taylor filed shows a personal account with twelve thousand dollars.”
“Okay.”
“I subpoenaed records during the divorce, but their attorney objected and we never pursued it because you chose to settle.”
I remembered.
“What about it?”
“The police investigation gave us grounds to request an emergency preservation order. That account received repeated deposits from an LLC.”
“What LLC?”
“Cold Creek Consulting.”
The name meant nothing to me.
“Who owns it?”
“You’re going to love this.”
I didn’t.
“Daniel Carter.”
Taylor’s brother.
“How much?”
“Approximately $190,000 over eighteen months.”
I sat down again.
Taylor had claimed she was financially struggling.
She had cried during mediation.
She said keeping Lily in the same house required sacrifices.
Meanwhile, her brother had been funneling almost two hundred thousand dollars into her account.
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
I looked at Lily.
“What was Taylor involved in?”
“That’s what we need to find out.”
At noon, Detective Morrison arrived at my apartment.
She showed me the video from Lily’s tablet.
The image shook because the device had been partially hidden behind stuffed animals.
Evelyn stood in the hallway.
Daniel’s voice came from somewhere out of view.
“If she talks, this whole thing falls apart.”
“She won’t,” Evelyn answered. “Taylor already made sure Ryan looks unstable.”
“And if the kid tells a teacher?”
“She knows better.”
“What about the father?”
“Three more weeks and custody will be finalized.”
Daniel muttered something I couldn’t hear.
Then Evelyn said clearly:
“Once we sell the Ridge property, everyone gets paid.”
Morrison paused the video.
I stared at her.
“Sell the house?”
“Did Taylor ever mention selling?”
“No. She fought to keep it.”
“That may have been temporary.”
“Why would Daniel get paid?”
“We’re tracing the LLC.”
“And Evelyn?”
“Still missing.”
“Daniel?”
“Also missing.”
That was not a coincidence.
The family had scattered.
That afternoon, CPS arranged for Lily to speak with a child forensic interviewer.
I was not allowed inside.
Neither was Taylor.
Taylor showed up anyway.
She stood at the far end of the waiting room.
We didn’t speak for almost ten minutes.
Then she said, “I didn’t know about the freezer.”
I kept my eyes ahead.
“I believe you knew something.”
“I knew my mom was strict.”
“Strict?”
“I didn’t mean—”
“You knew Lily was scared of her.”
Taylor began crying.
“I thought it was because Mom made her do homework.”
I finally turned.
“Lily told you about the cold box.”
Taylor’s shoulders dropped.
“She said Mom locked her somewhere cold.”
“And?”
“I thought she meant the garage.”
“You thought your seven-year-old was being locked in the garage and you did nothing?”
Her face crumpled.
“I confronted Mom.”
“When?”
“Last February.”
“What did she say?”
“That Lily had thrown a tantrum and refused to come inside.”
“Did you ask Lily?”
Taylor looked away.
That was the answer.
“You believed Evelyn.”
“I wanted to.”
“Why?”
Taylor started shaking.
Then she said something unexpected.
“Because I owed her.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“My mother gave me money.”
“The money from Daniel’s company?”
Her head snapped toward me.
“How do you know about that?”
The room went silent between us.
I saw fear in her face.
Real fear.
“What was the money for?”
Taylor stood.
“I need to leave.”
I blocked neither her path nor her body.
But my voice stopped her.
“What did you do, Taylor?”
She turned back.
Tears ran down her cheeks.
“You don’t understand my family.”
“Then help me understand.”
She stared at the floor.
“My mom owns nothing.”
“What?”
“She acts like she has money. She doesn’t. Daniel’s business has been in trouble for years.”
“So?”
“So they needed the house.”
My skin prickled.
“For what?”
Taylor whispered.
“Collateral.”
“For Daniel?”
She nodded.
“They used my share of the property to guarantee a private loan.”
“You didn’t own the house outright.”
“They thought I would after the divorce.”
I stepped closer.
“That’s why they wanted me out.”
Taylor closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“And Lily?”
Her face broke.
“I didn’t know they were hurting her.”
I wanted to believe her.
I almost did.
Then the interview room door opened.
The forensic interviewer stepped out.
She asked to speak privately with Detective Morrison.
They disappeared into a side room.
Five minutes later, Morrison returned.
Her face had changed.
“What?”
She looked toward Taylor.
Then toward me.
“Lily disclosed something new.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
Morrison lowered her voice.
“She says there was one night she woke up and heard Grandma and Uncle Daniel downstairs.”
Taylor went pale.
Morrison continued.
“They were arguing about the loan.”
“And?”
“Lily says Daniel told Evelyn that if Taylor couldn’t get the house…”
She paused.
“He would have to make sure Ryan couldn’t keep custody long enough to challenge the sale.”
I felt the air leave my lungs.
“How?”
May you like
Morrison held my stare.
“Lily says Evelyn answered, ‘Don’t worry. We already know how to make him look dangerous.’”
