Chapter 12 - SOPHIE’S HOUSE
Daniel slammed backward into his father.
The gun fired.
The bullet hit the dirt.
Police moved.
Thomas ran.
Aaron tackled him near the SUV.
Daniel fell hard.
Officers swarmed Thomas.
Within seconds, his hands were cuffed.
Daniel grabbed his phone.
“Sophie?”
No answer.
He called Mrs. Kendall.
Nothing.
Again.
No answer.
Emily ran toward him.
“What?”
Daniel’s face told her.
They drove home with police behind them.
The front door was open again.
Daniel’s nightmare repeated.
“Sophie!”
A noise upstairs.
He ran.
Sophie was hiding inside her closet.
Mrs. Kendall sat beside her.
Safe.
Daniel dropped to his knees.
“Baby.”
Sophie threw herself into him.
Emily joined them.
Mrs. Kendall explained.
“Someone tried the back door.”
“I heard it and brought Sophie upstairs.”
“Did you see them?”
“No.”
Aaron checked security footage.
A man in a dark jacket appeared at the rear gate.
Not Thomas.
Not Ethan.
Not anyone Daniel recognized.
Vanessa did.
Aaron showed her a still image at the station.
Her face changed.
“That’s Raymond Pike.”
“Who?”
“Your father’s accountant.”
Daniel frowned.
“The accountant tried to enter my house?”
Vanessa nodded.
“He manages the hidden accounts.”
Aaron leaned forward.
“Where do we find him?”
“You don’t.”
“He disappears when things go wrong.”
Daniel remembered Emily’s words.
Forty million dollars.
The trust.
The theft.
Aaron asked:
“Why go after Sophie?”
Vanessa looked at Daniel.
“Because Sophie has something.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“What?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Thomas used to say Emily hid the last access code in the one place nobody could search without Daniel noticing.”
Daniel thought of Sophie’s room.
Her toys.
Her clothes.
Her baby things.
Emily suddenly covered her mouth.
“The music box.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“The white music box in Sophie’s nursery.”
Daniel remembered it.
A wooden ballerina box Emily bought before Sophie was born.
It had sat untouched on a shelf for years.
They rushed home.
Daniel pulled it down.
Emily turned it over.
She removed two screws.
Inside the false bottom sat a folded sheet of paper.
Account numbers.
Passwords.
Transaction records.
And a handwritten note.
Daniel,
If you find this, take it to federal investigators.
Do not trust anyone with the Mercer name.
Daniel looked at Emily.
“Even me?”
She shook her head.
“I wrote that before I knew who was involved.”
Aaron photographed everything.
Then his phone rang.
His expression became serious.
“Thomas is talking.”
Daniel looked up.
“What does he want?”
“A deal.”
“For what?”
Aaron listened.
Then slowly lowered the phone.
“He says Raymond Pike took Ethan from the hospital.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
“And Pike has Margaret too.”
Emily went pale.
Aaron continued.
“Thomas says Pike isn’t trying to escape.”
“He’s cleaning up everyone who can testify.”
Daniel grabbed his coat.
Aaron blocked him.
“No.”
“That’s my mother.”
“Police handle this.”
“Where are they?”
Aaron hesitated.
Daniel saw it.
“You know.”
“Daniel.”
“Where?”
Aaron finally answered.
“The old Mercer headquarters.”
Daniel froze.
That building had been abandoned for ten years.
It had forty floors.
No working security system.
And no power.
Aaron looked at him.
“Pike says if federal agents enter the building…”
May you like
“He drops Margaret from the roof.”
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