Chapter 8: Emily’s Secret
I waited until Noah was asleep.
Then I asked Emily again.
“What does Daniel think you know?”
She stood near the hospital window, arms folded tightly across her chest.
“Three weeks ago, Sarah called me.”
“About what?”
“She wanted to borrow money.”
“How much?”
“Twenty thousand dollars.”
I stared at her.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“She made me promise.”
“She asked my wife for twenty thousand dollars and told you not to tell me?”
“She said Daniel had gambling debts.”
“Did you give it to her?”
“No.”
Emily reached into her purse and removed her phone.
“I told her we didn’t have that kind of money available.”
“Then she asked whether I could access funds from the college account.”
The account we had been building for Noah.
My jaw tightened.
“What did you say?”
“I told her never to ask me again.”
“Why hide it?”
“Because she begged me.”
“She said you already saw her as irresponsible.”
“I trusted her with our child.”
“I know.”
Her voice broke.
“I know, Michael.”
She opened a message thread.
Most of it was ordinary family conversation.
Then I saw Sarah’s request.
I need help before Daniel does something stupid.
Emily had asked what she meant.
Sarah responded:
Forget I said anything. Delete this.
“You didn’t delete it.”
“No.”
“Did Daniel know she contacted you?”
“I don’t think so.”
The phone rang again.
Unknown number.
This time I put it on speaker.
“Daniel,” I said.
Silence.
Then his voice.
“You want to know why Sarah lost control?”
“Tell me where you are.”
“She was scared.”
“She nearly killed my son.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
His voice sounded raw.
Not calm.
Not threatening.
Terrified.
“Where is the box?” I asked.
“They have it.”
“Who?”
A pause.
“The people I was moving money for.”
Detective Bell had said Daniel stole from his company.
But Daniel was claiming the money belonged to someone else.
“You expect me to believe you were forced?”
“I made mistakes.”
“Then I couldn’t get out.”
“Come to the police.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because the missing money isn’t the real problem.”
The line crackled.
“What is?”
“There are records in that box.”
“Payments.”
“Names.”
“Inspectors.”
“City officials.”
“People who signed off on buildings that should never have passed.”
My stomach tightened.
Morrison Development constructed schools, apartments, and public buildings across three states.
“How many unsafe buildings?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then turn yourself in.”
“If I do, Matthew becomes leverage.”
“Your son is already in state custody.”
Daniel went silent.
He had not known.
“What?”
“Sarah can’t see him.”
“You abandoned him.”
“No.”
The word came out broken.
“I didn’t abandon him.”
“Then where are you?”
Before he answered, a loud sound exploded through the phone.
Glass breaking.
Daniel gasped.
The call disconnected.
A second later, he sent one final message.
A location pin.
An abandoned motel twenty miles outside the city.
May you like
And beneath it:
Don’t trust the police officer with the silver watch
