Chapter 4 - The Price of a Son
The call lasted forty-three seconds.
Richard wanted the evidence.
In exchange, Noah would come home.
“Where?” Daniel demanded.
“The old warehouse.”
Sophie shook her head violently.
“No.”
Richard heard her.
“Midnight.”
The line went dead.
Daniel immediately called Detective Maria Alvarez, the only investigator he still trusted.
He told her everything.
Not all police.
Only her.
Alvarez listened without interruption.
Then she said, “Do not go there alone.”
“He has my son.”
“And if you walk into that warehouse carrying his evidence, he’ll have all three of you.”
They devised a plan.
Copies of everything went to Alvarez.
Another encrypted copy went to an attorney.
A third was scheduled to be emailed to federal investigators the following morning.
“If we don’t cancel it,” Daniel said, “everything goes public.”
Sophie almost smiled.
“Insurance.”
“Exactly.”
At 11:53 p.m., Daniel and Sophie reached the warehouse.
The building looked exactly as Sophie remembered.
She began trembling.
Daniel noticed.
“You don’t have to go inside.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Sophie.”
“Our son is in there.”
Our son.
Daniel nodded.
They entered.
A single work light illuminated the center of the warehouse.
Noah sat in a chair.
He wasn’t tied.
Cole stood behind him.
Richard waited nearby.
Older than Daniel by seven years, Richard still looked like the protective brother Daniel remembered.
That made everything worse.
“Let him go,” Daniel said.
Richard sighed.
“You always were emotional.”
“You kidnapped my child.”
“I borrowed leverage.”
Sophie stared at him.
“You locked me in here.”
Richard’s expression barely changed.
“You weren’t supposed to survive.”
Daniel lunged.
Sophie caught his arm.
“Daniel.”
Richard smiled.
“Listen to your wife.”
Noah cried.
“Daddy.”
Daniel forced himself still.
Richard held out his hand.
“The drive.”
Daniel tossed it onto the floor.
Richard picked it up.
“All copies?”
“Yes.”
Richard studied him.
“You were never a good liar.”
He nodded to Cole.
Cole moved toward Sophie.
Then sirens sounded.
Richard turned.
Daniel grabbed Noah.
Sophie moved with him.
Cole ran toward a side exit.
Police flooded the building.
Richard didn’t run.
He simply smiled at Daniel.
“You think this ends with me?”
Alvarez handcuffed him.
Richard leaned close as she led him away.
“Ask Sophie whose body you buried.”
Daniel stared.
Sophie’s face changed.
She knew.
Later, with Noah safe between them, Daniel asked.
“Who was in that coffin?”
Sophie closed her eyes.
“I think I know.”
“Who?”
“The nurse who helped me.”
Daniel felt the room tilt.
Richard hadn’t only tried to erase Sophie.
May you like
He had replaced her.
And somewhere inside the case was another family who had spent three years wondering why their daughter never came home.
