Chapter 3 - The Missing Accountant
Detective Hannah Cross did not ask me to explain Leo's drawings as if I were an expert on his thoughts.
She asked what I had seen, where I had found the first picture, and exactly what Julian said when he looked at it.
I answered with the notes I'd made that night.
Camille sat beside me and provided a separate account of what she'd witnessed after arriving.
The detective took copies of the photographs from my phone and told us not to question Leo about the events ourselves.
"We have people trained to speak with children," she said. "We don't want anyone accidentally suggesting details to him."
She did not announce a search warrant.
She did not tell me Julian was guilty of murder.
She told me my report would be considered alongside the existing missing-person investigation and the child's welfare concerns.
On the way out, Camille took a shaky breath.
"Julian will be furious."
"He already is."
"I don't mean at you."
Her words made me stop.
"Then at whom?"
"At anyone who discovers he hasn't controlled a situation."
Nadia Voss had worked as an accounting director for Merrick Marine Holdings.
Eight months before her disappearance, she was asked to review irregularities in a vendor program connected to a government shipping contract.
According to public reporting, she had raised concerns about invoices for services that might not have been provided.
Her lawyer confirmed she was expected to give sworn testimony.
Then she vanished after telling a colleague she was meeting someone near the Merrick estate's private dock.
Her car was recovered in a public lot, and her apartment appeared to have been left in a hurry.
No body was found.
It was not known whether she had fled, been harmed, or chosen to hide.
Until Leo's picture, I'd assumed the case had nothing to do with the boy I cared for.
I remembered the October evening because it had been unusually warm.
Leo had come downstairs in wet socks and told me he wanted to watch the moon from the boathouse.
I was making soup.
I told him the dock was closed and tucked him into bed.
Later, I heard a motor running and assumed Julian was returning from a business dinner.
I hadn't looked out the window.
That omission kept me awake at Camille's house.
Maybe I could have seen something.
Maybe I could have stopped something.
Camille reminded me that no one had warned me a child might be witnessing a crime outside his window.
"You can't be responsible for every danger Julian hid," she said.
The next morning, Julian's attorney delivered a written notice terminating my employment and requesting the return of company property.
The letter characterized my accusations as unfounded and warned against disclosing private family information.
A second letter told Camille that Julian expected Leo home by dinner.
Leo had spent the night with his aunt only because Julian had agreed after their argument.
That agreement did not give Camille legal authority to keep him indefinitely.
We needed guidance from qualified counsel and, if necessary, the appropriate child-protection authorities.
The situation was becoming a custody and safety question, not a contest over who loved the boy most.
Camille arranged for Leo to speak with a child specialist through proper channels.
I stayed away from the interview.
Afterward, the specialist explained to the adults only what she was authorized to share.
Leo had described seeing a woman in a red coat on a boat and another person in the water.
He had not said he saw anyone killed.
He had told the specialist that his father warned him not to mention the dock.
I was grateful the distinction survived his fear.
That afternoon, Detective Cross called with a question for me.
"Lila, did Julian keep an older gray launch at the estate before the new boat arrived?"
"Yes. The one named Peregrine."
"Do you know whether it was sold?"
"Julian said it was in dry storage after the engine failed."
She paused.
"A boat with that name was found on a trailer at a repair yard this morning. The hull was recently painted."
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"Why does that matter?"
"Because someone took it out of storage the same week Nadia disappeared, and the records don't say who."
