HE CHOSE HIS WIFE OVER HIS MOTHER - THEN THE BABY MONITOR EXPOSED THE SECRET SHE WOULD KILL TO BURY

Emily stared at the photograph until Ortiz gently took it from her.

"If my dad didn't die there, where did he die?"

Nobody answered.

The official file said Michael Carter had suffered fatal injuries in a fall. His body was transported directly from Site 14 to the county medical examiner.

But Thomas's note said otherwise.

Ortiz made calls. Fast ones.

Within hours, she had the archived ambulance logs.

No ambulance was dispatched to Site 14 that night.

There was, however, an unlogged transfer into Keller's private clinic at 12:32 a.m.

A security guard had written "company patient" in a paper ledger that never reached the electronic system.

"Your father may have been taken to Keller," Ortiz told Emily.

Emily's eyes went cold. "Then Keller watched him die."

Daniel called his mother from a recorded interview line at the station.

Margaret answered on the third ring.

"I wondered how long it would take you."

"Where did Michael Carter die?"

Silence.

Then Margaret laughed softly.

"So Emily finally got what she wanted."

"Answer me."

"She wanted into this family long before she wanted you."

"Where did he die?"

"Ask Robert."

"Keller is hiding."

"Then perhaps he has a reason."

Daniel squeezed the phone until his knuckles hurt.

"Did you tell Dad I was driving that truck?"

"You were drunk. You remembered nothing. I protected you."

"Keller says I told him I was the passenger."

For the first time, Margaret went quiet.

Daniel leaned toward the phone.

"You made me believe I killed a man."

"I made sure you had a future."

"By doing what?"

Margaret's voice hardened. "You think truth is clean? It isn't. Truth is a knife. Your father learned that too late."

"Did you kill him?"

The line clicked dead.

Ortiz's phone rang almost immediately.

She listened, then stood.

"We have a problem."

Margaret had posted bail on the assault charge.

A judge issued an emergency protective order, but she was legally out.

Daniel looked toward the station window.

"Where is she?"

"Her lawyer says she went home."

Emily's phone buzzed.

A social worker from Child Protective Services wanted to speak with them immediately. An anonymous report claimed Emily had shaken Mia, suffered violent postpartum episodes, and was being covered for by Daniel.

"That's her," Daniel said.

Emily looked sick. "She is trying to take my baby."

Ortiz's expression became sharper.

"There's more."

The hospital had run a routine toxicology panel on Mia after the chaos in the nursery.

A low level of sedative had been found in the baby's blood.

Daniel stared at Emily.

Emily stared back.

And for one awful second, neither of them knew who had put it there.

------------------------------------------------------------