Chapter 3 - The Video
Mark did not want to show me.
That told me I needed to see it.
Detective Owens confiscated his phone, but the video was no longer there.
“Deleted?” she asked.
Mark nodded.
“When?”
“Months ago.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Mark looked at him. “I backed it up.”
Silence.
“Where?” Owens asked.
“At home.”
I felt my skin go cold.
“In our house?”
Mark nodded.
“Where?”
He hesitated.
“Inside Ethan’s old toy chest.”
I stood so fast the chair scraped the floor.
“You hid evidence in our son’s bedroom?”
“It wasn’t his bedroom then. It was the spare room.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I didn’t know where else to put it.”
Owens cut in. “What’s on the video?”
Mark rubbed both hands over his face.
“Chloe filmed Victor Dane meeting with a contractor named Russell Pike behind Merritt’s warehouse. They were talking about the fake invoices. Victor said Chloe had become a problem.”
Daniel’s breathing changed.
“A problem.”
Mark nodded.
“And Chloe sent that to you?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you give it to police?”
“I was scared.”
Daniel stared at him with disgust.
“My daughter was scared.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Mark looked at me.
“I had you. Ethan was four. Someone left a photo of our house under my windshield wiper the morning after Chloe vanished.”
My anger faltered.
Not disappeared.
Not gone.
It changed shape.
“You never told me that.”
“I thought if I stayed quiet, they’d leave us alone.”
“And did they?”
Mark’s eyes shifted away.
I already knew the answer.
Owens drove us back to Cedar Lane with two patrol cars.
The house was sealed.
She took Mark upstairs while I waited in the hall.
Five minutes later, she came back holding a small black memory card in an evidence bag.
“Found it.”
Mark looked relieved for exactly two seconds.
Then another officer came running from the kitchen.
“Detective.”
Owens turned.
“We found a second phone taped behind the pantry baseboard.”
Mark stared at him.
“That isn’t mine.”
The officer held up the bag.
The lock screen showed a photograph of a young woman with dark hair.
May you like
Daniel made a sound like the air had been knocked out of him.
“That’s Chloe’s phone.”
