Chapter 6 - THE BLUE BOTTLE
Charles Ashford had taken prescription anxiety medication for twelve years.
He kept it in a small blue bottle inside the locked drawer of his study.
At least, that was what Daniel claimed.
Detective Torres sent officers back to the estate before Rachel and Daniel finished their statements.
Emma remained asleep in a private pediatric room. Nurses monitored her breathing and heart rate. Rachel sat beside the bed, holding her small hand.
Daniel stood near the window.
“My father would never hurt her.”
Rachel did not look at him.
“Your mother had access to the house.”
“So did fifty staff members.”
“How many staff members wanted Emma removed from the family photograph?”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“Margaret says she never touched her.”
Rachel finally turned.
“You called her again?”
“She is my mother.”
“And Emma is your daughter.”
“I am trying to understand what happened.”
“You are trying to find a version where your family is innocent.”
He stepped toward the bed.
“I love Emma.”
“Then act like it.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Tell the police everything.”
“I have.”
“No. You have given them the parts that cannot embarrass you.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“That isn’t fair.”
“You keep saying that whenever the truth makes you uncomfortable.”
A nurse entered and adjusted Emma’s oxygen line.
Rachel waited until she left.
“Did Margaret ever ask you to question Emma’s paternity?”
Daniel looked away.
Rachel felt the answer before he spoke.
“She suggested a test.”
“When?”
“After Emma was born.”
“How many times?”
“Rachel.”
“How many?”
“Several.”
“And what did you say?”
“That I trusted you.”
“Did you take the test?”
Daniel hesitated.
The room seemed to shrink.
“Did you take a paternity test?”
“No.”
Rachel studied his face.
“You are lying.”
“I am not.”
“Look at me.”
He did.
But he could not hold her gaze.
Rachel stood.
“You tested our daughter.”
“My mother ordered it.”
“Without my consent?”
“She used a sample from a hairbrush.”
Rachel felt physically ill.
“When?”
“Last year.”
“And?”
Daniel swallowed.
“The test confirmed I am Emma’s father.”
Rachel laughed once, without humor.
“Of course it did.”
“I never doubted you.”
“You allowed your mother to steal our child’s DNA.”
“I didn’t know until afterward.”
“But you did nothing.”
“What was I supposed to do?”
“Protect us.”
“I told her never to do it again.”
“And then you let her hire someone to follow me.”
Daniel’s shoulders dropped.
Rachel looked at Emma.
“How many violations were supposed to happen before you decided we mattered?”
Her phone rang.
It was an unknown number.
Rachel answered quietly.
“Mrs. Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“This is Amelia Grant. I received your consultation request.”
The family-law attorney.
Rachel looked at Daniel.
“I need help.”
Daniel understood immediately.
“Rachel, not now.”
She walked into the hallway.
“Yes,” she said to the attorney. “Now.”
Amelia Grant arrived at the hospital less than an hour later.
She was in her early forties, dressed in a dark suit, with the calm expression of someone accustomed to entering disasters.
She listened while Rachel described the private investigator, the unauthorized DNA test, Margaret’s comments, and the events at the party.
“Do you have access to your joint accounts?” Amelia asked.
“Yes.”
“Property records?”
“The house is in both our names.”
“Emma’s passport?”
“In a safe at home.”
“Who knows the code?”
“Daniel.”
Amelia glanced through the glass panel toward him.
“Change every password you can access. Do not return to the marital home alone. Do not agree to any family meeting without legal counsel.”
“I’m not leaving Emma.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“What can Margaret do?”
“Money gives people access to experts and influence. It does not give them legal ownership of children.”
“She has been building a case against me.”
“Then we begin preserving evidence before she can rewrite the story.”
Rachel handed her phone to Amelia.
“The 911 call recorded her.”
“That will matter.”
“Vanessa also heard her give the instruction.”
“Has Vanessa provided a statement?”
“I don’t know.”
Detective Torres appeared at the end of the hallway.
Her expression was serious.
“We found Charles Ashford’s medication bottle.”
Rachel stood.
“Was it empty?”
“No. But several tablets were missing.”
Daniel stepped out of Emma’s room.
“My father sometimes takes more than prescribed.”
Detective Torres looked at him.
“The bottle was not in the locked study drawer.”
“Where was it?”
“In the engagement preparation room beside an open container of apple juice.”
Rachel’s stomach turned.
Emma had been drinking apple juice.
“Whose room was it?” she asked.
“According to the event coordinator, it was assigned to Margaret Ashford and the female members of the family.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That proves nothing.”
The detective continued.
“We also reviewed footage from the exterior security cameras.”
Rachel stopped breathing.
“Did you see who took Emma?”
“The camera covering the dance floor was disconnected shortly before she disappeared.”
“Disconnected by whom?”
“We do not know yet.”
“What about the service path?”
“That camera was covered with a linen napkin.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Someone planned this.”
“Yes.”
Detective Torres looked at Rachel.
“And someone may have been watching you for longer than today.”
She handed Amelia a printed image from a security camera.
The photograph showed Rachel and Emma entering a grocery store three weeks earlier.
A timestamp appeared in the corner.
Behind them stood a man in a baseball cap holding a camera.
Rachel recognized him.
May you like
She had seen him at the engagement party.
He had been wearing a catering uniform.
