Chapter 2 - what happened on march 14)
Daniel knew exactly where he had been on March 14.
Chicago.
A two-day negotiation with the board of a pharmaceutical company.
He remembered because a snowstorm delayed his flight home.
He had arrived nearly nine hours late and found Vanessa asleep on the sofa with Lucy curled beside her.
At the time, the sight had moved him.
Now he wondered what had happened before he walked through the door.
The next morning he waited until Vanessa left for a charity planning meeting.
Then he took Lucy into the library.
He did not mention the note.
He did not want to frighten her.
Instead he opened a box of crayons.
“You want to draw with me?”
Lucy looked suspicious.
Daniel smiled.
“My houses are terrible. You can help.”
She slowly climbed into the chair.
For twenty minutes they drew.
A house.
A dog.
A lake.
Then Daniel casually asked, “Do you remember when I went to Chicago?”
Lucy’s crayon stopped.
Daniel immediately knew.
“Sweetheart?”
“I’m not supposed to talk about that.”
His pulse quickened.
“Who said?”
Silence.
“Vanessa?”
Lucy looked at him.
Tears filled her eyes.
Daniel pushed the crayons aside.
“You can tell me anything.”
“She’ll be mad.”
“I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
Lucy leaned close.
“She took me somewhere.”
Daniel’s skin went cold.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You left the house?”
She nodded.
“With Vanessa?”
Another nod.
Daniel struggled to keep his voice steady.
“Did anyone else go?”
“Grandma Evelyn.”
Daniel’s heart sank.
Evelyn was not Lucy’s grandmother.
She was Vanessa’s mother.
But she encouraged Lucy to use the title.
Daniel had never objected.
Now he regretted it.
“What happened?”
Lucy looked toward the library door.
“They made me talk to a man.”
“What man?”
“He asked about Mommy.”
Daniel stopped breathing for a moment.
“What did he ask?”
“If I remembered seeing her fall.”
Daniel stared.
“Fall where?”
“In the water.”
He pulled his chair closer.
“Lucy, were you at the lake when Mommy disappeared?”
“No.”
“Then why did he ask that?”
Lucy started crying.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel picked her up.
“I’m sorry. We can stop.”
But Lucy clutched his shirt.
“He said I dreamed her.”
“Dreamed who?”
“The lady.”
“What lady?”
“The lady who visits me.”
Daniel remembered the midnight visitor.
“Did you tell him someone came to your room?”
“She comes sometimes.”
“How many times?”
Lucy held up four fingers.
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“What does she say?”
“She says remember.”
“Remember what?”
“The necklace.”
Daniel thought of Caroline’s belongings.
“What necklace?”
Lucy slid off his lap and ran upstairs.
He followed her into her bedroom.
She climbed onto a chair and reached behind a row of books.
From the back she pulled a tiny silver chain.
A pendant hung from it.
Oval.
Blue stone in the center.
Daniel nearly dropped it.
It belonged to Caroline.
He had seen her wear it hundreds of times.
Police had listed it as missing after the accident.
“Where did you get this?”
“The lady gave it to me.”
“When?”
Lucy frowned.
“A long time ago.”
“Before Mommy disappeared?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel examined the clasp.
There was dried mud inside the hinge.
He placed the necklace in a plastic envelope and called the only detective he still trusted.
Retired Detective Marcus Reed had led the initial search for Caroline.
Officially, Marcus agreed with the accident ruling.
Privately, he had always disliked the lack of a body.
When Daniel showed him the necklace that afternoon, the older man said nothing for almost a minute.
“You’re certain this was Caroline’s?”
“I bought it for our fifth anniversary.”
Marcus looked at Lucy, who was playing in the garden beyond the library windows.
“Where did she find it?”
“She says a woman gave it to her.”
“What woman?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel showed him the brass key.
Then described the notes.
Marcus’s expression darkened.
“You should take Lucy somewhere else.”
“Why?”
“Because someone entered your locked house twice without triggering your security system.”
Daniel had already considered it.
“But if Vanessa is involved…”
“If?”
Daniel looked at him.
Marcus opened his leather folder.
“I did something I shouldn’t have.”
“What?”
“After Caroline disappeared, I kept a copy of one piece of evidence.”
He removed a photograph.
It showed Caroline’s car at the marina on the night she vanished.
Daniel had seen the picture before.
Marcus pointed toward the background.
A second vehicle was barely visible behind the trees.
A dark Mercedes.
“Vanessa drove a Mercedes then,” Daniel whispered.
“So did ten thousand other people.”
Daniel studied the photograph.
Marcus turned it over.
Written on the back was a license plate.
Daniel recognized it.
Evelyn Hale’s.
He looked up.
“Why wasn’t this in the police report?”
“It was.”
“What happened?”
“The plate was entered incorrectly into evidence.”
“By who?”
Marcus did not answer immediately.
“Detective Paul Granger.”
Daniel knew the name.
Granger had supervised the final stage of the investigation.
He had also been the first officer to tell Daniel that Caroline was almost certainly dead.
“Where is Granger now?”
Marcus met his eyes.
“He works private security.”
“For who?”
Before Marcus answered, the library door opened.
Vanessa entered.
She looked at Daniel.
Then at Marcus.
Then at the photograph on the table.
Her smile disappeared.
“You should have told me we had company.”
Marcus leaned back.
“Hello, Vanessa.”
She did not respond.
Daniel watched her face.
“Do you know Paul Granger?”
Something flashed in Vanessa’s eyes.
Recognition.
Then it vanished.
“No.”
Marcus smiled.
“You’re lying.”
Vanessa turned to Daniel.
“Why is he here?”
Daniel stood.
“Because my daughter says you took her somewhere on March 14 and made her answer questions about Caroline.”
For once, Vanessa did not have an immediate response.
From upstairs came a loud crash.
Daniel ran.
Lucy’s bedroom was empty.
The window was open.
On the white rug lay a fresh envelope.
Daniel tore it open.
Inside was a photograph taken moments earlier.
Lucy standing in the garden.
May you like
Behind her, written in red ink, were three words.
YOU ASKED TOO SOON.
