Chapter 3 - The Man Outside the Kitchen)
Daniel grabbed his phone and turned on the flashlight.
"Vanessa."
No answer.
He moved toward the office door.
It had been locked from the outside.
Daniel pulled the handle once, then stepped backward and kicked beside the lock.
The door opened on the second strike.
The living room was empty.
Vanessa was gone.
Daniel ran toward the kitchen.
Cold air moved through the room.
The window beside the breakfast table was broken.
A stone lay among the glass.
Then Daniel saw the back door swinging.
He reached it in time to catch a dark figure crossing the lawn toward the trees behind the property.
"Hey."
The figure ran.
Daniel started after him, then stopped.
Rachel's house stood fifty yards away.
Lily and Noah were there.
Daniel turned toward it.
Protection first.
Answers second.
He crossed the lawn and knocked hard.
Rachel opened almost immediately.
"Daniel?"
"Lock every door."
"What happened?"
"Someone was behind the house."
Rachel's face drained.
"Where is Vanessa?"
"I do not know."
Noah appeared behind her.
"Was it the gray car?"
Daniel looked at him.
"What gray car?"
"The one that keeps coming."
Daniel entered the house.
Rachel locked the door.
Noah sat on the sofa beside Lily.
Daniel crouched in front of him.
"Tell me everything."
Noah glanced toward the windows.
"For three days, a gray car has been parking near the mailbox."
"Did you see the driver?"
"Once."
"Man or woman?"
"Man."
"What did he look like?"
Noah thought.
"Older than you. Glasses. Gray hair here."
He touched his temples.
Daniel's stomach tightened.
Owen Pike had gray hair at both temples.
"Did Vanessa talk to him?"
Noah nodded.
"Yesterday afternoon."
"Where?"
"In the garage."
"What were you doing there?"
"Looking for my soccer ball."
"What did you hear?"
Noah pressed his hands together.
"She said the papers had to be ready before you came home. The man said I was a problem."
Daniel's throat tightened.
"What did Vanessa say?"
"She said she could handle me."
Rachel covered her mouth.
Daniel's phone rang.
Evelyn Price.
He answered immediately.
"Tell me you received my message."
"I received the email, but there was no attachment."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"The internet was cut before the upload finished."
"What exactly did you find?"
"Records involving the trusts. Videos of Aaron. Vanessa and Owen Pike."
Silence.
Then Evelyn's voice changed.
"Daniel, do not confront Owen."
"I am not planning to."
"I mean it."
"Why?"
"I need to check something."
"Evelyn."
"Give me five minutes."
She disconnected.
Daniel stared at the phone.
Rachel sat beside Noah.
"Did you call the police?"
"Not yet."
"Daniel."
"I will. But I need to understand what is happening before Vanessa convinces someone this was a domestic argument."
Rachel stared at him.
"She had a baseball bat."
"I know."
"She attacked a ten year old."
"I know."
"Then stop thinking like her husband."
Daniel looked at Rachel.
"Think like Lily's father."
That sentence landed.
Daniel dialed emergency services.
Within twenty minutes, two police officers were inside the Carter house.
Vanessa was nowhere to be found.
Her car remained in the garage.
Her purse was on the counter.
Her phone had disappeared from the desk.
The officers photographed the broken window, the bat, the scattered papers and Noah's injuries.
Noah repeated what happened.
Lily sat on Daniel's lap while Rachel remained beside them.
Officer Andrea Collins listened carefully.
When Noah finished, she asked Daniel where Vanessa might go.
"I do not know."
"Family?"
"Her mother lives in Arizona. They barely speak."
"Friends?"
"Several."
"Anyone connected to the financial situation?"
"Owen Pike."
Andrea wrote the name.
"Your accountant?"
"Yes."
Her pen stopped.
"You said Pike?"
"Yes."
Andrea exchanged a glance with her partner.
Daniel saw it.
"What?"
"Nothing yet."
"That was not nothing."
Andrea lowered the notebook.
"We responded to a vehicle fire eight months ago. The registered owner was Owen Pike."
Daniel frowned.
"He was not injured."
"No. The vehicle was empty."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"The fire was determined to be intentional."
Daniel felt the room change.
Andrea continued.
"There was a folder in the trunk. Most of it burned, but investigators recovered pieces of financial documents."
"What financial documents?"
"I do not know."
"Can you find out?"
"We can request the report."
Daniel nodded.
Andrea looked at Noah.
"For tonight, I want the children somewhere secure."
"They stay with me."
"I recommend somewhere Vanessa cannot easily access."
Daniel thought of Rachel's house.
Too close.
Then Evelyn called again.
Daniel answered.
"Tell me."
Her first sentence erased every other thought.
"Daniel, Owen Pike resigned as your accountant six months ago."
Daniel stared at the floor.
"No, he did not."
"I have the letter."
"I talked to him last week."
"Then you did not talk to him as your accountant."
Daniel stood.
"What are you saying?"
"I am saying someone filed a termination notice with Carter Development six months ago. The signature approving it is yours."
"I never signed anything."
"I know."
Daniel's pulse hammered.
Evelyn continued.
"And there is more."
"What?"
"Northstar Holdings purchased an insurance policy on Aaron Carter nine days before he died."
Daniel could hear his own breathing.
"Who was the beneficiary?"
Evelyn hesitated.
"Not Noah."
Daniel gripped the phone.
"Who?"
"Northstar Holdings."
The room went silent around him.
Daniel asked the question he already feared.
"Who owns Northstar?"
"Owen Pike owns forty percent."
"And the rest?"
"I am still tracing it."
Daniel looked toward the broken kitchen window.
Then his eyes moved to the office.
The USB was still connected to the laptop.
One folder remained unopened.
Its name was simply FAMILY.
Daniel ended the call and returned to the desk.
Officer Collins followed him.
He opened the folder.
There were six photographs.
The first showed Vanessa standing beside Owen Pike outside a bank.
The second showed them entering a hotel.
The third showed Owen handing Vanessa an envelope.
The fourth showed Aaron watching them from across the street.
The fifth showed a gray car outside Daniel's house.
The final image was different.
It was a scanned corporate registration document.
Daniel enlarged it.
Northstar Holdings.
Members.
Owen Pike.
Vanessa Carter.
And one third name.
Rachel Morgan.
May you like
Daniel stared at the screen.
Behind him, Rachel was standing in the doorway.
