Chapter 4 - Rachel's Name)
Daniel did not speak.
Rachel saw the screen.
Her expression shifted from confusion to disbelief.
"What is that?"
Daniel turned the laptop toward her.
Rachel walked closer.
She read the document.
Then she laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the alternative was panic.
"No."
Daniel watched her carefully.
"Your name is on it."
"I can see that."
"Why?"
"I have no idea."
Officer Collins stepped forward.
"Ms. Morgan, do you have identification?"
Rachel looked at her.
"Of course I do."
She reached for her purse.
Daniel noticed her hands shaking.
Rachel handed over her driver's license.
Andrea checked it.
"Have you ever heard of Northstar Holdings?"
"Not until Daniel mentioned it fifteen minutes ago."
"Have you done business with Owen Pike?"
"No."
"Do you know him?"
"Only through Daniel."
Rachel looked at Daniel.
"You know that."
Daniel did know it.
Rachel had been part of his life since college.
She had been best friends with Daniel's first wife, Elise.
When Elise died from complications following an emergency surgery three years earlier, Rachel became the closest thing Lily had to an aunt.
Daniel trusted her with his daughter.
Trusted her with keys to his house.
Trusted her with information about his finances.
Which meant someone using Rachel's identity would have had access to convincing personal information.
Rachel pointed at the document.
"Look at the address."
Daniel enlarged the line.
Northstar Holdings listed Rachel's former apartment address.
She had not lived there in six years.
Rachel stared at him.
"Vanessa knows that address."
"How?"
"When you and Vanessa were applying for the club membership last year, she asked me for old references. I emailed her a copy of my previous lease because it had the landlord's number."
Daniel remembered.
Vanessa had handled most of the application.
Officer Collins photographed the document.
"If the identity was stolen, we can verify that."
Rachel folded her arms tightly.
"Verify it."
Daniel opened another file.
Tax forms.
Bank applications.
A scanned copy of Rachel's driver's license.
Rachel leaned closer.
"That is fake."
Daniel looked at her.
"The picture is you."
"Yes, but look at the expiration date."
He did.
The license had supposedly been issued two years earlier.
Rachel's actual license showed a different date.
"Someone edited an old image," she said.
Daniel's fear shifted.
This had been planned.
Not improvised.
Someone had built an alternate financial identity around Rachel Morgan.
Enough to put her inside Northstar Holdings.
Enough to implicate her if the company was ever investigated.
Daniel looked toward Vanessa's empty chair.
"She needed someone to blame."
Rachel shook her head.
"Not just someone."
"What do you mean?"
"Me."
Daniel frowned.
Rachel's voice dropped.
"Think about it. If this blew up, who would Lily run to?"
"You."
"Who had a key?"
"You."
"Who knew Elise's insurance information?"
Rachel's eyes filled.
"I did."
Daniel went still.
Elise.
His first wife.
He opened the USB search window and typed her name.
Three results appeared.
One was a spreadsheet.
One was an email archive.
One was an audio recording.
Daniel opened the spreadsheet.
The first line listed Elise Carter's life insurance policy.
The second listed Aaron Carter's trust.
The third listed Lily's education account.
The fourth listed Noah's inheritance.
Next to each entry was a dollar amount.
Next to the amounts was a status.
Elise Carter.
Closed.
Aaron Carter.
Closed.
Lily Carter.
Active.
Noah Carter.
Active.
Daniel felt sick.
Officer Collins leaned over the desk.
"What does closed mean?"
"I do not know."
Rachel whispered.
"I think we need to find out."
Daniel opened the audio file.
Vanessa's voice filled the room.
"It worked once."
Owen Pike answered.
"That was different."
"No, it was not."
"It was easier."
"You said Aaron would back off."
"He did not."
"He should have."
"And now the boy is digging through things."
A chair scraped in the recording.
Then Vanessa said something that made Daniel grip the edge of the desk.
"If Noah tells Daniel what he saw, Lily becomes impossible to manage."
Owen responded.
"Then move the timetable."
"What about Rachel?"
"Leave her in the company. If anything goes wrong, she takes the fall."
Rachel sat down.
Daniel stopped the recording.
Officer Collins immediately called her supervisor.
Daniel looked at Rachel.
"I am sorry."
Rachel shook her head.
"Do not apologize to me."
Daniel glanced toward the living room where Lily and Noah sat with another officer.
Rachel continued.
"Apologize to them when they are old enough to understand why you did not see it."
The words were painful.
Because they were true.
Daniel had dismissed things.
Vanessa complaining that Noah was difficult.
Vanessa insisting Lily needed more discipline.
Vanessa suggesting Noah should attend boarding school.
Vanessa locking Daniel's office because she claimed the cleaners had misplaced documents.
He had accepted explanations because questioning them would have required confronting the possibility that he had brought danger into his own home.
Daniel closed the laptop.
"Where could she have gone?"
Rachel thought.
"Vanessa hates being without control."
"I know."
"So she did not run without a plan."
Daniel looked toward the driveway.
Her car was still there.
She had taken her phone.
Someone had been outside.
Owen.
Daniel checked the home security app.
It showed every exterior camera offline.
Except one.
The detached garage camera had remained connected through a separate battery system.
Daniel opened the recording.
At 6:47 p.m., eight minutes before Daniel arrived, a gray sedan stopped behind the garage.
Owen Pike stepped out.
He walked to the back door.
Vanessa met him.
They argued.
There was no audio.
Owen pointed toward the house.
Vanessa shook her head.
Then Owen opened the trunk.
Daniel froze the image.
Inside was a suitcase.
A child's suitcase.
Pink.
With white clouds.
Lily owned one exactly like it.
Daniel looked at Rachel.
"She was taking Lily."
Rachel's face drained.
Daniel resumed the footage.
Owen closed the trunk and left.
Vanessa remained behind.
Seven minutes later, Daniel's car entered the driveway.
The recording ended.
Officer Collins received a call.
She listened for nearly a minute.
Then she looked at Daniel.
"We found Pike's gray sedan."
"Where?"
"Abandoned near Highway 17."
"Vanessa?"
"No sign of her."
"Then why abandon it?"
Andrea hesitated.
"There is something in the trunk."
Daniel's stomach twisted.
"What?"
"Your daughter's suitcase."
Daniel closed his eyes.
Andrea continued.
"And an airline itinerary."
"For where?"
"Montreal."
"When?"
"Tonight."
Daniel opened his eyes.
"Lily was supposed to be on that plane."
Andrea nodded.
"But there are three passenger names."
"Vanessa and Lily."
"Yes."
Daniel waited.
"Who is the third?"
May you like
Andrea looked directly at him.
"Noah Carter."
