Chapter 2 - The Man Who Came to Comfort Them)
Samuel Bennett arrived at the house seventeen minutes after the police.
Daniel had no idea who had called him.
That bothered him immediately.
Samuel lived nearly forty minutes away.
Yet when Daniel came downstairs carrying Owen, Samuel was already stepping through the front door.
His expensive gray coat hung open.
His normally perfect hair was disordered.
His face showed the exact expression Daniel would have expected from a frightened uncle.
Shock.
Concern.
Anger.
He rushed toward them.
"Oh my God. Owen."
Owen tightened his arms around Daniel.
Samuel stopped.
That tiny reaction did not escape Daniel.
For two years, Samuel had been one of the most dependable people in their lives.
He had handled Claire's funeral arrangements when Daniel could barely remember his own name.
He had driven Owen to school.
He had brought groceries.
He had sat with Daniel through long nights when grief made the house unbearable.
Owen had once called him Uncle Sam every time he visited.
Tonight, Owen did not reach for him.
Samuel noticed.
"What happened?"
Daniel studied him.
"A man broke into the house."
"I heard."
"From who?"
Samuel hesitated.
"Detective Quinn called me."
Across the room, Detective Mara Quinn looked up from her conversation with another officer.
Daniel watched her.
She frowned.
"I didn't call anyone."
Silence.
Samuel's face barely changed.
Barely.
Then he took out his phone.
"Maybe it was one of the neighbors. I had three missed calls. I assumed Quinn."
Daniel felt the blue key pressing into his palm inside his jacket pocket.
He had hidden both the key and photograph before coming downstairs.
He still did not know what they meant.
But Claire had written one clear warning.
Do not trust Samuel.
For the first time since Claire's death, Daniel listened.
Detective Quinn approached.
She was in her early forties, with dark hair pulled into a practical knot and an expression that suggested she had not believed a convenient explanation in years.
"The suspect's name is Lucas Vane."
Samuel's eyes shifted.
Only once.
But Daniel saw it.
"Do you know him?" Daniel asked.
Samuel looked at him.
"No."
Quinn continued.
"Thirty-six. Prior arrests for assault, extortion and unlawful entry. Most charges disappeared before trial. He claims he entered through the back door."
"It was locked," Daniel said.
"We found no forced entry."
Samuel rubbed a hand over his mouth.
"Could Claire have given someone a key years ago?"
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
Why Claire?
Why not Daniel?
Why not a contractor?
Why not a neighbor?
Samuel seemed to realize his mistake.
"I mean before she died. She handled most things around the house."
Daniel said nothing.
Owen was still trembling.
Quinn crouched to his level.
"Owen, I'm Detective Mara. You don't have to tell me anything right now. Okay?"
Owen nodded.
"You didn't do anything wrong. We just want to understand how that man came inside."
Owen glanced at Daniel.
Daniel squeezed his shoulder.
"It's okay."
The boy whispered, "He was already here."
Quinn's expression sharpened.
"When?"
"When I came upstairs."
"Where were you before that?"
"Kitchen."
"Was anyone else home?"
Owen shook his head.
Daniel's stomach tightened.
A sitter was supposed to be there.
Mrs. Parker from next door had agreed to stay with Owen until Daniel returned.
"Where's Nora?" Daniel asked.
Quinn stood.
"We're trying to locate her."
Samuel stepped forward.
"Nora Parker?"
Daniel nodded.
"She texted me this morning saying Owen had a fever, so she was staying here."
Samuel looked confused.
"I saw her car outside her house when I drove in."
Quinn immediately turned to an officer.
"Check next door."
Owen tugged Daniel's jacket.
"Dad."
"What?"
"He asked about Mom before he put the chain on me."
Samuel went still.
Quinn heard.
"What did he ask?"
Owen's eyes filled again.
"He asked where she hid the blue key."
The room changed.
Daniel watched Samuel.
For perhaps half a second, Claire's brother forgot to act.
His face drained of color.
Then he recovered.
"A blue key?"
Daniel kept his voice neutral.
"Does that mean something to you?"
"No."
Too fast.
Quinn noticed too.
"What exactly did Vane say?" she asked Owen.
"He said Mom stole something."
Samuel looked at Daniel.
"Claire?"
Owen continued.
"He said she made people angry."
Daniel felt rage rising again.
"Did he hurt you?"
Owen looked down.
"He grabbed me when I tried to run. Then he wrapped the chain around me."
Samuel closed his eyes.
"Jesus."
"He said if I told him where the key was, he would leave."
Daniel crouched.
"Did you know where it was?"
"No."
"Did Mom ever talk to you about a key?"
Owen hesitated.
Then nodded.
Daniel's breath stopped.
"When?"
"Before she went away."
Samuel's eyes moved sharply toward him.
Daniel caught it.
Owen was only five when Claire died.
Daniel had assumed most of his memories from that time had blurred.
"What did she say?"
Owen pressed his cheek against Daniel's shoulder.
"She told me if anyone ever asked about a blue key, I should say I never saw one."
Daniel felt cold spread through his chest.
Samuel stepped backward.
Quinn turned toward him.
"You all right?"
Samuel nodded.
"Just trying to understand why my sister would involve a five-year-old in something like this."
Daniel stood.
"Maybe she didn't have a choice."
Samuel looked at him.
For a moment, something passed between them.
Not grief.
Not family.
Recognition.
Daniel knew that Samuel understood the conversation had changed.
Then an officer entered through the front door.
"Detective."
Quinn turned.
The officer's expression was grim.
"We found Mrs. Parker."
Daniel tightened his hold around Owen.
"Where?"
"Her house."
"Is she okay?"
"She's alive."
Daniel exhaled.
"But somebody tied her to a chair in the basement."
Samuel cursed softly.
The officer continued.
"She says a man came to her door around noon pretending to be from the electric company. He forced his way inside. Took her keys."
That explained the unlocked house.
But it did not explain how Lucas Vane knew Daniel would be gone.
Or where Claire had hidden something.
Quinn looked at Daniel.
"This was planned."
Daniel looked at Samuel.
Samuel did not look away.
Later, after Owen had been examined by paramedics and Nora Parker had been transported to the hospital, Quinn found Daniel alone in the kitchen.
"You're hiding something."
Daniel opened the refrigerator but did not take anything out.
"What makes you think that?"
"I've been a detective for seventeen years."
Daniel closed the refrigerator.
Quinn waited.
Daniel finally removed the photograph from inside his jacket.
Not the key.
Only the photograph.
He placed it on the kitchen island.
Quinn looked down.
She recognized Claire from old family photographs around the house.
"Who is the man?"
"Samuel."
Quinn studied the picture again.
"What am I looking at?"
Daniel turned it over.
She read the sentence.
If I disappear, do not trust Samuel.
Quinn slowly lifted her eyes.
"When did you find this?"
"Tonight."
"Where?"
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
"In a place Lucas Vane almost reached."
Quinn stared at him.
"Is there something else?"
Daniel thought about the blue key.
Claire had hidden it.
Lucas had come for it.
Samuel had reacted when Owen mentioned it.
Daniel made a choice.
"Not that I found."
It was the first lie he had ever told a police detective.
Quinn knew it was a lie.
He could tell.
But instead of pressing him, she slid the photograph back across the counter.
"Then whatever you didn't find, don't use it alone."
Daniel said nothing.
Quinn walked toward the doorway.
Before leaving, she stopped.
"One more thing."
"What?"
"We searched Lucas Vane."
Daniel waited.
"He had a photograph of your house."
That was not surprising.
Then Quinn continued.
"It was taken this morning."
Daniel looked at her.
"Your son is visible through the kitchen window."
Daniel's hands curled.
Quinn's voice lowered.
"Someone wrote a time beneath it."
"What time?"
"4:20."
Daniel looked at the clock.
Lucas had attacked Owen at 4:17.
Quinn added, "And there were two initials beside the time."
Daniel already knew what she was going to say.
"S.B."
Quinn nodded.
Daniel looked toward the living room.
Samuel was sitting beside Owen.
For the first time, Daniel noticed something attached to Samuel's jacket lapel.
A small silver pin.
May you like
Shaped like a compass.
Claire had worn one exactly like it the week before she died.
