Chapter 4 - The Lawyer's Name
The name in Walter's draft email was Charles Harlan.
Sarah searched him from her hospital chair while Lucy slept with both feet wrapped in dressings.
Family law.
Custody disputes.
Grandparents' rights.
Emergency guardianships.
Twenty-nine years of practice.
His website emphasized cases involving "unfit parental environments."
Sarah read the phrase until she felt nauseated.
Mark stood by the window.
Jenna paced.
"What do we do?" Mark asked.
Sarah looked at him.
"We call the police."
Mark flinched.
"On Dad?"
Sarah's face hardened.
"Our daughter has chemical burns."
"I know."
"Then stop asking me whether his feelings matter."
Mark turned away.
Jenna stopped pacing.
"Sarah."
"What?"
"We need to preserve everything on Dad's phone."
Sarah looked at the device.
"Can he wipe it remotely?"
"Probably."
Mark moved instantly.
He switched the phone to airplane mode.
For once, Sarah saw the engineer in him instead of Walter's frightened son.
"Don't open anything else," Mark said. "We document it properly."
A detective arrived forty minutes later.
Detective Elena Ruiz had the calm expression of someone who had spent years listening to lies.
She photographed Walter's phone.
The email draft.
The video.
Lucy's injuries.
The slippers, which Sarah had sealed inside a plastic hospital belongings bag.
Ruiz looked at the bag.
"Who touched them?"
"Lucy. Me through a towel. Maybe Walter before wrapping them."
"Anyone else?"
"No."
"Where's the gift box?"
"At home."
Ruiz's eyes sharpened.
"Is Walter there?"
Sarah stopped.
Mark looked at her.
Jenna whispered, "Oh, no."
Ruiz immediately called uniformed officers.
By the time police reached the Collins home, Walter was gone.
The living room had been cleaned.
The gift box was missing.
The wrapping paper was gone.
The kitchen towel Sarah had used was gone.
Even the coffee mug Walter had been drinking from was missing.
But beneath the Christmas tree, officers found something Walter had overlooked.
A tiny piece of gray foam.
Detective Ruiz sealed it as evidence.
Walter answered his phone an hour later.
He claimed he had gone home because hospitals made him anxious.
When told police wanted to speak with him, he sounded offended.
"Am I under arrest?"
"No," Ruiz replied.
"Then I'll speak with my attorney."
He hung up.
Sarah looked at Mark.
May you like
"Which attorney?"
Mark didn't need to answer.
