Chapter 7 - the day emily disappeared)
Police were waiting outside Emily's school before lunch.
Laura removed her immediately.
For the next four days, Emily stayed with Laura's sister, Rachel, at a house forty minutes outside the city.
Only Laura, Sarah, Owen and two detectives knew the location.
Daniel was not told.
Vanessa was not told.
Laura hated keeping Emily hidden.
But she hated the photograph more.
At night Emily asked when she could go home.
"Soon."
"Is Vanessa mad at me?"
Laura's throat tightened.
"Why do you ask that?"
"Because I told Dr. Patel about the red room."
"Sweetheart, you did nothing wrong."
Emily looked unconvinced.
"Did Dad do something wrong?"
Laura sat beside her.
Children deserved truth.
But they also deserved protection from truths too heavy to carry.
"Your dad made some bad decisions."
"Does he still love me?"
"Yes."
"Do you still love him?"
Laura looked toward the window.
"Not the way I used to."
Emily considered that.
"Can you stop loving someone if they're bad?"
Laura brushed her hair.
"Sometimes you can love part of who someone was and still know you can't live with who they became."
Emily nodded as if storing the sentence for later.
The next morning, Miles contacted Owen.
He had found the complete red room recording.
They arranged to meet at Sarah's office.
Laura insisted on being present.
Miles brought a laptop.
The footage began with Emily sitting in a chair.
Vanessa stood behind the camera.
Her tone was falsely sweet.
"Tell me what happens when Mommy gets sad."
Emily shrugged.
"She drinks tea."
"What else?"
"She watches TV."
"Does she cry?"
"Sometimes."
"Does she forget dinner?"
"No."
Vanessa's voice sharpened.
"Think."
Emily looked frightened.
"No."
The video continued for seventeen minutes.
Vanessa tried repeatedly to make Emily describe Laura as unstable.
Emily resisted.
Then Vanessa moved in front of the camera.
She crouched.
"Your dad wants you to live with us."
"I want Mom."
"You can see Mom sometimes."
"No."
Vanessa gripped Emily's wrist.
Laura stood.
"Stop."
Miles paused the video.
Laura was crying.
"There's more?"
"Yes."
She sat.
The recording resumed.
Emily tried to pull away.
Vanessa's expression changed.
The sweetness disappeared.
"Do you want your father to be unhappy?"
"No."
"Then help him."
"I want to go home."
Vanessa released her.
The recording ended without a slap.
Laura felt relief and frustration at once.
It proved manipulation.
Not physical abuse.
"Why did Miles only have part before?" Laura asked.
He explained a second storage unit had been located.
The recording was automatically backed up.
"Anything else on it?"
Miles nodded.
"Hours of footage."
"Of Emily?"
"Some. Mostly adults."
"Daniel?"
"Daniel. Vanessa. And Eric."
Laura stared.
"You saw Eric there?"
"Yes."
Alive.
Three months before his disappearance.
On another video, Eric sat in the red room with Vanessa.
They argued about money.
Eric said he was done.
Vanessa told him he would ruin both of them.
He replied, "I'm giving Miles everything."
Vanessa laughed.
"Then you better pray he gets it before Victor does."
Laura remembered the name.
Victor.
The unknown person from Daniel's apartment recording.
"Who is Victor?" Sarah asked.
Miles looked shaken.
"I still don't know."
That afternoon, investigators seized equipment from Meadow Lane under a warrant related to financial crimes.
Vanessa was questioned.
She was not arrested.
By evening, media vans had appeared outside Daniel's office.
The case was no longer private.
Then Laura's phone rang.
Rachel.
Laura answered.
Rachel was crying.
"She's gone."
Laura's world stopped.
"What?"
"Emily. She's gone."
Laura could barely breathe.
"How?"
"I was making lunch. She was drawing in the living room. I turned around and the back door was open."
"Call police."
"I did."
"Rachel, where is she?"
"I don't know."
Laura dropped the phone once while trying to grab her keys.
Police reached Rachel's house quickly.
A search began.
Dogs.
Patrol cars.
Neighbors.
Roadblocks.
Laura ran through the backyard calling Emily's name.
Thirty minutes passed.
Then forty.
Then a detective shouted from the tree line.
They found a pink sweater caught on a branch.
Emily's.
Laura collapsed.
Owen crouched beside her.
"Look at me. The sweater may mean she walked this way."
"Or someone dragged her."
"We don't know that."
A search dog picked up a trail.
It led through the trees.
Across a drainage path.
Toward an old service road.
There, behind a storage shed, officers found Emily.
Alive.
Terrified.
Barefoot.
Laura ran to her.
Emily clung to her and screamed.
"Mom."
Laura held her.
"I'm here."
No one had abducted her.
Emily had run.
When asked why, she stared at the ground.
"Someone called the house."
Rachel frowned.
"What call?"
Emily whispered, "A man said Vanessa was coming and if she found me she'd hurt Mom."
Laura looked at Owen.
"Who called?"
Emily shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Did he say his name?"
"No."
Then she remembered something.
"He said Dad told him where I was."
Laura's face went cold.
Daniel had not known the location.
Unless someone had told him.
Only four people outside law enforcement had known.
Laura.
Sarah.
Owen.
And Miles.
May you like
Everyone turned toward Miles.
He was no longer there.
