Chapter 4 - The Name Nobody Was Supposed to Hear
The ambulance doors closed before Emma could ask another question.
She stood in the street watching red lights flash against the neighboring houses.
Lily was beside Officer Cole.
Marcus remained handcuffed.
Rachel was sitting on the curb.
Warren had stopped speaking entirely.
Emma walked toward Ramirez.
"Who was that man?"
Ramirez exhaled.
"I don't know."
"He knew my name."
"I heard."
"He mentioned Daniel."
"I heard that too."
"You recognized this house."
Ramirez looked toward Warren.
Then back at her.
"In 2004, I was seventeen."
Emma waited.
"My older brother Javier disappeared."
Warren's face remained blank.
Ramirez continued.
"He was twenty-two. He had been doing construction work for a subcontractor owned by Warren Caldwell."
Marcus slowly looked at his father.
"What?"
Warren snapped.
"He's lying."
Ramirez ignored him.
"Javier called my mother one night. Said he had found something at a renovation site that scared him. He said if he didn't come home, we should talk to the police."
"Did he come home?" Emma asked.
"No."
Ramirez looked toward the house.
"His truck was found four days later, abandoned seventy miles away."
Emma felt the pieces beginning to move.
"What did the police find here?"
"Nothing."
"You came here?"
"My mother did. I came with her. Warren told us Javier had quit."
Warren finally spoke.
"Because he did."
Ramirez turned.
"You told us he'd gone to Arizona."
"That's what he told me."
"My brother didn't know anyone in Arizona."
Marcus stared at Warren.
"Dad, what the hell?"
Warren's voice sharpened.
"Don't be stupid."
"There's a man chained in your basement!"
"We don't know anything about chains," Cole said.
Ramirez looked at him.
"There were restraints."
Silence.
Rachel began crying.
Not dramatically.
Quietly.
Emma noticed.
She walked toward her.
Rachel looked up.
Emma said, "Who is he?"
Rachel shook her head.
"I don't know."
"You ran."
"I panicked."
"Why?"
Rachel wiped her face.
"Because Dad told me if police ever came inside, I should call someone."
"Who?"
Rachel didn't answer.
Emma leaned closer.
"Rachel."
Warren shouted from behind them.
"Don't say another damn word!"
Rachel flinched.
Emma looked back at Warren.
That flinch told her more than the shouting.
"You've been controlling everyone in this family for a long time, haven't you?"
Warren laughed without humor.
"You know nothing about my family."
"I married into it."
"You married Daniel."
"Yes."
"And you abandoned him when he needed you."
Emma stared.
"You still say that like you know what happened to him."
Warren realized the mistake.
Marcus did too.
"Dad."
Warren looked at his son.
Marcus stepped closer despite the handcuffs.
"When Daniel disappeared, you said you hadn't heard from him for months."
"I hadn't."
"But you just said she abandoned him when he needed her."
"Figure of speech."
Marcus shook his head.
"No."
For once, there was no arrogance in him.
Only fear.
"Where is my brother?"
Warren looked away.
That was enough.
Marcus lunged.
Cole and another officer caught him.
"You son of a bitch!"
Warren backed away.
Marcus screamed.
"You know where he is!"
"Marcus!"
"You know where he is!"
Emma pulled Lily farther away.
She had spent years imagining Daniel dead.
Then alive.
Then dead again.
She had hated him.
Mourned him.
Forgiven him.
Hated herself for forgiving him.
Now one sentence from a stranger had destroyed the fragile version of the past she had finally learned to live with.
Ramirez approached.
"The house is being secured. Detectives are coming."
Emma nodded.
"I need to go to the hospital."
"With your daughter?"
"Yes."
He looked at Lily.
"That may not be a good idea."
Emma knew he was right.
Lily tugged her hand.
"Mom."
Emma looked down.
"Is Dad alive?"
There are questions parents prepare for.
That was not one of them.
"I don't know."
"Did Grandpa hurt him?"
Emma looked toward Warren.
He was speaking to an arriving detective.
"I don't know that either."
Lily's lower lip trembled.
"But you always tell me not to say I don't know when I really know."
Emma crouched.
"I know something is wrong. I know people haven't told us the truth. And I know we're going to find out."
Lily nodded slowly.
Emma called her friend Sarah Mitchell, who lived fifteen minutes away.
Sarah arrived quickly and took Lily home with her.
Before Lily got into the car, she hugged Emma.
"Don't fight anybody else."
Despite everything, Emma almost smiled.
"I'll try."
Lily pulled back.
"And Mom?"
"Yes?"
"If Dad is alive..."
Emma waited.
Lily's eyes filled.
"Ask him why he didn't come home."
Emma promised she would.
At the hospital, police kept the rescued man under guard.
His name, according to an old driver's license found in the basement, was Thomas Vale.
Age sixty-two.
Former accountant.
Reported missing in 2007.
Emma stared at the name.
She knew it.
Not personally.
From Daniel's old financial records.
Thomas Vale had once audited Caldwell Development.
Then he vanished.
A detective entered the waiting room.
"Mrs. Carter?"
"Emma."
"I'm Detective Naomi Brooks."
Emma stood.
Brooks held a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was an old photograph.
Daniel.
He looked younger.
Exhausted.
Terrified.
The photograph had been found beneath Thomas Vale's mattress.
May you like
On the back, written in Daniel's handwriting, were six words.
If Emma finds this, believe her.
