Chapter 5 - Come Alone
I wanted to drive straight to the location.
Lauren stopped me.
“No.”
“My son is in that car.”
“And if you go alone, you may end up in another car.”
I stared at her.
“They have Ethan.”
“I know.”
“So what do you suggest?”
“We call the police.”
“No.”
She looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because Melissa wants me alone.”
“That doesn't mean you give her what she wants.”
“She knows we're investigating her.”
Lauren thought for a moment.
“Then we make her believe you came alone.”
That was the beginning of the plan.
We drove separately.
I went to the location Melissa provided.
An abandoned warehouse near the river.
Lauren contacted Detective Cole.
The police positioned themselves several blocks away.
I entered alone.
The warehouse was dark.
“Melissa!”
My voice echoed.
A light turned on.
Ethan was sitting in a chair.
His hands weren't tied.
Melissa stood behind him.
Grant stood beside her.
Grant.
Alive.
Pale.
But alive.
I stopped.
“You were supposed to be in the hospital.”
He smiled.
“Doctors make mistakes.”
I looked at Ethan.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded.
“Dad?”
“I'm here.”
Melissa stepped forward.
“You ruined everything.”
“You tried to poison my son.”
“No.”
She pointed at Grant.
“The drink was meant for him.”
I looked at Grant.
He smiled.
“I made one mistake.”
“You switched the cups.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I suspected you.”
Grant laughed.
“You always were clever.”
Melissa stared at me.
“You think you're protecting Ethan.”
“I am.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You're protecting a lie.”
“What lie?”
“Rachel.”
My heart tightened.
“Don't say her name.”
“Why?”
“Because you don't deserve to.”
Melissa laughed.
“You still think she was innocent.”
“She was.”
“She wasn't.”
Grant stepped forward.
“Rachel stole from us.”
“What?”
“The trust.”
I stared.
“That's impossible.”
“She moved money before she died.”
“Into Ethan's name.”
“Yes.”
“Because it belonged to him.”
Grant shook his head.
“It belonged to the family.”
“What family?”
He smiled.
“The Carter family.”
I understood.
Jonathan.
My wife's father.
The old company.
The trust.
“You weren't trying to take Ethan's money.”
Melissa smiled.
“We were trying to take control of it.”
“Why?”
“Because Jonathan left a condition.”
“What condition?”
“That Ethan would control everything when he turned eighteen.”
I stared.
“That's eight years from now.”
“Exactly.”
Melissa stepped closer.
“Eight years is a long time.”
“What were you planning?”
“Guardianship.”
“Then?”
“Investments.”
“Then?”
She smiled.
“Control.”
I looked at Ethan.
“Why hurt him?”
“We didn't want to hurt him.”
“You kidnapped him.”
“We wanted you to panic.”
“Why?”
“Because you were becoming difficult.”
Grant laughed.
“You started asking questions.”
I remembered the bank records.
The trust.
Rachel's files.
“What happened to Rachel?”
Silence.
Melissa's face changed.
Grant looked at her.
She whispered,
“She became a problem.”
My blood ran cold.
“You killed my wife.”
“I didn't say that.”
“You didn't have to.”
Grant stepped forward.
“Your wife had heart problems.”
“She was poisoned.”
“She was unstable.”
“You lied.”
“No.”
“You lied about everything.”
Grant smiled.
“Then prove it.”
Behind me, sirens sounded.
Melissa froze.
Grant's face changed.
I looked at him.
“You should have checked the loading dock.”
Police flooded the warehouse.
Detective Cole shouted,
“Hands where I can see them!”
Melissa grabbed Ethan.
I moved instantly.
“Let him go!”
Grant reached inside his jacket.
An officer raised his weapon.
“Don't!”
Grant froze.
Melissa released Ethan.
He ran toward me.
I dropped to my knees and grabbed him.
My son buried his face against my chest.
“I knew you'd come.”
I held him tightly.
“I will always come.”
Police arrested Melissa and Grant.
As they were led away, Melissa looked at me.
“This isn't over.”
I believed her.
Because she was right.
It wasn't.
Three days later, the toxicology report arrived.
The substance in the drink was identified.
A medication capable of causing severe neurological symptoms when combined with a common prescription drug.
The report showed something else.
Grant had taken both.
But Ethan had not.
The switch had saved him.
Lauren called me.
“There is more.”
“What?”
“The substance wasn't purchased recently.”
“How old?”
“Fourteen months.”
The same month Rachel died.
I sat down.
“Melissa didn't prepare that drink for Ethan last week.”
“No.”
“She had the substance since Rachel died.”
“Yes.”
“Then why wait?”
Lauren paused.
“Maybe she didn't.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe the plan started fourteen months ago.”
I looked at the photographs of Rachel.
Then I remembered the hospital.
The syringe.
The missing records.
The unexplained death.
My wife hadn't simply been killed.
Someone had spent fourteen months building a story around her death.
And I had been living inside it.
Then Detective Cole arrived.
He placed a sealed evidence bag on my table.
Inside was a phone.
“Where did you get this?”
“Grant's car.”
I looked at him.
“What's on it?”
“We haven't unlocked it.”
I stared at the phone.
Then my own phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man's voice said,
“David.”
I knew it immediately.
Jonathan.
Rachel's supposedly dead father.
“Where are you?”
“I've been waiting for you.”
“Why?”
“Because now that Melissa is arrested, we can finally talk.”
“About Rachel?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
A pause.
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“About why she died.”
The line went dead.
