Chapter 5
Ruiz arrived alone.
She photographed the message and checked every room.
No fingerprints had been left.
“Tell me about the man at the park,” she said.
I described him.
Ruiz showed me photographs from the police department website.
I pointed at Officer Grant Hale.
Her partner went silent.
“Hale works under Mercer,” she said.
Rebecca crossed her arms.
“So do you.”
“I don’t work for him anymore.”
Ruiz explained that Internal Affairs had been investigating missing evidence from old cases.
Mercer’s name appeared in three complaints.
All three complainants later withdrew them.
One had disappeared.
“Why was he allowed to arrest Daniel?” Rebecca asked.
“Because someone produced new evidence in Sarah’s death.”
“What evidence?”
“A wrench with Daniel’s fingerprints and traces of brake fluid. It was found in his Chicago suitcase.”
I remembered Dad setting that suitcase beside the door.
Melissa had stared at it before the police arrived.
“He flew home,” I said. “How could a wrench be inside without airport security finding it?”
“A wrench is legal in checked baggage,” Ruiz replied.
“But Dad didn’t check his suitcase. He carried it onto the plane.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Can you prove that?”
I opened Dad’s travel app on the family tablet.
His boarding pass showed one carry-on and no checked baggage.
Ruiz photographed the screen.
“That matters.”
“Melissa planted it when he came inside,” I said.
“She didn’t have time,” Rebecca replied.
Dad had walked through the door only seconds before the police.
Noah tugged my sleeve.
“Someone brought the suitcase home.”
I looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“Dad didn’t carry it inside.”
My memory had blurred in the panic.
Dad had entered with his laptop bag.
The suitcase had been beside the hallway table.
“Melissa said the airline delivered it,” Noah continued. “She told me not to touch it.”
Ruiz called the airline.
The luggage tag on the suitcase did not belong to Dad’s flight.
It had been printed at a private counter that morning.
The employee identification number belonged to no current employee.
Rebecca’s phone rang.
It was the county jail.
Dad had been attacked.
We drove to the hospital under police escort.
A guard stood outside Dad’s room.
Rebecca demanded to see him.
The guard refused until Ruiz spoke with the supervising officer.
When I finally entered, Dad had stitches above his eye.
His hands were chained to the bed.
Noah climbed beside him.
Dad pressed his forehead against Noah’s hair.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I asked.
“For not believing you.”
His voice broke.
“You tried to tell me Melissa was cruel. I kept saying she was stressed.”
I wanted to yell at him.
Instead, I started crying.
“You left us with her.”
“I know.”
He didn’t defend himself.
That hurt more.
Rebecca asked about the blue box.
Dad looked toward the door.
“Sarah believed someone inside my company was moving money through fake contractors. The night she died, she called me from the car.”
“You told police she never called,” Rebecca said.
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Sarah told me Melissa was following her.”
I stared at him.
“Melissa knew Mom before she died?”
Dad shut his eyes.
“She was your mother’s closest friend.”
The door opened.
Mercer entered.
He ordered us out.
Ruiz refused to move.
Mercer placed a hand on his weapon.
“This prisoner is in my custody.”
Dad’s hospital monitor began beeping faster.
Mercer leaned close to him.
“You should’ve stayed quiet five years ago.”
May you like
Ruiz’s body camera faced them both.
For the first time, Mercer looked afraid.
