Chapter 11 - The Woman Who Wasn't Lydia
The anonymous message silenced everyone in the room.
Stop looking for Emma... unless you want Claire to disappear next.
Detective Mercer read it twice.
Then he handed the phone to Agent Torres.
"No response."
"No tracing attempt from this device."
"They're expecting that."
Torres nodded.
"I'll have Cyber Crimes work on it."
"But I doubt they used a normal phone."
Rebecca Lawson looked at me.
"They know exactly where we are in this investigation."
I felt my stomach tighten.
"How?"
No one answered.
Because every possibility was bad.
Someone inside law enforcement.
Someone inside the District Attorney's Office.
Or someone close enough to overhear confidential conversations.
Mercer looked around the room.
"From this point forward, every detail stays inside this team."
"No emails."
"No unsecured phone calls."
"No exceptions."
Everyone agreed.
But I noticed something.
One detective standing near the back of the room quietly avoided eye contact.
His name tag read Sullivan.
He had barely spoken since arriving.
Yet he seemed unusually interested in everything Mercer said.
Before I could think more about it, the school technician interrupted.
"Detective."
"I found another camera."
Mercer turned.
"What kind of camera?"
"The grocery store across the street."
"It has a better angle."
Twenty minutes later, we were watching the new footage.
The silver SUV remained parked at the curb.
Emma climbed into the back seat.
The woman everyone believed was Lydia closed the door.
Then she removed her sunglasses.
The room went completely still.
It wasn't Lydia.
Not even close.
The resemblance had been enough to fool school staff from a distance.
But on the clearer video...
The differences were obvious.
Different jawline.
Different nose.
Different eyes.
Rebecca crossed her arms.
"So she was wearing a disguise."
Agent Torres nodded.
"A very good one."
Mercer replayed the footage frame by frame.
"Wait."
He pointed toward the driver's seat.
"There."
A man climbed behind the wheel.
Only the side of his face was visible.
The technician sharpened the image.
I froze.
"I know him."
Mercer looked at me.
"Who is he?"
I swallowed hard.
"His name is Ethan."
"Ethan Cole."
"The attorney."
Rebecca frowned.
"The one who disappeared?"
I nodded.
"He prepared the fake property transfer."
The room erupted with questions.
Mercer raised a hand.
"Quiet."
He looked back at me.
"You're certain?"
"I met him once."
"Adrian introduced him as one of the firm's real estate attorneys."
"He smiled the entire meeting."
"He barely spoke."
"But I'll never forget his face."
Mercer leaned back.
"So Ethan Cole never vanished."
"He just changed sides."
Rebecca opened her laptop.
"I'm checking financial records."
Within minutes, she looked up.
"Interesting."
"What?"
"Ethan Cole officially resigned from Harrison & Cole."
"So?"
"He also withdrew every dollar from his retirement account."
"When?"
"The morning after preparing Claire's transfer documents."
Mercer nodded slowly.
"He wasn't running."
"He was being relocated."
Agent Torres looked thoughtful.
"Or paid."
Just then, another officer rushed into the room.
"Detective."
"The forensic lab finished examining the forged deed."
Mercer accepted the report.
"What did they find?"
The officer smiled for the first time all day.
"A fingerprint."
My heartbeat quickened.
"Whose?"
"It wasn't Adrian's."
"It wasn't Claire's."
"It wasn't Ethan Cole's."
Mercer frowned.
"Then who?"
The officer turned the report around.
A single name appeared.
Charles Caldwell.
The room became silent.
Rebecca looked stunned.
"The family patriarch personally handled the forged deed."
Mercer slowly nodded.
"So much for claiming he knew nothing."
Before anyone could say another word, Mercer's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
"Mercer."
The call lasted less than thirty seconds.
When it ended, his expression had completely changed.
"What happened?"
Rebecca asked.
Mercer looked at all of us.
"Victor Kane is dead."
A heavy silence settled over the room.
"The burglar?"
Agent Torres asked.
Mercer nodded.
"They found his body inside an abandoned warehouse near Oakland."
My pulse raced.
"How did he die?"
Mercer looked down at his notes.
"Single gunshot wound."
"Execution style."
No one spoke.
The implication was obvious.
Someone was eliminating witnesses.
First Ethan disappeared.
Now Victor was dead.
Who would be next?
Mercer quietly folded the report.
"Victor was killed sometime last night."
Rebecca frowned.
"Before he could talk."
"Exactly."
Agent Torres looked toward the map pinned to the wall.
"They're cleaning up."
Mercer nodded.
"And they're getting faster."
Just then, Sullivan—the quiet detective in the back of the room—excused himself.
"I need some fresh air."
Mercer barely acknowledged him.
"Don't go far."
Sullivan nodded and walked outside.
I happened to glance through the window.
Instead of walking toward the parking lot...
He pulled out his phone.
Looked over his shoulder.
Then whispered into it.
"I found them."
My heart stopped.
He wasn't making a personal call.
He was reporting our location.
And before I could warn anyone...
A black SUV slowly turned onto the street.
May you like
It wasn't a police vehicle.
It was coming straight toward the school.
