Chapter 8 - The Call Diana Made.
We left Ames's office with copies of everything and a new problem.
The custody case was no longer separate from Leah's death.
That did not mean Diana had caused the crash.
I repeated that to myself until the words lost meaning.
It meant she had motive to pressure Leah.
It meant Leah had been worried about custody months before there was any reason for me to be.
It meant Diana had access to a prepaid phone Leah may have called minutes before dying.
And it meant the accident file had vanished from my house less than twelve hours after Emma mentioned the photograph.
Those facts did not prove one terrible conclusion.
But they were too connected to ignore.
Detective Price met us outside my house when we returned.
He had a paper cup of coffee in one hand and an expression that told me he had not come to deliver good news.
"Rachel disappeared," he said.
Megan stopped walking.
"What do you mean disappeared?"
"She left the station after speaking with counsel. We arranged for an officer to drive by her apartment. Her car isn't there. Her phone is off."
"Did you tell her not to leave?"
"She wasn't under arrest."
"Was she threatened?"
"She said she was afraid."
My stomach tightened.
"Of Diana."
"Yes."
"Then why let her walk out alone?"
Price's jaw tightened.
"Because adults who are not detained can leave police stations, Daniel."
I knew he was right.
I still hated it.
"Do you think Diana got to her?"
"We don't know."
"What about Rachel's lawyer?"
"He can't reach her either."
Megan asked, "Did she sign a formal recantation?"
"Yes."
"Under oath?"
"Sworn statement."
That was something.
Maybe enough for Monday.
Price looked toward the house.
"We also got preliminary data from the archived phone investigation."
Every muscle in my body tightened.
"Leah's last call?"
"Yes."
We went inside.
Kate took Emma upstairs so Price could speak freely.
He opened a folder on the dining table.
"The prepaid number was never registered to a subscriber, but the carrier retained old tower-routing records longer than anyone realized because the data became part of litigation involving that network."
"Can you locate the phone?"
"Not precisely."
"How close?"
"The night Leah died, the phone connected through a tower sector covering the Holloway estate and part of the neighboring ridge."
I stared at him.
"Diana's house."
"Possibly. The coverage area is several square miles."
"Was Diana home?"
"According to her original statement after the crash, yes."
I looked at Megan.
"So Leah called Diana."
Price raised a hand.
"The tower does not prove who held the phone."
"Rachel heard Leah's voicemail on a prepaid phone in Diana's desk."
"Rachel says she did."
"And Leah called Mom in the voicemail."
"Yes."
"How many coincidences do you need?"
Price did not flinch.
"Enough to survive court."
Megan gave me a pointed look.
I sat down.
"What else?"
Price turned the page.
"The prepaid phone placed one outgoing call seven minutes after Leah's crash."
"To who?"
"A landline."
"Whose?"
Price looked at me.
"Charles Voss."
I stopped breathing.
"Diana's lawyer."
"His private office line."
"At nine thirty-eight at night."
"Yes."
Megan's face hardened.
"Was Voss representing Diana then?"
"We don't know yet."
"Find out."
"We are."
I stood again.
"The phone Leah called contacted Voss minutes after she crashed."
"Correct."
"And the same lawyer is now helping Diana take Emma."
"Correct."
"Tell me not to jump to conclusions."
Price looked at me steadily.
"Don't jump to conclusions."
I almost smiled despite everything.
Then he slid another document across the table.
"There's more."
I looked at the page.
A phone record.
"The prepaid phone also called Northstar Family Services twice in the week before Leah died."
Megan took the paper.
"Victor Holloway's company."
"Yes."
The circle tightened again.
Diana.
Voss.
Northstar.
Leah.
Now Emma.
"Can we reopen the crash investigation?" I asked.
Price's expression changed.
"It never closed in the way you think."
"What does that mean?"
"The death was ruled accidental, but records can be reviewed when new information appears."
"Is this new information?"
"Yes."
The word hit me harder than I expected.
For two years, I had trained myself to live with an accident.
Now a detective was telling me that the last call deserved another look.
"I need to know what happened," I said.
"I know."
"No."
I looked at him.
"I need to know before Diana uses Leah against Emma again."
Price nodded.
"Then let me do my job."
He packed the records away.
Before he left, he stopped at the door.
"And one more thing."
I closed my eyes.
"Go ahead."
"Voss filed a supplemental exhibit in the custody case twenty minutes ago."
Megan immediately reached for her laptop.
"What exhibit?"
"Video."
My pulse jumped.
"From the garden camera?"
"No."
"Then what?"
Price looked uncomfortable.
"Doorbell footage from your house three weeks ago."
I frowned.
"What does it show?"
"You arguing with Diana on the porch."
I remembered.
She had shown up unannounced and criticized me for refusing to let Emma spend an entire week at the estate.
I had told her to stop treating my daughter like a possession.
"That wasn't violent."
"The clip is forty-three seconds."
Megan found the filing and opened it.
We watched.
The video began with Diana saying, "You're isolating her from her family."
Then it jumped.
I was suddenly closer to the camera.
My face looked furious.
"Stay away from my daughter," I said.
Then another jump.
Diana stepped backward.
"You're frightening me."
The video ended.
I stared at the screen.
"That's edited."
"Clearly," Megan said.
"The full recording shows what happened before and after."
I opened the doorbell app.
My account loaded.
The recording from that date was missing.
Of course it was.
"They deleted mine."
Megan checked the cloud dashboard.
"Maybe not permanently."
Price said, "Get your technician on it."
Aaron arrived remotely within minutes and began working.
Megan downloaded Voss's exhibit to preserve the exact file.
Then her phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
"Charles Voss."
She answered on speaker.
"Megan."
His voice was smooth and almost friendly.
"Charles."
"I thought we might save everyone some unnecessary trauma tomorrow."
Megan leaned back.
"How generous."
"Diana is willing to withdraw her request for sole temporary custody."
I stared at Megan.
"In exchange for what?" she asked.
"A structured arrangement."
"Meaning?"
"Emma resides at the Holloway estate for thirty days while Daniel completes an independent parenting assessment."
I mouthed no.
Megan did not look at me.
"And after thirty days?"
"We reassess."
"What else?"
Voss paused.
"Daniel agrees not to request or receive any trust accounting on Emma's behalf during that period."
There it was.
Not hidden.
Not subtle.
The trust.
Megan's voice stayed perfectly calm.
"Why would custody of a four-year-old require a waiver involving financial records?"
Voss was silent for half a second too long.
"Because the financial dispute is inflaming family tensions."
"Interesting."
"Megan, don't make this more difficult than it is."
"Your client left a sick four-year-old outside in a locked enclosure during a storm."
"That characterization is contested."
"Is the rain contested too?"
Voss's voice cooled.
"Daniel struck a seventy-year-old woman."
I clenched my jaw.
"And we have a witness who says he made a death threat."
Megan smiled faintly.
"Do you?"
Voss went quiet.
Rachel's recantation had not reached him yet.
Megan understood that immediately.
"Withdraw the petition, Charles."
"No."
"Then I'll see you at nine."
"Before you decide, ask Daniel whether he really wants the court discussing Leah's final night in open proceedings."
My stomach turned.
Megan's expression became still.
"Is that a threat?"
"It's advice."
"Bad advice."
She hung up.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Then Aaron called from the computer.
"I recovered the original doorbell video."
Megan moved to the screen.
"Play it."
The full recording began.
Diana accused me of keeping Emma away because I was jealous of the Holloway family.
I told her Emma was not a trophy.
Diana stepped closer and said something I had forgotten.
"You already took Leah from me. I will not let you take Emma too."
Then I said, "Stay away from my daughter until you can respect boundaries."
I never advanced toward her.
I never raised a hand.
She never stepped backward in fear.
The edited exhibit had moved pieces of the conversation to manufacture menace.
Megan saved the recovery log.
"This is good," she said.
Then Aaron frowned at his screen.
"Wait."
"What?"
"The original recording was deleted using an authorized shared account."
"Which one?"
He looked at me.
"Nora Jensen."
Emma's current babysitter.
The one person I had been certain Diana could not have recruited.
At that exact moment, Kate called from upstairs.
"Daniel?"
Something in her voice made me run.
Emma's bedroom was empty.
The window was closed.
The hallway was empty.
Kate stood beside the bed, white-faced.
"She was right here."
I heard the back door alarm chime downstairs.
Then my phone buzzed with a message from Nora.
I'M SORRY.
May you like
The next message appeared before I could breathe.
I HAD TO TAKE EMMA SOMEWHERE SAFE.
