Chapter 8 - The Missing Phone.
Daniel returned to Emily's room carrying a question he did not want to ask.
She was awake and eating ice chips.
The fetal monitor continued its steady rhythm beside her.
He sat down.
"Martin said something about last night."
Emily watched him carefully.
"What?"
"He thinks Ryan may not have caused the newest injuries."
Emily's face changed.
Daniel waited.
"Is that true?"
Her fingers tightened around the plastic cup.
"Ryan hurt me before."
Daniel nodded once.
"I understand."
"More than once."
"I understand."
"He grabbed me."
"He shoved me."
"He blocked doors."
"He took my phone."
"He made me think I was losing my mind."
Daniel's throat tightened.
Emily looked toward the window.
"But last night..."
She stopped.
"Last night what?"
"He wasn't the one who put the handprint on my stomach."
Daniel felt cold move through him again.
"Who did?"
Emily began to shake.
"Linda."
The name was almost soundless.
Daniel did not move.
"Tell me exactly what happened."
Emily stared at the ice melting in her cup.
"Ryan and I fought because I found the custody folder."
"He tried to take it from me."
"I ran to the bedroom."
"He grabbed my arm."
"I fell against the bed."
Daniel kept his breathing slow.
"Then?"
"He let go."
"He actually let go."
"He said he was done."
"He said he was going to tell you everything."
Daniel remembered the corridor footage.
Ryan left at 6:50.
He returned at 7:16 with the duffel bag.
"He left the apartment?"
Emily nodded.
"He said he needed proof first."
"He said Linda would destroy everything if she knew he was talking."
"Then Linda came."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"At 7:42."
Emily looked surprised.
"You know?"
"There is camera footage."
She nodded slowly.
"She asked where Ryan was."
"I told her I didn't know."
"She saw the custody papers in my hand."
Emily's face drained of color as the memory returned.
"She took them."
"I tried to get past her."
"She pushed me back toward the bed."
Daniel's hands clenched beneath the chair.
"Did you fall?"
"Yes."
"Then she grabbed me."
Emily covered her stomach with both hands.
"She pressed her hand here and told me I was going to ruin everything if I didn't calm down."
Daniel closed his eyes for a moment.
When he opened them, Emily was watching him.
"Dad, don't do anything stupid."
The sentence almost broke him.
"I won't."
"Promise me."
"I promise."
Emily took another breath.
"Ryan came back while she was still there."
"He had the black bag."
"He told Linda he copied everything from the office."
"She slapped him."
Daniel frowned.
"She hit Ryan?"
"Yes."
"Then they started arguing."
"Ryan said he was leaving with me."
"Linda said he couldn't because he had already signed too much."
"What did that mean?"
"I don't know."
"Then Ryan saw me on the floor."
Emily's expression became confused.
"For a second he looked scared."
"Really scared."
Daniel did not mistake fear for innocence.
A person could be guilty of terrible things and still be frightened by something worse.
"What happened when he saw you?"
"He told Linda to get away from me."
"She said I was pretending."
"He helped me onto the bed."
"Then he told me to say I fell if anyone asked."
Daniel's eyes hardened.
"So he still covered for her."
Emily nodded.
"He said if Linda went down, all of us would go down."
Daniel leaned back.
"All of us?"
"That's what he said."
A hospital staff member entered to check the monitor.
Daniel waited until they were alone again.
"What proof did Ryan bring back in the black bag?"
Emily shook her head.
"I never saw inside."
"Did he have another phone?"
Her eyes sharpened.
"Yes."
"A silver phone."
"Not one of the cheap black ones."
Daniel thought about the evidence inventory.
Two prepaid phones had been found in the bag.
No silver phone.
"Where is it now?"
Emily's face tightened.
"Linda took it."
"Are you sure?"
"I saw her put something silver in her purse before you came."
Daniel stood and called Turner.
The detective answered immediately.
Daniel explained.
Turner went quiet.
"We searched the apartment and Ryan's possessions."
"No silver phone."
"Linda left the precinct with only items she had when she arrived."
"Her purse?"
"Yes."
"Then the phone was with her."
Turner swore under his breath.
"If Ryan copied evidence onto it, that's what she was trying to move."
Daniel looked at Emily.
"Carol said Linda called her."
"Can we trace that call?"
"Working on it."
"And Dean?"
"No location yet."
Turner paused.
"But we found his car."
"Where?"
"Parking garage near the river."
"Empty."
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
"Any sign of the binder?"
"No."
After the call, Emily stared at her father.
"Dad, Ryan had one more hiding place."
Daniel sat back down.
"Where?"
"The nursery."
He frowned.
"We searched the apartment."
"Not where he hid things."
"He built a window seat under the nursery window."
"The left panel looks fixed."
"It isn't."
Daniel called Turner again.
By midmorning, investigators reopened the nursery search.
The room had pale green walls and a white crib still wrapped in protective plastic.
Stuffed animals lined one shelf.
A mobile of small wooden stars hung above the crib.
It looked like a room waiting for innocence.
The hidden panel beneath the window seat opened with pressure against a concealed latch.
Inside was a small metal box.
The box contained cash, copies of Emily's identification documents, a second set of apartment keys, and a microSD card taped beneath the lid.
There was also a handwritten note.
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS, GIVE THIS TO DANIEL.
The handwriting belonged to Ryan.
Turner called Daniel from the apartment.
"You need to hear what's on the card."
"What is it?"
"Audio and video files."
"From where?"
"Looks like Ryan recorded Linda."
Daniel's expression remained hard.
"Why?"
"Insurance, maybe."
"Or a conscience that showed up late."
Emily asked Daniel to sit before Turner played the files.
"I don't want you pacing," she said.
Daniel almost argued.
Then he sat.
The request was small, but he understood what she was doing.
For months other people had managed the temperature, the doors, the documents, the calls, and the explanations around her.
Now she was practicing control in harmless pieces.
Sit here.
Don't call him.
Tell me before you play it.
Bring Milo tomorrow.
Daniel followed each instruction without turning it into a lesson.
The hospital advocate had told him recovery often began long before a person felt recovered.
It could begin with being believed.
It could begin with choosing who entered a room.
It could begin with deciding when a recording played.
So when Turner said he had video from Ryan's car, Daniel looked at Emily first.
She nodded.
Only then did he tell Turner to continue.
The first video was recorded inside Ryan's car three weeks earlier.
Linda sat in the passenger seat.
Ryan's phone had apparently been propped near the dashboard.
Linda's voice was clear.
"Once Emily delivers, we file immediately."
Ryan answered.
"She won't agree."
Linda laughed.
"Agreement is not the point."
"The record will show she is unstable."
Ryan's face appeared briefly as he turned toward her.
"You said nobody would get hurt."
Linda's expression changed.
"Stop pretending you're innocent."
"You married her knowing why."
Ryan looked away.
"I didn't know it would be like this."
Linda leaned toward him.
"Then grow up."
The video ended.
The second file showed Dean Foster sitting in the same car.
Daniel felt his stomach tighten at the sight of his friend.
Dean looked exhausted.
"I can't keep pulling command records," Dean said.
Ryan's recorded voice answered from behind the camera.
"Then stop."
Dean laughed bitterly.
"Your mother promised me two million dollars."
"I'm not stopping with nothing."
Ryan said something that made Daniel lean closer.
"I don't care about the trust anymore."
Dean stared toward the windshield.
"You will when you see the real number."
The file ended.
Turner played the third recording.
This one was only audio.
Ryan sounded frightened.
"Linda, Emily found the custody papers."
Linda answered.
"Then take them back."
"I'm done taking things from her."
"Ryan."
"No."
"I mean it."
"I'm getting her out."
There was a long silence.
Then Linda spoke in a voice so calm it was worse than anger.
"If you walk away now, I will make sure Emily believes every bruise came from you."
Ryan's breathing became audible.
Linda continued.
"And with your history, who do you think they will believe?"
The recording stopped.
Daniel stared at the phone in his hand.
Ryan had abused Emily.
That truth had not changed.
But Linda had been collecting his violence too.
She had not merely tolerated what he did.
She had turned it into leverage.
The realization made the entire scheme more calculating than Daniel had imagined.
Turner spoke over the phone.
"There's one final file."
"Play it."
Static sounded.
Then Ryan's voice.
"If Daniel hears this, I probably failed."
Daniel's expression tightened.
"I did things to Emily I cannot defend."
"I told myself I was under pressure."
"I told myself Linda made me angry."
"That is a lie."
"I chose every time I grabbed her."
"I chose every time I scared her."
"Linda used me, but I let her because I wanted the money too."
Daniel listened without blinking.
Ryan continued.
"The silver phone has the messages that prove everything."
"I copied them from Linda's laptop."
"Dean knows about it."
"If Linda gets the phone, she'll destroy it."
A pause.
"The unlock code is Rebecca's birthday."
Daniel's heart stopped for a beat.
Ryan said the date.
April 27.
0427.
Emily's phone passcode.
Rebecca's birthday.
The recording ended.
Turner exhaled.
"Now we know why Linda wanted that phone."
Daniel looked out the hospital window.
"Find Dean before Linda does."
Turner was silent for a second.
"Why Dean?"
Daniel thought of the missing binder, the missing phone, and a man who had just learned that everyone intended to cheat him.
May you like
"Because if Ryan told him what was on that phone, Dean has seventy-four million reasons to trade it for the binder."
THE DOOR THAT LOCKED THEM IN
