Chapter 5 - THE LAST THING SOPHIE TRIED TO TELL HIM
Adrian stared at Thomas Reid.
The room felt impossibly small.
“I remember her saying something,” he whispered.
Reid waited.
Adrian closed his eyes.
The winding road returned in fragments.
Gray clouds.
Wet pavement.
Vivian arguing about the flight.
Sophie asking to go home.
The phone vibrating against the center console.
Then his daughter's voice.
Daddy, the road.
He had told her to be quiet.
Not angrily.
Not cruelly, he had insisted to himself.
Just impatiently.
As though her fear were an interruption.
Adrian opened his eyes.
“I told her to stop talking.”
Reid's expression softened, but his voice remained steady.
“Then you need to tell the investigators.”
Adrian looked toward the window.
For nine days, he had blamed the weather.
The steep road.
Vivian's pressure.
The sudden curve.
Everything except the man holding the steering wheel.
Now there was nowhere left to hide.
“I will,” he said.
But before he could leave, Reid stopped him.
“There's something else.”
Adrian turned.
“At the scene, Miss Cole insisted she needed to retrieve a handbag from the vehicle.”
Adrian frowned.
“Her handbag?”
“She said it contained important medication.”
“Did you let her?”
“No. The vehicle was unstable.”
Reid paused.
“But she became very upset when she learned the vehicle had an internal recording system.”
Adrian's blood turned cold.
His SUV was equipped with a security camera system installed after threats against his family.
A dash camera recorded the road.
A second camera recorded the cabin.
The system had been upgraded six months earlier.
Adrian had forgotten about it.
“Where are the recordings?”
“Police investigators requested them from your security contractor.”
Adrian felt a wave of dread.
The contractor was a company managed by one of his own executives.
And that executive had been appointed on Daniel Mercer's recommendation.
Meanwhile, Claire sat across from Eleanor in Margaret Flynn's apartment.
Eleanor had arrived carrying Sophie's bracelet in a small velvet pouch.
Claire didn't reach for it immediately.
She stared at the blue star.
“Did Vivian give it back?”
“No,” Eleanor answered. “Adrian's security chief collected it.”
Claire finally took the bracelet.
The metal was cold against her palm.
She remembered fastening it around Sophie's wrist before school.
“Grandma says stars don't get lost,” Sophie had said.
Claire had kissed her forehead.
“Then keep yours close.”
Now Claire pressed the bracelet against her lips.
Eleanor watched silently.
After a while, Claire asked, “Does Adrian know where I am?”
“No.”
“Did he ask you?”
“Yes.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That you deserved to be left alone.”
Claire nodded.
Then she looked at Eleanor.
“Why are you helping me?”
Eleanor's eyes filled.
“Because I watched my son become a man who believed providing money was the same as providing love.”
Claire said nothing.
“I told myself he would change when Sophie was born.”
Eleanor looked toward the urn.
“But he kept missing birthdays and recitals. He sent presents instead of showing up. And I kept making excuses because I didn't want to admit what kind of father he was becoming.”
Claire's voice was small.
“Sophie loved him.”
“I know.”
“She waited for him every night.”
Eleanor wiped her cheek.
“That is what makes this so terrible.”
Claire opened the velvet pouch again.
A tiny scratch marked the back of the blue star.
She remembered Sophie accidentally scraping it against the playground fence.
Then she noticed something else.
A faint line ran along the edge of the charm.
“Eleanor, did you know this opens?”
Eleanor frowned.
“What?”
Claire held it closer.
The star had a narrow seam.
Using her thumbnail, she carefully twisted the two halves.
The charm opened.
Inside was a tiny folded photograph.
Sophie, Claire, and Eleanor stood together outside the Chicago Children's Museum.
Claire stared in astonishment.
Eleanor gave a trembling smile.
“I put that inside before her birthday. I wanted her to carry a picture of the people who would always come when she needed them.”
Claire started crying again.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Eleanor noticed something on the inside surface of the charm.
A dark smear.
And beneath it, a tiny scratch that looked fresh.
Claire frowned.
“Was that there before?”
“No.”
Eleanor leaned closer.
“It looks as though someone tried to pry it open.”
Claire went still.
Vivian had taken the bracelet.
Vivian had kept it for more than a week.
And Vivian had apparently tried to open the charm.
“Why would she do that?” Claire whispered.
Eleanor had no answer.
That evening, Adrian returned to his house and summoned Marcus.
“Who controls the SUV recordings?”
“DeLuca Protective Services.”
“Who manages their data?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Graham Ellis.”
Adrian frowned.
Graham had worked for the family for twelve years.
He had handled sensitive communications, surveillance contracts, and emergency security procedures.
“Bring him in.”
Marcus shifted uneasily.
“Mr. Ellis resigned yesterday.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Why wasn't I told?”
“He submitted his resignation through corporate administration. Said he was moving to Arizona.”
“Find him.”
Marcus nodded.
“And Marcus?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Don't use company channels.”
Marcus looked surprised.
Adrian lowered his voice.
“Someone inside my organization has been keeping information from me.”
Across town, Claire received a visit from Mrs. Parker.
The teacher carried a small cardboard box.
“These were in Sophie's classroom cubby,” she said.
Claire opened it.
Inside were crayons, a library book, a pink hair clip, and a small toy camera.
Claire recognized it immediately.
Sophie had received the camera for Christmas.
She loved taking pictures of ordinary things.
Her shoes.
Her breakfast.
The family dog they had lost the previous year.
Mrs. Parker smiled sadly.
“She brought it for show-and-tell.”
Claire turned it on.
The screen flickered.
There were dozens of pictures.
Sophie with her classmates.
Sophie holding a paper snowflake.
A blurry photograph of the playground.
Then Claire found a picture taken outside Adrian's office.
Vivian stood beside a silver sedan.
Daniel Mercer stood next to her.
Claire's pulse quickened.
She scrolled forward.
The next photograph showed Mercer handing Vivian a thick white envelope.
On the envelope was the logo of DeLuca Protective Services.
Claire looked at Eleanor.
“Why was my daughter photographing these people?”
Eleanor stared at the image.
“Claire, look at the date.”
The picture had been taken four days before the accident.
Another photograph appeared.
This one showed Adrian standing beside the same silver sedan.
He was speaking to Mercer.
And in his hand was a familiar object.
A small black recording device.
Claire recognized it from Adrian's security office.
Eleanor whispered, “That's the removable storage module from his SUV.”
Claire felt the floor shift beneath her.
The final photograph made both women fall silent.
It showed Mercer leaning into the car while Vivian watched.
On the seat lay a printed itinerary.
Claire enlarged the image.
At the top were two passenger names.
ADRIAN DELUCA.
VIVIAN COLE.
But beneath them was another reservation.
A child's seat.
May you like
And the passenger name printed beside it was unmistakable.
SOPHIE DELUCA.
