Chapter 14 - He Came for the Baby
Police placed officers outside my temporary residence.
I still did not sleep.
Richard knew where I worked, who I trusted, and how I thought. He also knew the one thing more valuable to me than Hayes Technologies.
My daughter.
At 3:17 a.m., an alarm sounded downstairs.
I sat upright.
A deputy shouted.
Glass broke.
Evelyn pulled me into the bathroom and locked the door while officers searched the house.
Nobody found Richard.
They found something worse.
The nursery window was open.
On the changing table sat the old ultrasound photo Richard once kept in his wallet.
Across it, written in black marker:
YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME.
My knees weakened.
Marcus arrived before sunrise.
"This was not him."
"How do you know?"
"Richard's car crossed a toll reader ninety miles south at 3:05."
"Then who was in my house?"
Marcus showed me the security image.
A person in a hood entered through the side garden.
The face was hidden.
But one detail was visible.
A silver bracelet.
Claire stared at the image and whispered, "I know that bracelet."
"Whose?"
She looked sick.
"Rebecca's."
I almost snapped at her.
"Rebecca is dead."
Claire shook her head.
"No. I saw her wearing that bracelet six months ago."
The room fell silent.
Marcus leaned forward.
"Where?"
May you like
Claire swallowed.
"In Richard's office."
