Chapter 16 - THE WINDOW WITH THE BLUE CURTAINS
Theo moved Maya and Rosa before sunset. I didn't argue. For once, admitting I needed help was easier than pretending I could protect everyone by giving orders.
Julian, still weak, stayed under hospital care with officers nearby. He called Maya on a secure video connection.
"Daddy!" she cried, pressing Captain Buttons against the screen. "Rabbit missed you."
"I missed Rabbit," he said, laughing and crying at the same time. "And I missed you more."
"Grandma scared the bad lady."
"Grandma is very good at that."
I looked away so he wouldn't see my tears.
Quinn had issued alerts for Vanessa. Mercer's lawyers claimed he was on business travel, but his accounts were being examined and his known properties were under surveillance.
That night, Rosa found a folded card tucked inside Maya's winter coat. It hadn't been there when she packed it.
The card showed a photograph of a nursery window with blue curtains. On the back was a line written in careful block letters:
TELL GRANDMA TO COME HOME ALONE.
It was the window of my old nursery at the estate. Vanessa had been inside the safe house, or someone working for her had gotten close enough to touch a child's coat.
I wanted to drive straight to the mansion and confront her. Quinn told me not to.
"We'll search the estate," she said. "No grand entrances this time."
"She knows exactly which button to push."
"Then don't let her push it."
We arranged for Maya to stay in a professionally secured location while officers searched the estate. I went to the police station, not the mansion. I sat beneath fluorescent lights and waited for news with a paper cup of terrible coffee.
Near midnight, Quinn came out of an interview room holding a photograph.
"We found Vanessa's phone," she said. "It was abandoned at the estate."
"And Vanessa?"
May you like
Quinn shook her head.
"No. But whoever was watching the nursery was not looking through the window. They were inside the room."
