Chapter 4 - What Maisie Heard
Graham did not sleep that night.
Maisie did, but only after checking the lock on her bedroom door twice.
That broke something in him.
At sunrise, Detective Ruiz returned with a child-interview specialist. They spoke with Maisie in the playroom while Graham watched through an open doorway.
The specialist kept her voice gentle.
"Did Miss Sloane ever tell you why she wanted you to go to Hawthorne Ridge?"
Maisie colored a yellow sun with a blue crayon.
"She said Daddy needed a new family."
Graham's throat closed.
"Did she say anything else?"
"She said I make him sad because I look like Mommy."
Graham turned away for a second.
Julia had been dead for two years. Maisie had her eyes.
The specialist continued. "Did you hear Miss Sloane talk to anyone about the papers?"
Maisie nodded.
"A man came when Daddy was gone."
"Do you know his name?"
"Doctor Crane."
Sam Pike looked up sharply.
That name appeared on the Hawthorne Ridge intake packet as the physician who had supposedly evaluated Maisie.
But no doctor named Crane had ever examined her.
June, the nanny, entered carrying a small white camera.
"I forgot about this," she said. "It's the old nursery monitor. I stopped using it months ago, but it still saves motion clips to the cloud."
They opened the account.
Most recordings had been deleted.
One had not.
The timestamp was 3:07 a.m. on the night Graham was in Chicago.
Sloane entered Graham's study with a laptop under one arm.
A man followed her.
His face stayed out of view, but his voice was clear.
"Once the wedding is signed, the trust barrier drops."
Sloane answered, "And once the child is placed, nobody can accuse me of pushing her out myself."
The man laughed softly.
Then he stepped under the camera.
Sam leaned closer to the screen.
"That's not Dr. Crane."
Graham recognized the face immediately.
It was Nolan Price.
May you like
His best friend.
And the man scheduled to stand beside him as best man.
