Chapter 14 - THE INSIDE MAN
A detention officer had entered his holding area under a false transport request.
When another guard questioned the paperwork, the man ran.
His name was Deputy Aaron Pike.
Sarah felt stupid for being surprised.
Of course Linda had someone inside.
People like her didn’t build schemes with paperwork alone.
Harris traced Pike’s patrol history.
He had responded to Rebecca’s crash five years earlier.
He had also signed the incident report stating there was “no evidence of another vehicle.”
Paul stood so fast his chair fell.
“He was there?”
“And he was the officer who served Sarah’s protective order.”
He had seen the messages and said almost nothing.
Pike had been inside her house while evidence sat upstairs.
“Where is he now?”
“Gone.”
By noon, prosecutors had enough to hold Linda on conspiracy, fraud, false imprisonment, evidence tampering, and other charges.
Ray was arrested leaving a private airfield.
Jason remained in custody.
Sarah should have felt relief.
She returned home with police escort to collect clothes for Miles.
The house smelled like smoke and wet drywall.
Miles walked beside her holding Tessa’s hand.
“Can we sleep here?”
“Not yet, baby.”
“Because Daddy broke it?”
“Some things got broken.”
“Can they fix it?”
Sarah looked at the walls.
“Yes.”
She hoped he meant the house.
In the office, she found something investigators had missed.
“That’s Daddy’s secret number.”
“For what?”
“The little safe.”
“What little safe?”
Miles led her to the closet and pointed at an air vent.
Sarah called Harris before touching it.
There was also a ticket to Mexico City for Wednesday.
Sarah stared at the empty space where her name should have been.
A notarized consent form allowing Jason to travel internationally with Miles.
The signature at the bottom read:
Sarah Mitchell.
Forged again.
May you like
Jason had not only planned to throw her out.
He had planned to take her son out of the country.
