Chapter 14 - Use Sarah
IF MARK SURVIVES, USE SARAH.
"What does that mean?" Mark demanded.
Ruiz did not guess.
Mercer was brought in for questioning.
But the documents around him were getting harder to explain.
And a draft guardianship petition sat on his computer.
It claimed I was unstable, financially reckless, and emotionally unfit.
The supporting "evidence" included photographs taken by Nolan Price.
Me crying in my car after my mother's funeral.
Me carrying wine into a friend's birthday dinner.
Me arguing with Mark in a parking lot.
Normal moments turned into a fake story.
"If Mark was removed," Ruiz explained carefully, "they could try to challenge your control over Chloe's assets."
Mark looked ready to explode.
"They were going to take my daughter."
"They were preparing paperwork," Ruiz said. "That is what we can say right now."
Then Mercer made a mistake.
He asked whether police had found the lake ledger.
Nobody had mentioned a ledger.
Ruiz leaned back.
"What lake ledger?"
Mercer stopped talking.
Officers reached the old Bennett cabin after dark.
It was empty.
But someone had been there recently.
Food in the refrigerator.
Warm ashes in the fireplace.
A laptop charger on the floor.
And a message written across the bathroom mirror in red lipstick.
FAMILY IS DEBT.
Mark stared at the photo.
"That was something Dad used to say."
"What did he mean?" I asked.
"He said family is a debt you pay with loyalty."
Dave frowned.
"Sounds like Vanessa took it differently."
Then Ruiz received another message.
A motion camera had triggered at a second cabin half a mile away.
One figure entered.
Then another.
The first was Vanessa.
The second was carrying a gasoline can.
Ruiz zoomed in.
May you like
Mark whispered the name before anyone else.
"Mom."
