Chapter 17 - ETHAN'S CHOICE
Daniel turned off the television.
"They can say whatever they want," he told Ethan. "Our job is to tell the truth."
"What if nobody believes us?"
Daniel sat beside him. "Then we tell it again."
The case moved fast because Claire's bail was revoked after the kidnapping. A grand jury returned charges for kidnapping, child endangerment, fraud, conspiracy, and obstruction. The reopened investigation into Lily's death remained separate.
Prosecutors did not want Ethan on a public witness stand.
Neither did Daniel.
But Ethan surprised everyone.
"I want to talk," he told the child advocate.
Daniel shook his head. "You don't owe anyone that."
"I know."
"You don't have to be brave for me."
Ethan looked annoyed. "Dad, I'm not doing it for you."
Daniel almost smiled.
Ethan continued, "I'm doing it because Claire says stuff didn't happen when it did. I want somebody official to hear me."
The judge approved a closed, recorded interview instead of open-court testimony.
Ethan described the rules. The fake messages. The way Claire used Lily's death to frighten him into silence.
Then the prosecutor asked, "Did Mrs. Mercer ever tell you why she wanted your mother's letters?"
Ethan nodded.
"She said Mom hid proof in a blue box."
The prosecutor glanced at Harris.
"Did you ever see the box?"
"When I was little. Mom kept it in the old house."
Daniel had already searched every storage unit he owned.
No box.
Then Ethan added something nobody expected.
"After Mom died, Claire came to our old house."
Daniel's head lifted.
"Claire?"
The child advocate gently asked, "Are you sure?"
"I didn't know her name then. Dad was at the funeral place with Aunt Rachel. I was with Grandma. A lady came to the door and said she was helping Dad. Grandma let her in."
Daniel felt cold.
"What did she take?" the prosecutor asked.
Ethan thought.
"A blue box."
Harris immediately contacted Daniel's former mother-in-law.
She remembered the woman.
More important, she remembered the car.
"Silver," she said. "And there was a dent on the front passenger side. Fresh one."
Harris looked at Grant.
"Find that car."
A DMV search showed Claire sold it two weeks after Lily's death.
The buyer still owned it.
May you like
And the dent had never been repaired.
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