Chapter 14 - MY PASSPORT
I hadn't seen my passport in months.
I thought it was in the fireproof box in our bedroom closet.
Daniel had taken it.
"Don't touch anything," I told Rachel. "Leave if you can do it safely."
She whispered, "The deadbolt is loud."
Maya called Tampa police while I stayed on the line.
For nine minutes, Rachel barely spoke.
I could hear a television playing in the background.
Then a man's voice.
Daniel.
"Who are you talking to?"
Rachel went silent.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"Rachel?"
Daniel's voice came closer.
"Give me the phone."
The line cut out.
I called back. No answer.
Again. No answer.
The next twelve minutes felt like twelve hours.
Then Maya's phone rang.
Police had arrived.
Daniel was arrested in the condo parking lot after trying to leave through the rear stairwell.
Rachel was shaken but unharmed.
Officers found my passport, forty-three thousand dollars in cash, Robert's forged signature files, and three prepaid phones.
They also found a one-way airline reservation for Mexico City.
Departure: 6:10 a.m.
For two people.
The second ticket was in my name.
"Why would he book you a ticket?" Robert asked.
Maya looked at the evidence list.
"To create a trail. If money disappeared and Emily appeared to leave the country with Daniel, he could tell a very different story."
My skin crawled.
He wasn't only planning to run.
He was planning to make me look involved.
By morning, Daniel faced fraud, forgery, theft, attempted arson, and more.
Margaret still insisted he was innocent.
She gave a television interview outside the courthouse.
"My son is being destroyed by a vindictive woman who manipulated my husband."
The clip spread online.
Then the reporter asked one simple question.
"Mrs. Whitmore, did you slap Emily on Christmas night?"
Margaret smiled.
"A mother has the right to correct family."
May you like
The video went viral before lunch.
And someone from my past saw it.
