Chapter 10 - The Man at the Funeral“He told me his name was Victor Lane.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Lane?”
Sarah nodded.
“At Dad’s funeral. Ryan introduced him as someone from an old insurance account.”
“Lang sometimes uses variations of his name socially.”
Detective Ruiz wrote it down.
Sarah felt violated in a new way.
Victor Lang had stood twenty feet from her father’s coffin.
He had shaken Ryan’s hand.
He had looked at Noah.
Noah had been five.
Had the plan started that far back?
Daniel seemed to read her face.
“Don’t assume every contact means the conspiracy was active.”
“He was at my father’s funeral.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t see him?”
“I did.”
Sarah looked at him.
“You knew?”
“I recognized him.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“Your father had just died.”
“That keeps being everyone’s excuse.”
Daniel flinched.
Sarah stood.
“My father knew. You knew. Ryan knew. Apparently half the world knew there was a predator circling my family except me.”
“You’re right.”
The lack of defense stopped her.
Daniel looked genuinely ashamed.
“Your father believed secrecy protected you. I supported that judgment. We were wrong.”
Sarah sat again.
Ruiz asked, “Did your father ever receive threats?”
Daniel answered.
“Yes.”
Sarah turned.
“From Lang?”
“We suspected.”
“What kind?”
“Calls. Messages. One break-in at his office where nothing obvious was stolen.”
“You never told me.”
“No.”
Sarah rubbed her temples.
“Was Dad’s death really natural?”
The room went silent.
Daniel looked startled.
“Sarah.”
“He died of a heart attack alone in his office.”
“Yes.”
“After being threatened by Victor Lang.”
Daniel chose his words carefully.
“There was no evidence of foul play.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No. I never believed Lang caused your father’s death.”
Sarah held his gaze.
“Never?”
Daniel paused.
“I had questions.”
The answer chilled her.
Ruiz stepped in.
“We don’t have grounds to connect Lang to your father’s death.”
“I understand.”
But now the question existed.
And once it existed, Sarah couldn’t erase it.
Her phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
YOU ARE MAKING THIS HARDER FOR NOAH.
Sarah immediately handed it to Ruiz.
Another message arrived.
A photograph.
This one showed Sarah entering the police station twenty-three minutes earlier.
Ruiz’s expression changed.
“They’re nearby.”
Officers moved quickly.
Security cameras were checked.
A dark SUV had been parked across the street.
Its plates were obscured.
Sarah stared at the image.
“I know that vehicle.”
Ruiz looked at her.
“Whose?”
“Diane has one like it.”
They contacted officers monitoring Diane’s location.
She was at Ryan’s house.
Her SUV was there.
So this was someone else.
Victor.
Or one of his people.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“We should move Sarah and Noah somewhere they can’t easily find.”
Ruiz agreed.
Sarah thought of Megan’s window.
“No family.”
“No.”
“Hotel?”
“Too easy if booked under your name.”
Daniel said, “I have access to an apartment used for out-of-town clients.”
Sarah almost objected.
Then she thought of Noah.
“Fine.”
Ruiz asked another question.
“Who knows where Megan lives?”
Sarah laughed bitterly.
“Ryan. Diane. Noah’s school. Half our Christmas card list.”
“Who knew you went there last night?”
“Ryan watched me pack.”
“So the photo may simply mean he told someone.”
Sarah looked toward her.
“Can police check whether Ryan contacted Lang after we left?”
“We’re working on warrants.”
Sarah nodded.
Then Daniel’s phone buzzed.
He read the screen and went completely still.
“What?” Sarah asked.
He turned the phone around.
An email from his office.
Emergency custody petition filed. Hearing scheduled Monday, 9:00 a.m.
Sarah’s chest tightened.
“Monday?”
Daniel nodded.
“They moved faster than I expected.”
“On what evidence?”
He opened the attachment.
As he read, his expression became darker.
“Sarah…”
“What?”
“They have photographs.”
“Of what?”
He handed her the phone.
The first photograph showed Noah standing alone outside a grocery store.
Sarah remembered the day.
She had gone back inside for thirty seconds because Noah left his water bottle at checkout.
The photo made him appear abandoned.
Another showed Noah crying in a parking lot.
That had been after he fell and scraped his palm.
Another showed Sarah holding his shoulders during an argument.
From the angle, it looked aggressive.
There were dozens.
Months of photographs.
Someone had been documenting them.
Then Sarah reached the witness list.
Linda Bennett.
Noah’s teacher.
An urgent care physician.
Diane.
And one name she never expected.
Megan Collins.
Sarah stared.
“My sister?”
Daniel took the phone.
“Her name is listed as a witness supporting Ryan.”
“That’s impossible.”
Then Sarah remembered the boxes.
Her father’s letters.
Megan had known where they were.
May you like
And suddenly a terrible question entered Sarah’s mind.
What if the conspiracy had been closer to her than she realized?
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