Chapter 4 - Tuesday at 4:17Detective Ortiz requested financial-crimes investigators before Emma had finished speaking.
By early afternoon, two additional detectives were reviewing Wade Bennett's companies, Daniel's business, and every account Linda could legally access.
Sarah barely cared about the money.
Someone could have stolen every dollar the Millers possessed and she would have handed them the keys to the house if it meant Emma had never been touched.
But the money explained one thing.
Emma hadn't simply discovered an affair.
She had stumbled into a crime.
Ortiz returned after speaking with her supervisors.
“We need to reconstruct Tuesday.”
Emma was tired.
The doctor agreed to ten minutes.
Sarah sat beside her.
“Start after school, sweetheart.”
Emma closed her eyes as if looking backward.
“Daddy picked me up.”
Daniel nodded.
They had left Emma's elementary school at 3:38 p.m.
Daniel drove home, received a work call, and went into his home office.
Sarah had been at a dentist appointment in Franklin.
Linda was downstairs.
“At 4:10,” Ortiz said, checking the smart-doorbell logs, “Emma went through the side door.”
Emma nodded.
“I wanted my markers.”
“What happened next?”
“I heard Grandma laughing.”
Emma had approached Linda's bedroom.
The door was partially open.
Wade Bennett stood inside.
His suit jacket lay across a chair.
Linda was kissing him.
Emma giggled.
“I thought Grandma had a boyfriend.”
Linda turned.
Her smile vanished.
Wade reacted differently.
“He said a bad word.”
“What word?”
Emma looked at Sarah.
Sarah shook her head.
“You don't have to repeat it.”
“He asked how long I was standing there.”
“And what did you say?”
“Just a little.”
Linda crossed the room quickly.
Emma remembered her grandmother kneeling in front of her.
“Sweetheart, you can't tell Daddy.”
“Why?”
“Because grown-ups have complicated relationships.”
Emma hadn't understood.
“But I said Mom would think it was funny.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
Linda had known immediately that Emma would tell.
Then Emma noticed the blue bags.
Two large duffel bags sat open near the dresser.
Stacks of cash were visible inside.
On the bed were folders.
One contained a printed statement with Daniel Miller's name.
Emma could read well for seven.
She recognized her father's name.
“I asked why Daddy's paper was there.”
Wade stopped moving.
Linda looked at him.
That moment changed everything.
“What happened?” Ortiz asked.
“Mr. Bennett closed the door.”
Sarah's grip tightened around Emma's hand.
“He asked if I touched anything.”
“Had you?”
Emma hesitated.
“I picked up the red thing.”
“What red thing?”
“It looked like a little Lego.”
“A flash drive?” Daniel asked.
Emma frowned.
“Maybe.”
Ortiz showed her a picture of a USB drive.
Emma nodded.
“Yes.”
“What did you do with it?”
“I put it down.”
“Where?”
“I don't remember.”
Wade apparently hadn't believed her.
He searched the floor.
The bed.
The desk.
Then Emma remembered his voice changing.
Not loud.
Quiet.
Which frightened her more.
“He asked Grandma, ‘How much did she see?’”
Linda said, “Nothing that matters.”
Wade answered, “Daniel's kid just walked in on two million dollars and the transfer files.”
Sarah looked at Daniel.
He stared at the floor.
Two million dollars.
Almost exactly the amount Wade had loaned his company.
Emma continued.
“Grandma told me to go upstairs.”
“What happened?”
“I tried.”
She reached the door.
Wade grabbed her arm.
Sarah's stomach turned.
Emma remembered screaming.
Linda immediately told Wade to release her.
Instead, he checked Emma's pockets.
“Looking for the drive,” Ortiz said.
Emma nodded.
“He couldn't find it.”
“What did Grandma do?”
“She told him I didn't have it.”
“Did he believe her?”
“No.”
Wade locked the bedroom door.
Then he told Linda something.
Emma had remembered every word.
“She knows your face. She knows my face. She knows Daniel's name is on those papers. If she talks, everything collapses.”
Sarah felt her pulse pounding in her ears.
“What did Linda say?”
Emma began crying.
“She said, ‘She's my granddaughter.’”
For one second, hope flickered.
Then Emma continued.
“And Mr. Bennett said, ‘Then you decide what happens to her.’”
Sarah looked at Daniel.
Neither breathed.
“What did Grandma decide?” Sarah whispered.
Emma stared at her mother.
“She closed the curtains.”
The ten-minute interview was over.
But as the doctor entered, Emma suddenly called out.
“Mom.”
Sarah bent toward her.
“I remembered the red thing.”
“The flash drive?”
Emma nodded.
“Where did you put it?”
“I didn't put it down.”
Everyone froze.
Emma lifted her eyes.
“I hid it.”
Ortiz stepped closer.
“Where?”
Emma swallowed.
“In Grandma's blue rain boot.”
Daniel stood.
The boots were still at their house.
Ortiz was already calling officers.
Emma grabbed Sarah's hand.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“That's why Grandma got so mad later.”
Sarah looked at her.
“When?”
Emma's lips trembled.
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“When she couldn't find it.”
And then Emma touched the ragged patches of hair on her head.
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