Chapter 5 - SOMEONE CAME FOR EMMAGarrett drove back toward Philadelphia faster than Sally had ever seen him drive.
“Call 911 again,” he ordered.
“I already did.”
“Again.”
“They’re sending officers.”
“Call Daniel.”
“No answer.”
Garrett pressed the accelerator.
Sally gripped the door handle.
“Garrett, if you wreck the car, you can’t help her.”
He eased back slightly.
Not enough.
His face had become something Sally remembered from the earliest days of their marriage.
Focused.
Controlled.
Dangerous in a quiet way.
Garrett spent his career planning emergency responses aboard ships. He knew how to make decisions under pressure.
But this was his daughter.
His control was barely holding.
The townhouse security feed showed nothing now.
Whoever entered had disabled two interior cameras.
The front camera remained active.
Garrett replayed footage.
A man in a delivery jacket approached carrying a cardboard box.
Face hidden beneath a baseball cap.
Three minutes later, Nora opened the door.
The feed glitched.
Then nothing.
“Why would Nora open it?” Sally whispered.
“She probably thought it was a package.”
“Emma knows not to go near strangers.”
“I know.”
Sally looked at him.
“How would you know?”
The question came out harsher than she intended.
Garrett’s jaw flexed.
“You’re right. I don’t.”
Sally closed her eyes.
“This isn’t the time.”
“No.”
She whispered, “I’m scared.”
Garrett reached across the center console and took her hand.
Neither acknowledged it.
They simply held on.
Police cars were already outside when they reached the townhouse.
Garrett barely put the vehicle in park before jumping out.
An officer blocked the door.
“Sir.”
“My daughter is inside.”
“We’re clearing the residence.”
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Garrett moved forward.
The officer stopped him again.
Sally grabbed Garrett’s arm.
“Wait.”
Every second felt unbearable.
Then a paramedic emerged.
“Nora!”
Sally ran toward the stretcher.
The older woman was conscious.
A bruise marked her forehead.
“Emma?” Sally demanded.
Nora blinked.
“She’s safe.”
Sally nearly collapsed.
“Where?”
“Neighbor.”
Garrett stared.
“What happened?”
Nora winced.
“He came through the front pretending to deliver flowers. I opened the door. He pushed me down.”
“Then?”
“Emma ran.”
Garrett blinked.
“Ran where?”
“She remembered what Sally taught her.”
Sally began crying.
Emma had been instructed that if any stranger ever tried to take her, she should never hide in a closet or bedroom.
Go outside.
Find another adult.
Make noise.
Emma had escaped through the back patio door while the intruder searched upstairs.
A retired teacher next door saw her and locked her inside.
Garrett walked straight across the adjoining courtyard.
When the neighbor opened the door, Emma launched herself at Sally.
“Mommy!”
Sally dropped to her knees.
Garrett stopped several feet away.
He wanted to grab Emma too.
But he had known her less than a day.
So he stood there.
Then Emma saw him.
Her face crumpled.
“Mr. Navy!”
She ran toward him.
Garrett caught her.
The force of the small body hitting his chest almost broke him.
He wrapped both arms around her.
“You’re okay.”
“He broke your lamp.”
“I don’t care about the lamp.”
“He hurt Miss Nora.”
“She’s going to be okay.”
Emma buried her face in his uniform shirt.
“Are the bad men going to find us?”
Garrett looked at Sally.
Her expression said everything.
This had happened before.
He slowly put Emma down.
“What bad men?”
Sally’s face tightened.
“Not here.”
Officers finished searching the townhouse.
Nothing major had been taken.
Except one thing.
Sally’s plastic folder containing Julian’s affidavit and copies of her letters.
The intruder had known exactly what to search for.
Fortunately, Garrett had photographed most of them.
Police took statements.
Daniel finally called.
“Where were you?” Garrett demanded.
“At the naval yard. Security confiscates personal phones in the room I was in. What happened?”
Garrett explained.
Daniel arrived within thirty minutes.
After the police left, Garrett moved everyone to a hotel under Daniel’s name.
Two adjoining rooms.
Private underground entrance.
Only four people knew the location.
Garrett sat at a small desk that night while Emma slept.
Sally stood near the window.
“You asked about the bad men.”
Garrett looked up.
“Yes.”
She sat across from him.
“A year after Emma was born, somebody followed us from daycare.”
“Same person?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened?”
“He tried to force me off the road.”
Garrett’s expression darkened.
“We moved that night.”
“Police report?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still have it?”
“Probably somewhere electronically.”
“You said similar things happened more than once?”
“Three times.”
She described threatening calls.
A brick through an apartment window.
A man photographed outside Emma’s preschool.
Each event stopped whenever Sally moved.
Garrett felt anger rising.
“You should have called me.”
“I believed you hated us.”
“You could have called anyway.”
“I did!”
Her voice cracked.
“I called your old number twelve times after Emma was born. It was disconnected. I emailed. Messages bounced. I wrote letters.”
Garrett said nothing.
“You changed every point of contact.”
“My mother handled my personal accounts while I was overseas.”
“I know.”
Garrett rubbed both hands over his face.
“She isolated us from each other.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“That’s what we need to find out.”
A knock came at the door.
Garrett stiffened.
Daniel entered using the connecting room.
“I found something.”
He placed his laptop on the desk.
“Julian Cross didn’t disappear voluntarily.”
Sally leaned forward.
“How do you know?”
“His Social Security number hasn’t been used for wages, taxes, credit, flights, leases, nothing since four years ago.”
“That could mean he left the country.”
“Could.”
Daniel opened another record.
“But six months ago, someone accessed a dormant safe-deposit box in his name.”
Garrett stared.
“Where?”
“Wilmington.”
Sally went pale.
“That was the same week he messaged me.”
Daniel nodded.
“What was inside the box?”
“No idea.”
“Can we find out?”
“Not legally without Julian.”
Garrett stared at the screen.
“What bank?”
Daniel told him.
Sally suddenly stood.
“I know that branch.”
Both men looked at her.
“Julian and I went there once with Robert.”
Garrett froze.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Before he died?”
“About a month.”
Garrett leaned back.
“You told me my father contacted you privately.”
“He did.”
“You didn’t tell me they met together.”
“I forgot until now.”
“What happened at the bank?”
“They put something in a box.”
“Do you know what?”
“No.”
“Box number?”
Sally thought.
“Maybe 317.”
Daniel typed.
His eyebrows rose.
“What?”
“The box accessed six months ago was 317.”
Silence.
Garrett stood.
“Then whatever Julian found may still be connected to it.”
Daniel shook his head.
“If he removed the contents, they’re gone.”
Sally stared at the wall.
“No.”
“What?”
“Julian never trusted single copies.”
She looked at Garrett.
“He used to say that evidence needed a twin.”
Garrett’s phone vibrated.
A text from his mother.
We need to talk before you make another mistake. Come alone.
Garrett showed Daniel.
Daniel frowned.
“Don’t.”
Sally agreed.
“She’s already admitted knowing about Emma.”
Garrett stared at the message.
Then another arrived.
Your father wasn’t innocent either.
Garrett’s blood ran cold.
A third message followed.
If you want to know why Robert died, meet me at the family house tonight.
Garrett looked up.
Daniel said immediately, “Absolutely not alone.”
Garrett nodded.
“I know.”
May you like
Then he picked up his coat.
“But I’m going.”
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