Chapter 10 - The Empty Bedroom.
For one terrible second, Daniel believed Sophie was gone.
Then a small voice came from the closet.
“Dad?”
Daniel opened the door so fast that it struck the wall.
Sophie was crouched beneath a row of dresses with her knees pulled to her chest.
He dropped beside her and held her close.
“I thought—”
“I heard the window.”
Sophie’s voice shook.
“I remembered what you said about not opening the door for anybody.”
“So I hid.”
Daniel looked at Mrs. Alvarez.
She was pale but steady.
“No one came through the hall.”
Detective Ortiz inspected the window.
There were fresh marks on the outer frame.
Someone had climbed from the narrow balcony that connected the east bedrooms.
The old phone had been placed on Sophie’s pillow as a threat.
Daniel’s fear turned into fury.
Ortiz stopped him before he could head downstairs.
“That is what they want.”
“They want you emotional and moving without a plan.”
Daniel forced himself to listen.
Ortiz called for additional officers and arranged discreet protection around the house.
Then she examined the message.
The Northstar warehouse had been abandoned officially for eight months.
Unofficially, records showed power usage nearly every night.
Daniel wanted to go.
Ortiz refused to let him go alone.
“We can use the demand.”
Daniel looked at Sophie.
“I’m not putting her at risk again.”
“You protect her by ending this.”
Daniel knew she was right.
Caroline entered the bedroom slowly.
Sophie stiffened.
Daniel noticed.
Caroline noticed too.
The older woman stopped several feet away.
“I am sorry, Sophie.”
Sophie did not answer.
Caroline’s eyes filled.
“I frightened you.”
“Yes.”
“I was wrong.”
Sophie looked at her father before speaking.
“Why didn’t you just tell Dad?”
The question was simple.
Caroline had no good answer.
“Because I thought I could fix it myself.”
Sophie frowned.
“That made it worse.”
Daniel almost smiled despite everything.
Caroline nodded.
“Yes.”
“It did.”
Ortiz’s phone rang.
She stepped into the hall, listened, then returned.
Her expression had changed.
“Paul Vance checked out of the airport hotel forty minutes ago.”
“Security cameras show Mason picked him up.”
Daniel asked where they went.
Ortiz held up her phone.
“Traffic cameras caught Mason’s car heading toward the industrial district.”
Northstar.
The trap was real.
Daniel gave the flash drive from Claire’s bank box to Ortiz.
She made an encrypted copy for evidence.
The original would become bait.
Before leaving, Daniel knelt beside Sophie.
“I need you to stay with Mrs. Alvarez and the officers.”
“Are you going to the warehouse?”
Daniel did not lie.
“Yes.”
Sophie reached into the pocket of her denim skirt.
She pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“I found this under Grandma’s bag before you came in this morning.”
Daniel unfolded it.
It was a handwritten list of three addresses.
The first was Northstar Warehouse.
The second was Crescent Storage.
The third was Daniel’s own house.
Next to his home address, someone had written one word.
CAMERA.
Daniel looked up.
May you like
Sophie whispered, “Maybe Mom was still watching.”
The Bag Beside the Chair
