Chapter 3 - The Photograph in the Evidence FileI knew the ring.
It was Sarah's.
Not the engagement ring I'd given her twelve years earlier, but the thin gold band her mother had left her when she died.
Sarah had worn it through our marriage, our separation, and the year she spent telling everyone that her new husband had finally made her happy.
I pointed at the photograph.
"Where did you get this?"
"From the initial scene assessment," Detective Ortiz replied. "One of the responding officers took it before the pool was secured."
"Why is her ring in the water?"
"We don't know yet."
I looked at Emily.
She had seen the photograph, and the color had drained from her face.
"That's the bag," she whispered.
Ortiz crouched beside the bed.
"What bag, Emily?"
"The one he said was Mommy's."
The detective's expression barely changed, but her attention sharpened.
"Did you see your mother in the pool?"
Emily shook her head rapidly.
"No. Not Mommy. Something that belonged to her."
"What did you see?"
"A bag. It was open a little. There was a dress inside, and the ring was on the cloth."
She paused, struggling to explain.
"Jason carried it from the shed. Deputy Bell helped him. They put the bags in the water so nobody would see what was inside."
Ortiz glanced at me.
"You said Bell arrived before the paramedics?"
"Yes."
"And he knew Jason."
"They acted like old friends."
She wrote something in her notebook.
I wanted to demand that she send officers to the house immediately. I wanted to run there myself, tear the fence apart, and search every inch of that property until I found Sarah.
But Ortiz stopped me.
"We're securing the scene. I won't send you back there alone."
"She's my daughter's mother."
"I understand."
"No, you don't. My little girl was locked in a cage while I sat at home telling myself she was probably having a normal weekend with her mother."
The anger came out louder than I intended.
Emily flinched.
I turned toward her immediately.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I wasn't shouting at you."
She watched me carefully.
Then she reached under her blanket and pulled out a small stuffed bird.
It was blue, faded at the wings, with one black button eye and one replacement eye made from white thread. I'd given it to her when she was four. She called it Bluebird because she had been too young to pronounce its name when I'd first bought it.
She had carried it everywhere for years.
Until recently.
I'd assumed she'd outgrown it.
"Mommy told me to keep this," she said.
I took it carefully.
"Did she say why?"
"She said that if Jason ever asked for it, I should tell him I lost it."
Ortiz leaned closer.
"Did Jason ask you for the bird?"
Emily nodded.
"He asked every day."
"What did he say he wanted?"
"That it was his."
She shook her head.
"He said I stole something that belonged to him. But Daddy, I never touched anything of his."
I turned the toy over in my hands. Its stitching was worn, especially around the left wing. A small section of blue thread looked newer than the rest.
"Emily, did you open this?"
"No."
"Did your mother?"
She hesitated.
"Mommy did something when we were in the kitchen. She used a little knife. Then she sewed it back."
Ortiz and I exchanged a look.
The detective asked permission to examine the toy as evidence. Emily agreed only after I promised she would get it back when the police finished.
Ortiz placed it inside a clear evidence bag.
"I'm going to have our forensic team look at this," she said. "We won't destroy it."
A few minutes later, a uniformed officer entered with an update. The pool had been secured. Several sealed black bags had been recovered, along with clothing, personal documents, and electronic devices.
The bags appeared to have been moved there recently.
The officer handed Ortiz another photograph.
She studied it, then looked toward the door.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"One of the documents belonged to a woman named Rebecca Miles."
I didn't recognize the name.
"Who is she?"
Ortiz placed the photograph between us.
"Jason's first wife."
According to the file, Rebecca had vanished four years earlier. Her car had been discovered near a lake, but no body was recovered. Jason told investigators that she had become depressed, taken money from their joint account, and disappeared voluntarily.
The case eventually went cold.
Ortiz continued reading the preliminary report.
"His current wife, Sarah, was interviewed briefly after Rebecca disappeared. She said she barely knew the woman."
"Why would Sarah's belongings be in bags with Rebecca's documents?"
"We're about to find out."
The detective's phone rang.
She answered, listened for several seconds, and slowly straightened.
"Who authorized that?" she asked.
A pause.
"No. Nobody moves anything until I get there."
She hung up.
"What happened?" I asked.
Ortiz looked at me.
"Someone just attempted to access the evidence room where those bags are being held."
"Who?"
May you like
Her answer chilled me.
"Deputy Bell."
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