Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCHVanessa disappeared at 2:13 a.m.
No forced entry.
No broken windows.
No struggle.
Her apartment was simply empty.
Her phone was found on the kitchen counter.
Her purse was still there.
Her passport was still there.
Her shoes were still by the door.
It was as if she had vanished in the middle of the night.
Detective Alvarez didn't tell me she was frightened.
I could see it.
“What did she know?”
The detective looked at me.
“Enough to make someone nervous.”
“Daniel?”
“We don't know.”
But I knew.
Because that afternoon, I received a message.
Not on my phone.
On a hospital tablet.
A message from an unknown number.
He didn't abandon you. He was trying to scare you into giving him the key.
My blood ran cold.
I typed:
What key?
The reply came instantly.
The one your father hid.
My hands shook.
Who are you?
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
Someone who worked for your father.
I stared at the screen.
Is Vanessa alive?
The response took longer.
For now.
I called Detective Alvarez.
Within minutes, the hospital room filled with officers.
They traced the message.
Nothing.
The number was unregistered.
The tablet connection had been routed through multiple networks.
Whoever had messaged me knew exactly what they were doing.
Then another message appeared.
A photograph.
Vanessa.
Alive.
Sitting in the back seat of a car.
Her face bruised.
Her wrists bound.
A man stood behind her.
His face was hidden.
Under the photograph were six words.
Ask Daniel about Project Meridian.
I stared at the phrase.
I had never heard of it.
But Detective Alvarez had.
Her expression changed immediately.
“What is Project Meridian?”
She didn't answer.
“What is it?”
She finally said, “A name that has appeared in another investigation.”
“What investigation?”
She looked at her partner.
Then back at me.
“We can't discuss that yet.”
“You're hiding something.”
“We're protecting you.”
“I don't need protection. I need the truth.”
My voice cracked.
“I almost died today.”
The detective stepped closer.
“We believe your husband may be involved in an old financial fraud investigation.”
“How old?”
“Approximately ten years.”
The math hit me.
Daniel met me nine years ago.
So whatever this was…
he may have married me because of it.
I suddenly remembered our first meeting.
He had asked about my father.
Not about my job.
Not about my hobbies.
My father.
At the time, I thought he was being polite.
Now I realized he had known my father before he knew me.
I turned to Detective Alvarez.
“Did Daniel know my father?”
“We believe yes.”
“How?”
“We're still tracing that connection.”
Then someone knocked on the door.
A nurse entered.
“There is a man downstairs asking for Mrs. Carter.”
“Who?”
The nurse handed me a card.
I looked at the name.
My heart stopped.
It belonged to my father's former attorney.
A man I had never met.
The message on the back had been written by hand.
Your father told me to find you if Daniel ever tried to take the car.
I looked up.
“Where is he?”
The nurse swallowed.
“He says he won't come upstairs.”
“Why?”
“He said he's being followed.”
Outside the hospital window, a black sedan slowly passed beneath the streetlights.
May you like
Then it circled back.
And stopped.
