Chapter 4 - THE EMPTY BEDROOM
For three seconds, I could not breathe.
Emily's side of the bed was empty.
The bedroom window was open.
Her phone was gone.
I ran through the house.
“Emily!”
No answer.
I checked the bathroom.
The closet.
The backyard.
Nothing.
Then I found the note.
It was lying on the kitchen counter.
Three words.
STOP DIGGING, JAKE.
My hands shook.
I called Marcus.
Then the police.
Then Rachel.
Within minutes, the house was filled with officers.
My mother and Tyler were nowhere to be found.
That was not a coincidence.
The security cameras had been disabled.
The system had been shut down remotely.
I stood in the backyard, staring at the dark pool.
My mother's champagne glass was still sitting on the table.
The same place where I had seen her celebrating the night before.
Marcus walked toward me.
“Jake.”
“What?”
“We found her car.”
“Where?”
“Three miles away.”
My stomach dropped.
“Is she inside?”
“No.”
“Then where is she?”
Marcus did not answer immediately.
That was when I saw the expression on his face.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“Her purse was inside.”
I felt cold.
“Was there blood?”
“No.”
“Then she may still be alive.”
“We know.”
“Find her.”
“We will.”
I turned toward him.
“No.”
He stared at me.
“I’m not waiting.”
“Jake.”
“I know them.”
“You don’t know where they took her.”
“I know where my mother would go.”
Marcus hesitated.
I grabbed my jacket.
“There’s an old property in Beaufort.”
“What property?”
“My father owned it.”
“Does your mother know about it?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s the first place she’ll expect you to look.”
I stopped.
He was right.
I needed to think.
I returned to the office.
The hard drive was still open.
I searched through my father's files.
Then I found a folder labeled:
EMERGENCY LOCATIONS
Inside were property maps.
One location stood out.
An old warehouse near the river.
My father had used it decades ago.
My mother had never known about it.
Or at least, I thought she hadn't.
Marcus called.
“Jake.”
“What?”
“We found something.”
He sent me a photograph.
It showed a gas station security camera.
A black SUV.
Emily was sitting in the back seat.
Her hands appeared to be tied.
The vehicle was heading toward the interstate.
Marcus had already sent the plate number to law enforcement.
I looked at the image.
“Can you trace it?”
“We're working on it.”
Then I noticed something.
The vehicle had passed a toll station.
I zoomed in.
The driver was Tyler.
The passenger was my mother.
And beside Tyler was someone else.
A man I recognized.
Martin Cole.
My mother's attorney.
The same attorney who had supposedly handled the property transfers.
The same attorney whose name appeared on the forged documents.
I called Rachel.
“Can you investigate Martin Cole?”
“I already am.”
“Who is he?”
“Your mother's lawyer for the past fifteen years.”
“Is he involved?”
“There are payments from Diane to his firm.”
“How much?”
“Over two million dollars.”
I felt sick.
“For what?”
“Consulting.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Consulting.”
Rachel paused.
“Jake, there's more.”
“What?”
“Martin Cole was also involved in your father's estate.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He handled the probate process after your father's death.”
I stared at the screen.
My father had warned me about my mother.
Then he had died.
And Martin had handled everything.
I looked at Marcus.
“Find Martin.”
“We are.”
“No.”
I picked up my jacket.
“I'm going to find him.”
Marcus grabbed my arm.
“You're not going alone.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
Rachel called again.
“Jake.”
“What?”
“I found something in the estate records.”
“What?”
“Your father's death certificate was amended six months after his death.”
I went still.
“Why?”
“I don't know yet.”
“Find out.”
“I am.”
I looked at the photograph of Emily in the SUV.
Then at my father's letter.
Then at the name Martin Cole.
A terrible possibility began forming.
My mother had not suddenly become a criminal after I left.
She had been doing this for years.
And my father's death might have been the first thing she ever got away with.
That night, we tracked the SUV to an abandoned warehouse.
The police surrounded the building.
Marcus and I waited outside.
Then a scream came from inside.
Emily.
I started running.
The police grabbed me.
“Stay back!”
But then gunshots echoed through the warehouse.
Everyone froze.
A second later, Tyler ran out the back door.
He was holding something in his hand.
My watch.
May you like
He threw it onto the ground.
Then he disappeared into the darkness.
