Chapter 5 - The Empty Bedroom
THE LITTLE GIRL'S BED WAS STILL WARM WHEN POLICE ENTERED THE HOUSE. SOMEONE HAD TAKEN GRACE ONLY MINUTES BEFORE THEY ARRIVED.
Dominic reached Vermont shortly after midnight.
Snow fell across the narrow road leading to Rebecca Shaw's former property.
Two police cruisers stood outside the white farmhouse.
A detective named Laura Bennett met him at the front gate.
“Mr. Moretti?”
“Yes.”
“Your attorney called ahead. Before we proceed, I need you to understand that this is an active investigation.”
Dominic nodded.
“Is my daughter here?”
“We don't know.”
He showed her Grace's photograph.
The detective studied it.
“Where did you get this?”
“Someone sent it to me yesterday.”
“Do you know who?”
“No.”
She handed the phone to a technician.
“We'll need a copy.”
Dominic agreed.
Inside the farmhouse, everything looked ordinary.
A pair of children's boots stood beside the door.
A blue coat hung from a hook.
Crayon drawings covered the refrigerator.
Dominic stopped in the kitchen.
One drawing showed a woman with brown hair holding hands with a little girl.
Above them were two words.
Me and Mama.
Dominic touched the paper.
“Was Rebecca raising her?”
Detective Bennett approached.
“We believe a child lived here. We're still establishing her identity.”
“Was Rebecca here?”
“No.”
“What about the blood?”
“A small amount near the back entrance. We haven't identified whose it is.”
Dominic looked toward the hallway.
“May I see the bedroom?”
The detective hesitated.
Then nodded.
“Don't touch anything.”
The room was painted pale yellow.
Stuffed animals lined the windowsill.
A small wooden bed stood against the wall.
On the pillow lay a white rabbit.
The same rabbit from the photograph.
Dominic's chest tightened.
He knelt beside the bed.
A child's sweater lay folded on a chair.
It was pink.
Sophie had one almost identical.
He stared at it until the detective quietly asked if he needed a moment.
“No.”
He stood.
“I need to find her.”
Detective Bennett looked at him carefully.
“Mr. Moretti, do you have any reason to believe your family may be involved?”
Dominic thought about Antonio.
Vanessa.
Richard Voss.
And the life he'd spent building an empire where loyalty was often purchased with fear.
“Yes,” he said.
“I do.”
He told her everything.
Not selectively.
Not protecting his father's reputation.
He described Elena's disappearance, the hospital bracelet, the recording, and the security footage.
When he finished, Detective Bennett was silent.
Then she said, “I appreciate your cooperation.”
Dominic looked at the empty bed.
“Find my daughter.”
“We're going to try.”
Outside, Caleb waited beside the SUV.
“Boss, Daniel called.”
“What did he find?”
“Rebecca had a second identity.”
Dominic frowned.
“What identity?”
“Anna Whitmore.”
The name meant nothing.
“Why?”
“Apparently, she used it to rent an apartment in Albany.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
Dominic looked back at the farmhouse.
“That's when she disappeared from public records.”
Caleb nodded.
“Exactly.”
“Address?”
“Daniel has it.”
They drove south before dawn.
At the apartment building, a manager confirmed that Anna Whitmore had rented unit 3B.
“She paid six months in advance,” he said.
“Did she have a child?”
The manager nodded.
“A little girl. Sweet kid. Always carried a rabbit.”
Dominic felt his heart hammer.
“When did they leave?”
“Three days ago.”
“Where?”
“Didn't say.”
“Did anyone visit them?”
The manager hesitated.
“A woman came by a couple of times.”
“What did she look like?”
“Dark hair. Expensive clothes. Drove a black Mercedes.”
Dominic showed him Vanessa's photograph.
The manager nodded immediately.
“That's her.”
Dominic stepped back.
Vanessa had found Rebecca before the wedding.
She'd known where Grace was.
And she'd hidden it.
Caleb's phone vibrated.
“Daniel again.”
He listened.
Then looked at Dominic.
“Rebecca's apartment has a storage locker downstairs.”
They opened it with the manager present.
Inside were two suitcases.
A stroller.
Several boxes of children's clothes.
And a sealed envelope addressed to Dominic Moretti.
Dominic stared at his name.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
He opened it.
Inside was a letter.
Mr. Moretti,
If you have found this, then I have failed to keep Grace hidden.
Your wife trusted me with her daughter because she believed you were surrounded by people who would use the child against her.
I did not know whom to trust.
For four years, I kept Grace safe.
But six months ago, Vanessa Sterling found us.
Dominic stopped reading.
His hands trembled.
Caleb waited.
Dominic continued.
Vanessa told me Elena was dead.
She said that if I didn't surrender Grace, she would tell the authorities I'd kidnapped her.
I moved us immediately.
But she found us again.
If something happens to me, look for the woman who helped Elena escape the hospital.
Her name is Miriam Cole.
She knows the truth about the night Elena disappeared.
The letter ended with a phone number.
Dominic called.
Disconnected.
Daniel searched the name.
Miriam Cole.
Former maternity nurse.
St. Catherine's Hospital.
Retired four years earlier.
Current address: Buffalo, New York.
Dominic looked at Caleb.
“We're going to Buffalo.”
But before they left, the apartment manager returned.
“Mr. Moretti?”
“Yes?”
“There's something I forgot.”
Dominic turned.
“The little girl used to ask about her daddy.”
His throat tightened.
“What did she say?”
“She'd sit by the window and ask why he never came.”
Dominic looked away.
The manager continued.
“Her mother always told her the same thing.”
“What?”
“That her daddy loved her, but he didn't know where she was.”
Dominic couldn't speak.
The manager handed him a folded piece of paper.
“She left this behind.”
It was a drawing.
A little girl stood beside a tall man.
The man had dark hair.
Above him, Grace had written:
My Daddy.
Dominic pressed the drawing to his chest.
For four years, his daughter had been waiting for him.
And he'd never known she existed.
That evening, they reached Miriam Cole's house.
The front door was open.
Inside, furniture had been overturned.
A broken lamp lay on the floor.
And on the kitchen table sat a single photograph.
Dominic picked it up.
It showed Elena holding newborn Grace.
Beside her stood Rebecca Shaw.
And behind them, partially visible in the hospital doorway, was a man.
Dominic recognized him immediately.
His face drained of color.
“CALEB…”
Caleb stepped closer.
“Sir?”
Dominic pointed at the photograph.
“THAT'S MY BROTHER.”
Caleb stared.
Dominic's younger brother, Michael Moretti, had supposedly died in a car accident six years earlier.
Yet the photograph was taken four years ago.
Two years after Michael's funeral.
And there he stood.
May you like
Alive.
Watching Elena and Grace.
