Chapter 2 - The Suitcase in the Nursery.
Natalie moved first.
"Give me the phone," she said.
David handed Lucy to Maria instead.
"Take her to my study and lock the door."
Maria nodded immediately.
Natalie stepped into her path.
"This is absurd."
David moved between them.
"You are not going near Lucy."
"You're acting like I planned some kidnapping."
"Then explain the message."
Natalie looked at the cracked phone in Maria's hand.
"I can't explain a message I didn't send."
"It came from Hale."
"Then ask Hale."
"I intend to."
Maria carried Lucy away, and the little girl kept her face turned toward David until the study door closed behind them.
Natalie watched the door with an expression that David could not read.
"You have no idea what you're doing," she said.
"Neither do you, apparently."
David picked up his phone and called Jonathan Hale.
The call rang once and went to voicemail.
He called again.
Voicemail.
He sent a message.
Call me now.
The message showed as delivered.
No reply came.
David headed toward Lucy's nursery.
Natalie followed him.
"Where are you going?"
"To find out what else I missed."
"David, you are furious, and you're not thinking clearly."
"For the first time today, I think I'm thinking very clearly."
He opened the nursery door.
The room looked exactly as it had that morning.
Sunlight crossed the pale rug.
Wooden blocks sat in a basket beside the reading chair.
A framed photograph of Emily holding newborn Lucy stood on a shelf near the window.
Then David saw the closet door.
It was open by three inches.
He crossed the room and pulled it wider.
A small cream suitcase sat on the floor.
It was packed.
Three dresses were folded inside.
So were pajamas, diapers, shoes, a toothbrush, and Lucy's favorite blue blanket.
David looked at Natalie.
"Tell me that's not what it looks like."
Natalie's eyes narrowed.
"We're supposed to leave for Lake George tomorrow."
"Lucy isn't going to Lake George."
"We discussed it."
"No, we discussed you and me going for one night after the charity dinner."
Natalie pointed at the suitcase.
"I thought you would change your mind."
"So you packed her without asking me?"
"I was trying to help."
David crouched beside the suitcase.
Under the blanket was a thick white envelope.
His name was typed across the front.
He opened it.
Inside were copies of temporary guardianship papers.
Natalie's name appeared beside the words designated caregiver.
David read the first page and felt the blood drain from his face.
The documents authorized Natalie Mercer to make decisions for Lucy for ninety days.
At the bottom of the last page was David's signature.
It looked perfect.
It was not his.
"What is this?"
Natalie did not answer.
David held up the page.
"What is this?"
"A draft."
"It has my signature."
"Hale prepared several versions because you kept changing the travel plan."
"I never asked him to prepare this."
"Then again, ask Hale."
David studied the signature.
Whoever had copied it had even reproduced the slight upward hook he made on the final r.
"Why is this in Lucy's suitcase?"
Natalie crossed her arms.
"I don't know."
"You packed the suitcase."
"The staff could have put the envelope there."
"Which staff member?"
"I don't know."
"You don't seem to know much today."
Natalie's voice hardened.
"Be careful, David."
He stood slowly.
"Was that a warning?"
"It was advice."
"From the woman who was dragging my daughter toward an empty wing with forged guardianship papers in her suitcase?"
Natalie took a breath.
"You pushed me to the floor in front of your staff."
"I stopped you from striking a two-year-old."
"That is not what anyone will see if all they hear is that you grabbed me and threw me down."
The sentence landed differently than the others.
David looked at her.
Natalie seemed to realize she had said too much.
"What does that mean?"
"It means appearances matter."
"Are you threatening me with a story?"
"I'm telling you to calm down before you damage your own life."
David heard footsteps outside.
Maria appeared in the doorway without Lucy.
"She's asleep on the couch in your study," Maria said.
David nodded.
Maria looked at the papers in his hand.
Then she looked at the suitcase.
"Sir, there's something else."
Natalie turned sharply.
Maria's courage seemed to weaken under that look, but she forced the words out.
"Miss Mercer asked me yesterday where Mrs. Walker kept Lucy's original birth certificate."
David felt his pulse jump.
"Why?"
"She said Mr. Hale needed it."
Natalie stared at Maria.
"I never said that."
Maria's hands began to shake.
"Yes, ma'am."
"You're confused."
"No, ma'am."
Natalie stepped toward her.
David immediately blocked the doorway.
"Don't."
Natalie stopped again.
Maria reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper.
"I found this under the suitcase after Miss Mercer left the nursery this morning."
David unfolded it.
It was a photocopy of Lucy's birth certificate.
Someone had circled one line in red ink.
Mother: Emily Claire Walker.
Beside it, in Jonathan Hale's handwriting, were four words.
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