Chapter 4 - EIGHT SECONDS OF DARKNESS
Emergency lights flickered on almost immediately.
Eight seconds had passed.
Eight seconds should not have been enough time for anything to happen.
Yet when the lights returned, a man in hospital scrubs was standing inside Emily’s room.
He wore a surgical mask and held a syringe.
I crossed the space before he could reach the bed.
My shoulder struck his chest.
The syringe flew beneath a chair.
He slammed me against the wall and ran into the hallway.
Detective Ortiz shouted for security.
The man disappeared through a stairwell door.
I started after him.
Then Emily screamed my name.
I stopped.
My daughter needed me more than I needed revenge.
Ortiz sent officers downstairs while a nurse locked the room.
The hospital security cameras had gone offline thirty seconds before the power failure.
Someone had accessed the electrical panel using an employee code.
The man was never found.
His discarded scrubs were recovered in a restroom.
Inside one pocket was a printed photograph of Emily leaving my house several months earlier.
On the back, someone had written:
THE FATHER IS NEXT.
Ortiz placed Emily’s memory card into an evidence container.
“You did the right thing by protecting this.”
Emily shook her head.
“I stole it.”
“You saved Lucas.”
That stopped her.
For the first time since I found her, a tiny part of her expression softened.
“What’s on it?” I asked.
Emily looked at the closed door.
“Jason’s office had cameras everywhere.”
“He watched Mom.”
“He watched me.”
“One night I heard him arguing with a man named Paul.”
“Paul said they had to move Lucas before someone checked the pool.”
“Jason said he would deal with all three of us first.”
“All three?”
“Mommy.”
“Lucas.”
“And me.”
The card contained seventeen video files.
Several showed Jason meeting with a man Ortiz recognized immediately.
Paul Denton.
Sarah’s divorce attorney.
The same attorney who had helped her win primary custody of Emily.
In one video, Paul placed property documents across Jason’s desk.
Sarah’s signature appeared on every page.
In another, Jason discussed transferring the house through a shell company.
The final recording had been made two nights earlier.
Jason stood beside the dog cage.
Paul’s voice came from behind the camera.
“What about the girl?”
Jason looked directly into the lens.
“She’ll make the father come.”
“And when he does?”
Jason smiled.
“We finally get rid of the last problem.”
Ortiz paused the video.
She looked at me.
May you like
“You weren’t supposed to rescue Emily.”
“You were supposed to be blamed for killing her.”
