Chapter 14 - THE SEARCH
The escape lasted six hours before the news became public.
Police initially believed Diane had outside assistance.
Raymond was in custody.
Brooke was under protection.
Jason’s electronic monitor placed him inside his apartment.
Then investigators discovered the ambulance driver owed money to Diane’s foundation.
He abandoned the vehicle near an underground parking garage.
A camera captured Diane entering a black sedan.
The license plate had been stolen.
Eleanor moved Lily and me to another protected location.
Police guarded Rachel’s apartment and my workplace.
Jason called Detective Bell repeatedly.
He insisted Diane would come for Lily.
“She doesn’t think Emily is capable of raising her,” he said.
“She believes Lily belongs to the Bennett family.”
The idea sounded irrational.
With Diane, irrational beliefs often became dangerous plans.
By evening, schools, airports, train stations, and bus terminals had received her photograph.
News helicopters circled downtown.
Social media filled with false sightings.
Someone reported seeing her near Navy Pier.
Another claimed she crossed into Indiana.
At nine-thirty, a motion sensor activated behind Rachel’s apartment.
Police found no one.
They discovered a yellow child’s sock placed beneath her back window.
It matched the socks Lily wore at the birthday party.
Diane had taken the missing sock before leaving the condo.
She was not fleeing.
She was sending a message.
At ten-fifteen, my phone rang from an unknown number.
Eleanor told me not to answer calls.
I answered anyway.
Diane’s voice came through the speaker.
“You have destroyed everything.”
I signaled to Detective Bell, who began tracing the call.
“You destroyed yourself.”
“You turned my children against me.”
“They were never yours to own.”
“Jason would have been successful without you.”
“Then why did you need my money?”
Her breathing changed.
“You think a temporary order makes you Lily’s mother?”
“I gave birth to her.”
“I taught Jason everything he knows.”
“That is not the argument you think it is.”
“You assaulted my son.”
“After you assaulted my daughter.”
“She needed discipline.”
“She needed protection from you.”
Diane’s voice became soft.
“You cannot protect her forever.”
The line went dead.
Bell traced the call to a pay phone near Union Station.
Security footage showed a woman in a nurse’s coat leaving the area.
Police followed her trail to a parking structure.
The black sedan was abandoned there.
Inside the trunk, they found clothing, cash, and another photograph.
It showed Lily sleeping beside me inside the Oak Park safe house.
The photograph had been taken through a window.
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Written on the back were four words.
A mother always comes home.
