Chapter 4 - The Photograph at the Gate
Dominic did not touch the box.
He stood in the security office while Daniel placed it inside a clear protective container.
The photograph was recent.
That much was obvious.
Harper was wearing the yellow nightgown she had worn that morning.
Her fingers were wrapped around Mia's hand.
The ambulance doors were open.
But the photograph showed something else.
A narrow reflection in the ambulance window.
A man standing across the driveway.
Dominic leaned closer.
“Magnify that.”
Daniel adjusted the image.
The reflection remained distorted, but a detail emerged.
The man wore a gray baseball cap with a white emblem.
Dominic recognized the emblem.
It belonged to Northpoint Property Services, a maintenance contractor Nathan had recommended six months earlier.
“Find out who was on the grounds this morning,” Dominic ordered.
Daniel was already calling security.
Dominic turned toward the contents of the box.
Inside lay a child's pink hair ribbon.
Harper's ribbon.
Mia had tied it around her daughter's ponytail the previous Sunday, before Dominic left for Atlantic City.
Dominic remembered because Harper had shown it to him at breakfast.
“Mommy says pink makes brave girls braver,” she had announced.
Dominic had smiled and told her bravery had nothing to do with color.
Now the ribbon lay inside a threatening package.
He felt a flash of anger so fierce that his vision narrowed.
Daniel noticed.
“Dom.”
Dominic said nothing.
“We'll find him.”
Dominic turned away.
“I know.”
His phone rang.
An unfamiliar number.
He answered.
For several seconds, all he heard was breathing.
Then Nathan Cross spoke.
“I'm disappointed in you.”
Dominic remained still.
“You ran.”
“I left because you stopped listening.”
“You had Mia tied up in my cellar.”
“I didn't tie anyone up.”
“You installed the lock.”
“Claire asked me to approve it.”
“Claire has disappeared.”
“So have you, in a manner of speaking.”
Dominic frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“You're not thinking clearly.”
“Where are you?”
Nathan laughed softly.
“Still trying to handle problems like the old days?”
Dominic glanced at Daniel, who was tracing the call through an authorized investigative service.
“Nathan, if Mia dies—”
“She won't.”
The certainty in Nathan's voice made Dominic pause.
“How do you know?”
“Because that's not what Claire wanted.”
“What did she want?”
Nathan sighed.
“She wanted leverage.”
“Over what?”
“Over you.”
Dominic looked at the box.
“You threatened a child.”
“No.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“Dominic, I have done terrible things for this family, but I have never hurt a child.”
“Then who sent the photograph?”
Silence.
For the first time, Nathan sounded uncertain.
“What photograph?”
“A picture of Harper leaving the house.”
Another pause.
“Listen carefully,” Nathan said.
“If someone sent you that, Claire is no longer following the plan.”
Dominic's grip tightened around the phone.
“What plan?”
Nathan ignored the question.
“Do not let Harper leave the hospital.”
“Why?”
“Because Claire has people there.”
Dominic signaled frantically to Daniel.
Nathan continued.
“You need to understand something about that woman.”
“I'm listening.”
“Claire was never supposed to marry you.”
Dominic's stomach turned.
“Then why was she planning a wedding?”
“Because someone decided you were more valuable alive than dead.”
The line went silent.
Daniel lowered his phone.
“Call came through an internet relay.”
Dominic was already moving.
“Get hospital security on the line.”
At Saint Catherine's Medical Center, Mia was receiving intravenous fluids and treatment for severe dehydration.
Harper sat beside her bed eating crackers from a paper cup.
A nurse named Olivia Mercer had brought her a stuffed rabbit.
Mia was watching her daughter when a man in blue medical scrubs approached the room.
“Transport,” he said to the officer standing outside.
The officer checked his badge.
“Where are you taking the patient?”
“Radiology.”
The man lifted a clipboard.
“Doctor's orders.”
Inside, Harper looked toward the doorway.
She saw the man's shoes.
Black sneakers with a thick red stripe.
The same shoes she had seen beneath the basement staircase the night her mother disappeared.
Harper put down her crackers.
“Mommy.”
Mia turned.
“What, sweetheart?”
Harper pointed.
“That man was at our house.”
Mia followed her finger.
And screamed.
“Don't let him in!”
The man reached beneath his shirt.
The officer grabbed his wrist.
A violent struggle erupted in the hallway.
Olivia pulled Harper behind the bed.
Two hospital security officers rushed toward the commotion.
A metal instrument clattered across the floor.
Then the stranger broke free and ran.
By the time Dominic's call reached the hospital, the man had escaped through a service exit.
But he had left something behind.
His clipboard.
On the top page was Mia Carter's name.
Beneath it, in handwritten letters, was a second name.
May you like
Rebecca Carter.
The sister Mia had not seen in seven years.
