Chapter 7 - The Missing TabletPolice searched Grant's office before sunset.
Not because Daniel demanded it.
Not because Maya suspected him.
Because Nora spent three hours establishing enough probable cause from access logs, witness statements, the hidden chamber, and financial documents to seek a warrant.
Grant's attorney fought immediately.
That bought them no sympathy.
Daniel stayed at the hospital.
It was the hardest thing he had ever done.
He wanted to be at Calder Development.
He wanted to watch police open every drawer Grant owned.
But Maya woke whenever Daniel moved more than a few feet from the bed.
So he stayed.
At seven that evening, Nora returned.
“No tablet.”
Daniel's disappointment was immediate.
“What did you find?”
“I'm not discussing everything while the search is active.”
“Nora.”
“We found a pair of lighthouse cufflinks.”
“That's something.”
“Daniel, there are twelve identical pairs.”
“Thirteen.”
“What?”
“Elise had one pair made for herself.”
Nora raised an eyebrow.
“She wore cufflinks?”
“She wore whatever she wanted.”
For the first time, Maya smiled faintly from the bed.
“Mom looked better in suits than Dad.”
Daniel looked at her.
“She absolutely did.”
The smile vanished quickly, but it had existed.
Nora pulled up a chair.
“Maya, I need to ask you one thing.”
Daniel stiffened.
“If she's tired—”
“I'll stop.”
Maya nodded.
Nora showed her photographs of several pairs of hands and wrists wearing company anniversary cufflinks. Faces were cropped out.
“Do any of these look familiar?”
Maya studied them.
Daniel forced himself not to influence her.
Finally she pointed.
“That one.”
Nora glanced at Daniel.
Photo four.
Daniel couldn't see the identity.
“Why?”
“The scratch.”
Nora leaned closer.
One cufflink had a diagonal scratch across the lighthouse.
“You remember that?”
“The man's cufflink was scratched.”
Daniel's mouth went dry.
Nora took the photos back.
“Thank you.”
“Whose is it?”
“I can't tell you yet.”
Maya looked frustrated.
Daniel understood.
Nora walked with him into the hallway.
“Grant's.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“How did you get the photo?”
“During the office search.”
“So arrest him.”
“No.”
“Nora.”
“A cufflink is not enough.”
“He had the scratched cufflink.”
“And eleven-year-old eyewitness identification after trauma is something defense counsel will challenge.”
“He accessed the plans.”
“Credentials accessed the plans.”
“He's connected to the buyer.”
“Potentially.”
Daniel swore.
Nora waited.
“You want this done correctly.”
“I want him away from my daughter.”
“So do I.”
She handed Daniel a folded document.
“What is this?”
“Something your lawyer should see.”
It was a copy of a letter found during the search.
Calder Development's board had scheduled an emergency meeting for Monday.
Purpose:
REVIEW OF EXECUTIVE CAPACITY, LIQUIDITY EVENT, AND PROPOSED CONTROLLING-INTEREST TRANSFER.
Daniel read it twice.
“Executive capacity?”
“Apparently Grant has concerns about your ability to run the company.”
“My daughter was missing.”
“The board packet cites eighteen months of irregular attendance and delegated decision-making.”
That hurt because it was true.
After Elise died, Daniel had thrown himself into work.
Then he burned out.
When he married Vanessa, he stepped back further.
Grant took over more.
Daniel told himself it was trust.
Maybe it had been surrender.
Nora said, “There's another issue.”
“What?”
“Your company records show unusual transfers.”
“How unusual?”
“Large.”
“To whom?”
“Several consulting entities.”
“Grant?”
“We don't know yet.”
Daniel looked through the window at Maya.
She was watching television without really watching.
“What does this have to do with Vanessa?”
“We're finding out.”
Daniel's phone buzzed.
An unknown number.
A photo message.
He opened it.
Maya's tablet sat on a concrete floor.
The screen was cracked.
Below the photo was a single sentence.
STOP DIGGING OR THE NEXT THING YOU LOSE WON'T COME BACK.
Daniel stared.
Nora took the phone.
“Don't touch anything else.”
“He has her tablet.”
“We don't know who sent it.”
“Yes, we do.”
Nora began calling her team.
Daniel looked through the glass again.
Maya was alive.
Safe.
But someone had just reminded him how close he had come to losing her.
Another message arrived.
This one contained no words.
Just a photograph of Daniel entering the hospital earlier that afternoon.
Taken from across the parking lot.
Whoever was sending the messages was nearby.
Nora moved to the window.
“Close the blinds.”
Daniel did.
The room dimmed.
Maya looked over.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
She stared at him.
“You're bad at lying.”
Daniel almost answered.
Then his phone buzzed a third time.
A video file.
Three seconds long.
Maya's tablet being dropped into a metal trash drum.
A hand struck a lighter.
Flame touched the screen.
Before the video ended, Daniel saw the wrist.
No cufflink.
But a watch.
Black leather.
Silver rectangular face.
He knew that watch.
He had given it to Grant on the day they opened Calder Development's Baltimore office.
Daniel lifted his eyes to Nora.
She had recognized it too.
Then Nora's own phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
“What do you mean he's gone?”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Who?”
Nora ended the call.
“Grant left his office through the underground garage during the search.”
“Where did he go?”
“We don't know.”
Daniel's phone buzzed once more.
May you like
This time the message contained only four words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE SIGNED.
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