Chapter 3 - The Man Who Wasn’t There
Daniel called Grant at 6:42 p.m.
The first call went unanswered.
So did the second.
On the third, Grant picked up.
“Dan?”
Music played faintly in the background.
Daniel stood alone in his office with the security report open on his laptop.
“Where are you?”
“Dinner.”
“With who?”
A pause.
“Why?”
Daniel looked through the office windows toward the darkening lawn.
“Were you at my house this afternoon?”
“Morning, yeah. Dropped off the vendor packet.”
“What time did you leave?”
“Ten-thirty? Ten-forty?”
“You came back.”
“No.”
“Your phone did.”
Grant laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to suggest Daniel had misunderstood something obvious.
“What are you talking about?”
“The security system logged your phone on my network at three-oh-eight.”
“That’s not possible.”
“That phrase is getting popular today.”
“What happened?”
“You tell me.”
Silence.
Then Grant’s voice changed.
“Is Lily okay?”
Daniel’s grip tightened around the phone.
“How do you know something happened to Lily?”
Another pause.
“You had a pool party. Vanessa texted me that there’d been an accident.”
“When?”
“I don’t know. After.”
“What kind of accident?”
“Dan, stop.”
“No. Tell me exactly what Vanessa told you.”
Grant exhaled.
“She said Lily fell in the pool and the dog went after her.”
“Milo rescued her.”
“Okay.”
“And nineteen seconds of the security footage disappeared.”
Grant did not answer.
Daniel continued.
“Someone deleted those nineteen seconds using my administrator credentials.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because the device that authorized the deletion identifies itself as yours.”
The restaurant noise on Grant’s end suddenly became more noticeable.
Glasses.
Voices.
A waiter laughing somewhere.
Grant spoke quietly.
“Those device names aren’t unique.”
“This one has connected to my home network eleven times.”
“Because I’ve been at your house eleven times.”
“And today?”
“I told you. Morning.”
“Three-oh-eight.”
“I wasn’t there.”
“Then your phone was.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
Daniel waited.
Grant lowered his voice further.
“Someone spoofed it.”
“Who?”
“How would I know?”
Daniel heard movement.
Grant was leaving wherever he had been sitting.
“Listen to me. Don’t start accusing people based on some router entry you don’t understand.”
“That sounded almost exactly like Vanessa.”
“Because she’s probably thinking more clearly than you are.”
Daniel went still.
“When did you talk to her?”
“I just told you she texted.”
“You said she told you Milo went after Lily.”
“I paraphrased.”
“Send me the text.”
“What?”
“Forward me exactly what Vanessa sent you.”
Grant did not answer.
Daniel said, “Now.”
The call ended.
Grant had hung up.
Daniel lowered the phone.
Ten seconds later, a text arrived.
Vanessa: Accident at pool. Lily okay. Daniel freaking out.
No mention of Milo.
Daniel looked at the timestamp.
4:26 p.m.
More than an hour after the incident.
Grant had known details Vanessa’s text did not contain.
The office door opened.
Rachel entered holding the pale gift box.
The lavender ribbon was soaked and flattened.
“I found this under the lounge chair.”
Daniel stared at it.
For hours he had forgotten the gift entirely.
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know. Lily made it for Mrs. Mercer.”
Daniel sat down.
“Open it.”
Rachel hesitated.
“It was Lily’s gift.”
“I know.”
“She wanted Vanessa to open it.”
Daniel looked toward the ceiling, toward the bedroom where his wife had remained since they came home.
“I don’t think that’s happening.”
Rachel slowly removed the ribbon.
Inside was a small ceramic heart painted by a child.
Purple on one side.
Yellow on the other.
Across the front, in Rachel’s handwriting, were the words Lily had dictated:
FOR MOMMY NESSA.
Daniel touched the cracked edge.
“She asked to call her that?”
Rachel nodded.
“This morning.”
Daniel swallowed.
Vanessa had spent months complaining that Lily refused to accept her.
Lily finally had.
And Vanessa had pushed her into the pool.
Rachel returned the heart to the box.
“She worked on it three days.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“What did you see?”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
Rachel took a chair.
“I saw Lily walking toward Mrs. Mercer. Then one of the catering staff asked me where the extra napkins were. I turned away.”
“So you didn’t see the push.”
“No.”
“The laughter?”
Rachel’s eyes hardened.
“Yes.”
“After Lily hit the water?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
Daniel looked at the box again.
“What about Grant?”
“I saw his car this morning.”
“Did you see him leave?”
“No.”
“Did you see him this afternoon?”
Rachel thought.
“No.”
“Then how did his phone connect?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel’s phone buzzed.
A message from Vanessa.
Can we please talk like married adults instead of you building a courtroom downstairs?
Daniel ignored it.
Another message came.
You’re scaring me.
That irritated him enough to reply.
Lily was scared.
Three dots appeared.
Vanished.
Returned.
Then disappeared completely.
A knock sounded at the office door.
Thomas entered.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“I believe I may have made an error earlier.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Join the club.”
Thomas remained serious.
“Mr. Holloway’s vehicle did leave this morning.”
Daniel straightened.
“You saw it?”
“Yes.”
“What time?”
“Approximately ten-fifty.”
“Then he came back?”
“Not through the main drive.”
“How else could he get in?”
Thomas glanced toward Rachel.
“There is the old service lane behind the tennis court.”
Daniel frowned.
The lane had once been used by landscapers before a new maintenance entrance was built. It ended near a storage barn and was supposedly locked.
“Gate camera?”
“No camera, sir.”
“Gate locked?”
“It should be.”
“Should be?”
Thomas’s discomfort deepened.
“I checked it after hearing what happened.”
Daniel stood.
“It was open?”
“No.”
Thomas looked at him.
“The chain had been cut.”
Daniel felt the evening change around him.
Grant had denied returning.
His device had appeared on the network.
A hidden service gate had been cut.
This was no longer about a cruel impulsive shove beside a swimming pool.
Someone had come onto Daniel’s property without wanting the gate cameras to see them.
“Call the detective,” Daniel said.
Thomas nodded.
Rachel stood.
Daniel picked up the wet gift box and headed for the door.
Then Thomas spoke again.
“Sir.”
Daniel turned.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
Thomas looked genuinely afraid to say it.
“When Mr. Holloway came this morning, he wasn’t carrying only the vendor packet.”
Daniel waited.
Thomas continued.
“He was carrying your black security case.”
Daniel stared.
“My what?”
“The small case you keep in the safe.”
Daniel’s face went cold.
Inside that case was the hardware authentication token for Mercer Hospitality’s primary corporate banking account.
He crossed the hallway at a run.
The office safe was hidden behind a framed architectural drawing.
Daniel entered the code.
The door opened.
The cash envelope was there.
His passport was there.
May you like
Emily’s trust documents were there.
The black security case was gone.
