“Ethan.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“Where were you?”
“At the gym.”
“Which gym?”
“Westside Fitness.”
“What time did you leave?”
His eyes hardened.
“Are you interrogating me?”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“The police will.”
Harper pushed between us.
“Stop it! Violet is in surgery and you two are doing this?”
Daniel lifted both hands.
“He’s upset.”
Then he said the sentence that made every instinct in me wake up.
“I understand. If I’d found Violet beside that backpack, I’d be losing it too.”
I stared at him.
Harper stared at him.
Daniel’s face changed.
“What?”
I spoke slowly.
“I never told you where I found her.”
Silence.
He blinked.
“Harper must have.”
“No,” Harper whispered.
Daniel looked at her.
“You said she was in the hallway.”
“I said Ethan found her unconscious.”
Detective Mills stepped from behind us.
He had heard everything.
“Mr. Mercer?”
Daniel turned.
Mills displayed his badge.
“I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
Daniel laughed nervously.
“Sure.”
“Where were you between three and four this afternoon?”
“I already told Ethan. Gym.”
“Can anyone verify that?”
“My membership scan.”
Mills nodded.
“Excellent.”
Daniel smiled.
Too quickly.
Then Mills asked, “Do you know the alarm code at the Cross residence?”
Daniel’s smile disappeared.
“No.”
Harper looked at him.
“Yes, you do.”
He turned sharply.
“What?”
“I gave it to you in February. When Violet forgot her science project.”
Daniel stared at her.
“I forgot.”
“You used it.”
“I said I forgot it.”
Mills wrote something down.
Then a nurse appeared.
“Family of Violet Cross?”
Everything else vanished.
Harper and I rushed forward.
The doctor told us Violet had a concussion, facial injuries, and significant blood loss from a scalp wound.
But she was alive.
Stable.
No catastrophic brain injury.
I closed my eyes.
For five seconds, I was not a soldier.
I was just a father being handed his child back by inches.
When we were finally allowed into her room, Violet looked impossibly small beneath the blankets.
Harper sat on one side.
I took the other.
Daniel remained outside with Mills.
Violet woke around 8:40.
Her eyes found me.
“Dad?”
“I’m here.”
She began crying.
“I tried.”
My throat closed.
“Tried what?”
“To stop them.”
Harper leaned forward.
“Them?”
Violet nodded.
“Two boys.”
“Did you know them?”
Her breathing quickened.
I squeezed her hand.
“You’re safe.”
She looked toward the door.
“Is Daniel here?”
Harper froze.
“Yes.”
Violet’s monitor began beeping faster.
“No.”
“Sweetheart?”
“Don’t let him in.”
Harper went pale.
“Why?”
Violet started shaking.
“He gave them the code.”
The room became silent.
I leaned closer.
“How do you know?”
Violet swallowed painfully.
“I heard them.”
She closed her eyes.
“They said Daniel told them Dad wouldn’t be home until Friday.”
Harper covered her mouth.
Violet continued.
“They were looking for something.”
“What?”
“Your black case.”
I stopped breathing.
For years, I had kept a locked black document case in my home office.
It contained deployment records, financial documents, passports, and something far more dangerous to anyone desperate enough to steal it:
Evidence.
Three months earlier, Daniel had asked me about an investigation connected to a private security contractor I had worked with overseas.
I had refused to discuss it.
The contractor was under federal investigation for falsified invoices and stolen equipment.
And Daniel had recently started working for one of its subcontractors.
I stood.