Chapter 8 - Daniel’s worst decision
Three days after the break-in, Daniel and I sat in a hotel conference room.
Not our house.
Police had released the residence after processing.
I refused to sleep there yet.
Lily stayed with my sister Megan.
No relation to Northline.
No reporters.
No company calls.
Just Daniel and me.
I asked:
“When did you first think someone was following you?”
He stared at the table.
“Tuesday.”
The break-in was Friday morning.
“Three days.”
“Yes.”
“What happened Tuesday?”
“Same dark sedan behind me from work almost to home.”
“Almost?”
“It turned off.”
“Wednesday?”
“I saw Evan in the garage at Northline.”
“He worked there.”
“Yes.”
“Thursday?”
“A car followed me to Caroline’s office.”
My throat tightened.
“You went to a lawyer?”
“Yes.”
“Still said nothing to me.”
“I didn’t want to scare you.”
“That sentence is useless now.”
“I know.”
“When you saw Evan at the airport, why didn’t you call me immediately?”
“I did.”
“At two-oh-three. When did you see him?”
“About one twenty-five.”
Thirty-eight minutes.
“What happened in those thirty-eight minutes?”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“I called Caroline. She told me to notify airport police.”
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“I watched Evan leave the garage.”
“And?”
“I thought he was going back to Nathan.”
“Back where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did our house occur to you?”
“Not immediately.”
“When did it?”
His silence answered.
I pushed.
“When?”
“Home security sent an alert that the garage side door had opened at one fifty-eight.”
I stared.
“So you knew someone entered our house.”
“Yes.”
“Then you called me.”
“Yes.”
“You called the police?”
“At the same time.”
I stood.
The chair scraped.
“Emily.”
“You had nearly forty minutes where you knew a man connected to your work had followed you to the airport, and you left me sleeping with our daughter.”
“I thought I was protecting you from panic.”
“No.”
I looked directly at him.
“You were protecting your meeting.”
May you like
That hurt him.
Because it was partly true.
