Chapter 4 - The Signature G
They returned to the estate after midnight with a police patrol car following them.
Rachel had argued against it until Jason asked one question.
"Where else do we go?"
Their downtown condo was being renovated. Mia's apartment had no security. A hotel would be easy to track.
So they came back to the house where Vanessa had pushed Rachel into the pool.
The party lights were still on.
The water looked innocent.
Rachel hated it.
Inside, Jason locked every door and pulled the curtains.
Mia sat at the kitchen island with the ultrasound photo inside its evidence sleeve.
"The handwriting isn't Mom's," she said.
Jason looked over. "You're sure?"
"Mom writes like a machine. All caps. This is slanted."
Rachel remembered the temporary hospital employee.
"Gwen."
Mia zoomed in on a photograph she had taken before police bagged the note.
In the lower corner, almost hidden beneath the printed date, was a tiny letter.
G.
Jason called Detective Elena Castillo, the officer assigned to the pool incident.
"We think the note may be Gwen Mercer's."
Castillo was quiet for a second. "Don't touch anything else. I'm sending someone back."
A crash sounded upstairs.
Everyone froze.
Jason lowered the phone.
Another crash.
From the nursery.
"Stay here," he said.
Rachel grabbed his arm. "Absolutely not."
He looked at her belly.
"Rachel."
"I'm not standing alone in a kitchen while someone is in my house."
Mia took a fireplace poker from beside the den.
"Great," Jason muttered. "Now we're a terrible action movie."
They climbed the stairs together.
The nursery door was open.
Jason pushed it wider.
The room had been torn apart.
Drawers dumped. Baby clothes on the floor. The mattress lifted off the crib.
Rachel stopped breathing.
"Why would anyone do this?"
Mia pointed at the wall.
A framed print of stars hung crooked.
Jason removed it.
Behind it was a tiny black camera.
Rachel's knees weakened.
Jason caught her elbow.
Then a door slammed downstairs.
He ran.
By the time he reached the foyer, the back entrance stood open.
On the marble floor lay one silver cuff link.
Mia came up behind him and went pale.
"I know that cuff link."
Jason looked at her.
"Whose is it?"
May you like
She whispered the name.
"Grant Bell. Mom's lawyer."
