Chapter 8 - The Missing File
Officer Ruiz ran around the row of storage units while Mark locked Noah and June inside the office.
Two minutes later she returned alone.
"Whoever it was had a head start."
The manager pulled security footage.
At 7:42 a.m., a man in a baseball cap had entered through a side gate using a valid access code.
At 7:58, he appeared behind unit 214 carrying a slim blue binder.
June leaned toward the screen.
"That's Calvin's coat."
Mark stared at the footage. "Can you prove it?"
"I bought him that coat for Christmas twelve years ago. He complained about the sleeves."
Ruiz copied the video.
Mark looked inside the storage unit again.
A narrow service panel in the rear wall had been pried open from the neighboring unit. Someone had reached through and removed one item.
The blue ledger.
"How did he know where it was?" Mark asked.
June's expression darkened.
"Because Linda told him."
Ruiz's phone rang.
She listened, said very little, then ended the call.
"Your mother posted bond."
Mark felt Noah stiffen beside him.
"Already?"
"There are temporary no-contact conditions. She cannot contact Noah or June, and she cannot return to the house without a police escort to collect personal property."
Noah whispered, "She'll come anyway."
Mark put a hand on his shoulder. "Then we call 911."
"She'll wait until you're gone."
"I'm not going anywhere."
Noah gave him a look that said he had heard promises before.
Mark hated that look because he had earned it.
Back at the house, Ms. Patel arranged emergency safety measures and gave Mark a list of therapists who worked with trauma and family violence.
June rested upstairs.
Mark changed the alarm code, added temporary door sensors, and canceled every business trip on his calendar.
At three in the afternoon, the school principal called.
"Mr. Carter, we need to discuss something we found in Noah's file."
Mark glanced at Noah, who was drawing at the kitchen table.
"What is it?"
"There are three incident reports from last year. Bruising, repeated absences, and one note from a teacher saying Noah was afraid to go home."
Mark's stomach dropped.
"I never saw those."
"That's the problem. The file says you signed them."
"I didn't."
The principal went quiet.
"Then someone forged your signature."
Mark looked toward the front window.
Across the street, a dark SUV sat at the curb with its engine running.
No license plate on the front.
Noah followed his gaze.
"Dad?"
The SUV pulled away.
May you like
Mark's phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number.
STOP DIGGING OR THE NEXT REPORT WILL BE ABOUT WHAT YOU DID TO YOUR SON.
