The footprint was larger than Evan's.
Daniel knew because he had spent enough years buying his son's shoes to recognize the size immediately. Evan wore a men's nine. The muddy print on the bedroom floor was closer to eleven. The tread was deep and sharply defined, as if whoever had made it had stepped inside only minutes earlier. Hale crouched beside it without touching the floor.
“That's fresh,” he said.
Daniel looked at Claire.
She was standing in the doorway.
“Who else has a key?”
“No one.”
“You own a marina,” Hale said. “People have access.”
“Not to our house.”
“Did Evan?”
“Of course.”
Hale stood. “Where was he supposed to be?”
Claire answered before Daniel could.
“At school.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“It’s Saturday.”
She looked down.
Hale noticed.
“You've both left out a lot.”
Neither spouse argued.
The room felt suddenly too small.
Hale asked Daniel to wait downstairs while another officer photographed the footprint. Daniel went to the kitchen and stood beside the sink, staring at the lake through the window. Boats continued to move across the water. Children laughed somewhere near the public dock. The ordinary sounds made everything feel unreal.
Claire came down a few minutes later.
Daniel didn't look at her.
“You lied about the school.”
“I know.”
“You lied about Evan leaving.”
“I know.”
“You lied about when you were at the store.”
“I didn't lie about the store.”
“You just didn't tell me the truth.”
She sat at the table.
“I was trying to find him.”
Daniel finally looked at her.
“What?”
“I knew something was wrong.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
His expression changed.
“Three weeks?”
Claire nodded.
“Evan started getting messages.”
“From who?”
“I don't know.”
“You saw them?”
“Some.”
“What did they say?”
“He was told to keep quiet.”
Daniel pulled out a chair and sat across from her.
“About what?”
Claire shook her head.
“He wouldn't tell me.”
“And you didn't tell me?”
“I thought you were involved.”
The words landed harder than she intended.
Daniel stared at her.
“Involved in what?”
“I didn't know.”
“Then why suspect me?”
“Because Evan kept saying that someone was using information only our family knew.”
Daniel's voice dropped. “What information?”
“The marina accounts.”
He went still.
Their marina had been in the family for twenty-two years. Daniel handled boat rentals and repairs. Claire managed reservations, supplies, and bookkeeping. Business had been slow during the previous winter, but summer had brought crowds again.
“What about the accounts?”
“Money was missing.”
“How much?”
“Almost twenty thousand dollars.”
Daniel leaned back.
“That’s impossible.”
“I found transfers.”
“From where?”
“Our business account.”
“To where?”
“A company called North Shore Holdings.”
Daniel stared at her.
He knew the name.
“That's the company that bought the old dock property.”
Claire nodded.
“They approached us last year.”
“They offered us a ridiculous price.”
“They still want the property.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“You thought I was selling it behind your back?”
“I thought you might be considering it.”
“I wasn't.”
“I didn't know.”
A police officer appeared at the doorway.
“Hale wants both of you outside.”
They followed him toward the dock.
The crowd had been moved farther away, but the lake was still busy. A forensic technician stood beside their pontoon boat.
Hale pointed toward the floor.
“There’s blood.”
Daniel stopped.
Only a small smear marked the edge of the passenger seat.
Claire covered her mouth.
“Is it Evan's?” Daniel asked.
“We don't know yet.”
Daniel looked inside the boat.
The seats were wet.
One life jacket was missing.
The glove compartment stood open.
And on the dashboard was something he had never seen before.
A small silver key.
Claire stepped closer.
“That’s not ours.”
Hale looked at her.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
Daniel studied it.
There was a tiny number engraved on the side.
47.
Hale photographed it.
“Could be a locker key.”
“Or a storage unit,” Daniel said.
“Do you know where?”
Daniel shook his head.
Claire did not.
Then the technician found something under the driver's seat.
A folded map.
It was an old map of the lake, yellowed at the edges.
One location had been circled in red.
The old quarry.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
“That's closed.”
“Why?”
“Rockslides.”
“Anyone still go there?”
“Teenagers sometimes.”
Hale looked at Claire.
“Would Evan?”
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
Daniel turned.
“You knew?”
“He told me once.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
Daniel felt a growing sense of betrayal.
Every answer seemed to uncover another thing his wife had known without him.
Hale folded the map into an evidence sleeve.
“We're going to the quarry.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“My son may be there.”
“You'll stay here.”
“Officer—”
“If he's there, we need to find him safely.”
Daniel's fists tightened.
Claire touched his arm.
“Let them go.”
He looked at her.
She whispered, “There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Evan left something for me.”
She reached into her purse.
From a small inside pocket, she pulled a sealed envelope.
His name was written on the front.
Daniel's face went cold.
“Why didn't you show me that?”
“Because I was afraid.”
Hale held out his hand.
Claire gave him the envelope.
He opened it carefully.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed the Mercer marina at night.
A dark figure stood near the office door.
The photograph had been taken from across the water.
On the back, Evan had written:
HE KNOWS ABOUT THE MONEY.
Daniel stared at the image.
“Who is that?”
Hale enlarged the photograph on his phone.
The figure's face was impossible to see.
But the jacket was distinctive.
Dark blue.
With a silver stripe across the shoulder.
Daniel looked toward the police vehicles.
Several officers wore similar jackets.
Hale noticed the direction of his gaze.
“Don't jump to conclusions.”
“I’m not.”
But Daniel was already thinking of someone.
A former employee.
Someone who knew the marina.
Someone who had access to their accounts.
Someone who had disappeared from their lives six months earlier.
His name was Victor Shaw.
And Victor had once been Claire's brother.
Daniel looked at her.
“Why didn't you tell me he contacted Evan?”
Claire's face drained of color.
“Because I thought Victor was dead.”
The words silenced everyone.
Hale stared at her.
“What do you mean, dead?”
Claire's hands began to shake.
“Victor disappeared six months ago.”
Daniel whispered, “You told me he left town.”
“I lied.”
Hale stepped closer.
“Mrs. Mercer, why?”
Claire looked toward the lake.
“Because Victor threatened to come back.”
A boat horn sounded from the north.
Everyone turned.
A patrol boat was returning.
Two officers stood inside it.
Between them sat a teenage boy.
Daniel recognized the blue shirt immediately.
“Evan.”
He ran toward the dock.
The boy stood.
His face was dirty.
One side of his forehead was scraped.
But he was alive.
Daniel reached him and pulled him into his arms.
Evan held on for only a moment before whispering into his father's shoulder.
“Dad, you have to listen to me.”
Daniel pulled back.
“What happened?”
Evan looked past him.
Straight at Claire.
“Mom didn't send that message.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Evan continued.
“Victor did.”
Daniel felt his stomach drop.
Then Evan added the words that changed everything.
“And he's not the person you should be afraid of.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART4: Evan Finally Told Them What Happened on the Water, but His Story Raised a More Dangerous Question About Who Had Been Protecting the Family
Claire Came Home Carrying Grocery Bags, but Daniel Was Already Calling the Police About Something He Could Not Explain
Part 3 of 16
