Chapter 4 - The Investigation
David arrived at 11:45 PM. He looked exactly as he had five years ago—tall, broad-shouldered, with a hard face that had seen too much of the dark side of humanity. But when he looked at Emily sleeping in the hospital bed, his expression softened into something resembling grief.
"They did this to her?" he whispered, his hands curling into fists.
"Jason did," I said, sitting on the edge of the visitor's cot. "And he's out on bail. His lawyers are claiming I kidnapped her. They have Sarah's signature on a statement saying she was fine and that I'm the dangerous one."
David pulled up a chair and sat down, his eyes fixed on me. "We have to play this smart, Mike. If you run, you prove them right. They'll hunt you down, and you'll go to prison, leaving Emily completely unprotected. We have to beat them at their own game."
"How?" I asked, desperate. "They cleared out the pool. They said the bags were just trash. The police are treating it like a domestic dispute."
"Because Jason has the local police in his pocket," David said. "But he doesn't own the state police. And he doesn't own me. Mrs. Harris... she saw him put those bags in the pool. If the bags the police found were just trash, where are the real bags?"
"You think he moved them?"
"I think he had a window of time between when the neighbor saw him and when you arrived," David reasoned. "He's smart, but he's arrogant. He wouldn't have put them somewhere they could easily be found. He probably hid them on the property, or... he had an accomplice."
Suddenly, Emily stirred. She gasped, her eyes flying open as she woke from a nightmare. "No! Don't put me in the dark! Please!"
"Em, Em, it's okay," I said, rushing to hold her. "It's Daddy. You're safe."
She clung to me, her small body shaking. She looked past me to David, her eyes widening. "Who is that?"
"This is your Uncle David, sweetheart. He's here to help us."
Emily looked at David for a long moment. Then, she reached into the pocket of her hospital gown. Her tiny fingers pulled out a small, crumpled piece of paper.
"I found this in the yard when I was... when I was in the cage," she whispered, her voice trembling. "It fell out of Jason’s pocket when he was yelling at the man on the phone. He told the man to 'take the files to the cabin' and that 'the evidence is safe in the well.'"
David leaned in, his eyes sharp. "Did he say which cabin, Emily?"
"The one near the lake," she whispered. "The one with the red door. We went there once. It was cold."
David looked at me, a grim smile spreading across his face. "The family cabin. Sarah’s parents owned a cabin up near Lake Eerie. It’s registered in Sarah’s name, but Jason has been using it as a tax write-off."
"What's in the well, David?" I asked, a chill running down my spine.
"We're going to find out," David said, standing up. "But we have to move fast. The custody hearing is in nine hours. I'm going to that cabin. You stay here, guard Emily, and prepare for court. When the judge asks for your defense, you hold the line. I'll get you the evidence you need."
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"David, wait," I said, grabbing his arm. "It's dangerous. Jason won't hesitate to kill you if you get in his way."
David looked down at my hand, then up at my face. "He hurt my niece, Michael. He’s already dead. He just doesn't know it yet."
