CHAPTER 5 — THE WOMAN ON THE SCREEN
CHAPTER 5 — THE WOMAN ON THE SCREEN
No one spoke.
The frozen frame on the laptop seemed to drain the warmth from the chapel.
The woman standing behind Daniel wasn't Celeste.
She wasn't a stranger.
She was Dr. Evelyn Mercer.
Maya's obstetrician.
The doctor who had delivered the devastating news.
"We did everything we could."
For weeks, I had replayed those words in my head.
Now they sounded rehearsed.
Detective Hale paused the footage.
The timestamp glowed in the corner.
2:08:17 a.m.
Daniel unlocked the front door.
Three seconds later, Dr. Mercer stepped inside carrying a black medical bag.
My mother gasped.
"But... she told us she was on vacation."
"She was supposed to be in Colorado," my uncle whispered.
"She wasn't," Hale replied.
"Cell tower records place her in this city the entire weekend."
Daniel's attorney finally spoke.
"A doctor visiting a pregnant patient isn't a crime."
"No," I answered.
"But lying about it is."
Hale played the video.
The camera had no sound, but it didn't need any.
Daniel led Dr. Mercer toward the nursery.
They disappeared for twelve minutes.
When they returned, Maya appeared in the hallway.
She was holding her stomach.
She looked frightened.
She tried to walk away.
Daniel blocked her path.
Dr. Mercer reached into her medical bag.
Maya backed away.
Then—
The doctor grabbed her arm.
The footage skipped for four seconds.
When the image returned, Maya had collapsed onto her knees.
Daniel caught her before she hit the floor.
My mother's scream echoed through the chapel.
"No..."
"No..."
The detective stopped the video.
"It appears the file was partially corrupted."
"But that's not the important part."
He enlarged the image.
Dr. Mercer's hand.
She was holding a syringe.
My phone vibrated.
A message from the forensic lab.
Fingerprint analysis complete.
I opened the attachment.
The syringe recovered from Daniel's garage months earlier—dismissed at the time as discarded medical waste—had finally yielded usable prints after advanced processing.
One belonged to Daniel.
The other...
Dr. Evelyn Mercer.
I showed the report to Hale.
He nodded once.
"That's enough for an arrest warrant."
Just then, another detective hurried into the chapel.
"Hale!"
"We have a problem."
"What is it?"
"Dr. Mercer is gone."
"What?"
"Her house is empty."
"Her clinic is locked."
"Her passport is missing."
Daniel lowered his head.
Almost imperceptibly.
But I caught it.
He wasn't surprised.
He already knew.
I walked toward him.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
"You've protected her for weeks."
"I said I don't know."
I leaned closer.
"You just lost your only chance."
He frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"The airport."
He blinked.
"What airport?"
I smiled.
"Exactly."
His expression cracked.
He had reacted to information I had never mentioned.
The detectives exchanged glances.
Daniel realized his mistake a second too late.
Detective Hale raised his radio.
"Notify airport task force."
"Expand to private airfields."
"She has help."
Within seconds, every officer in the chapel was moving.
Then another call came in.
The dispatcher sounded breathless.
"We've got her."
Silence.
"Dr. Mercer was intercepted at a private hangar thirty miles outside the city."
Hale asked the only question that mattered.
"Was she alone?"
The dispatcher hesitated.
"No."
"There was someone else with her."
"Who?"
May you like
The answer made every head turn toward Daniel.
"His father."
