Chapter 5: The Girl in the Red Coat
Chapter 5: The Girl in the Red Coat
The drive back to Mercy General felt endless.
Detective Aaron Miles barely spoke.
His knuckles were white around the steering wheel.
I couldn't stop hearing Daniel's words.
Don't let him take Emma. He's going back for Emma.
"Who is Emma?" I finally asked.
Miles didn't answer immediately.
"I don't know."
"But Daniel does."
When we reached the intensive care unit, chaos greeted us.
Two nurses were cleaning blood from the floor.
A respiratory therapist was replacing damaged equipment.
Daniel had ripped out his breathing tube in a panic before doctors restrained him.
He was conscious now.
Weak.
Barely able to speak.
But alive.
The doctor looked at me.
"You have five minutes. Don't upset him."
I almost laughed.
How could I not?
Daniel looked exhausted.
His face was pale beneath the bruises.
Machines beeped steadily around him.
When he saw me, tears filled his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Mom."
I took his hand.
"No."
My own voice broke.
"You don't apologize."
"You almost died."
He squeezed my fingers with surprising strength.
"I thought... I was too late."
"Too late for what?"
He glanced toward Detective Miles.
"Close the door."
The detective did.
Daniel looked from one of us to the other.
"You found the farmhouse."
Miles nodded.
"And the files."
Another nod.
Daniel closed his eyes.
"I should've told the truth years ago."
He spoke slowly, stopping every few sentences to catch his breath.
"Eighteen years ago... Dad took me to an old farm outside Ashford County."
"The lake house?" I asked.
"No."
He shook his head.
"The red barn."
The name alone made the room colder.
"It belonged to one of his business partners."
"What happened there?"
Daniel swallowed hard.
"I met a girl."
His breathing became uneven.
"She said her name was Emma."
Detective Miles frowned.
"The photograph from 2008?"
Daniel blinked.
"No."
"What?"
"The girl in that picture wasn't Emma."
Silence filled the room.
"There were two girls."
Daniel stared at the ceiling as memories he had buried for years finally surfaced.
"The first girl was Emma."
"She was maybe fourteen."
"Dad said she'd stolen money from him."
"He locked her inside the barn while he 'questioned' her."
My stomach lurched.
"Oh, God..."
"I believed him."
Daniel's voice cracked.
"I was sixteen."
"I thought adults knew what they were doing."
He began crying.
"I left."
"You left?" I whispered.
"He told me to go home."
"I did."
"I never saw Emma again."
Detective Miles leaned forward.
"Did you report it?"
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"I tried."
The room fell silent.
"I told Dad something felt wrong."
"What did he say?"
Daniel's eyes filled with shame.
"He slapped me."
The words came out almost as a whisper.
"He said if I ever mentioned that girl again... Mom would lose everything."
I felt my heart splinter.
Richard had used me.
Even then.
"He said he'd go to prison."
"He said our house would be taken."
"He said you'd never forgive me."
"So I stayed quiet."
"For two years," Daniel continued, "I convinced myself she'd run away."
"Then came the trip to the lake."
"The second girl."
"The one in the photograph."
He shut his eyes tightly.
"I realized Dad hadn't changed."
"He'd been doing this all along."
Detective Miles exchanged a glance with another officer.
"Daniel..."
"We searched missing-person reports."
"We found no Emma connected to Richard."
Daniel looked confused.
"Because Emma wasn't her real name."
Everyone stopped.
"What do you mean?"
"She told me that wasn't the name her parents gave her."
"She said Richard told her never to use her real one."
Before anyone could ask another question, a nurse rushed into the room.
"Detective!"
"What is it?"
"A little girl is missing."
Miles frowned.
"From where?"
"The children's wing."
Every person in the room froze.
The detective's expression darkened.
"How old?"
"Eight."
"What color was she wearing?"
The nurse looked at her clipboard.
"A..."
She swallowed.
"A red coat."
Daniel's face turned white.
"No."
His voice shook violently.
"No..."
Miles was already reaching for his radio.
"Lock down every exit."
The nurse's eyes widened.
"We already did."
"Then check security cameras."
"We have."
"And?"
She looked terrified.
"The cameras went black."
"When?"
"Exactly six minutes ago."
Miles sprinted from the room.
I started after him.
Daniel grabbed my wrist with surprising force.
"Mom."
I turned.
His eyes were desperate.
"Listen carefully."
"What?"
"If Richard took her..."
His breathing hitched.
"...he won't keep her alive."
The words stole the air from my lungs.
"How do you know?"
Daniel stared at me with tears streaming down his face.
"Because..."
His voice broke.
"...that's what happened to Emma."
Before I could respond, another detective burst into the room carrying a tablet.
"Detective Miles!"
He turned.
"We restored the deleted surveillance files from the farmhouse."
"What did you find?"
The detective held up a still image.
It showed Richard loading supplies into the back of a pickup truck just three hours earlier.
But that wasn't what caught everyone's attention.
Standing beside him was a woman.
She was helping him.
Smiling.
Opening the truck door for him.
I felt my knees weaken.
"No..."
Marissa looked over the detective's shoulder.
The color drained from her face.
"That's impossible."
Miles looked from the screen to Marissa.
"You know her?"
Marissa nodded slowly, unable to speak.
May you like
Finally, she whispered two words that turned the entire investigation upside down.
"My sister."
