Chapter 30 - Smiles Behind Plexiglass
Daniel didn't wait for Vanessa to finish her rambling excuses. He slammed the receiver onto its cradle, stood up, and walked out of the county jail visiting room.
The heavy steel doors slammed shut behind him with the resounding boom of a guillotine.
Outside, rain had begun to fall over the city—a cold, miserable November drizzle that turned the pavement slick and black. Daniel got into his truck, locked the doors, and sat with the engine idling, his hands gripping the steering wheel until his palms ached.
*The teddy bear.*
For weeks, that cheap, scuffed brown bear with the repaired ear had sat on the shelf in Daniel’s living room, a poignant symbol of Lily’s resilience and the tragedy they had survived. Rachel had touched it. Lily had hugged it to sleep every single night.
And all along, stitched inside its synthetic cotton stuffing, sat the one piece of evidence capable of destroying the most dangerous man in the city.
Daniel pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Rachel.
It rang four times. Then five. Then clicked to voicemail.
*“Hi, you’ve reached Rachel. Please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”*
Daniel felt a cold spike of adrenaline punch through his ribs. He hung up and dialed the landline at his new home.
No answer.
He threw the truck into drive, stomping on the accelerator. The tires spun on the wet asphalt before catching traction, propelling the heavy vehicle out of the county facility parking lot and into the midday traffic.
He dialed Detective Miller’s direct line.
“Miller,” the gruff voice answered on the second ring.
“Miller, it’s Daniel Greyson. Where are the patrol units I asked for outside my house?”
“Greyson? Take it easy. I checked the log twenty minutes ago. Car 14 is parked at the end of your cul-de-sac. What’s going on?”
“Call them right now,” Daniel barked, weaving aggressively between two delivery vans on the expressway. “Arthur Vance is moving. He knows Vanessa is cracking. The evidence linking him to the kidnapping isn’t in Vance’s office—it’s in my house, inside Lily’s toy.”
“Wait, slow down,” Miller said, the sound of papers rustling in the background. “Arthur Vance? The attorney? Greyson, Vance was in the prosecutor’s office this morning with three senior partners filing a formal complaint against your ex-wife for extortion. He claimed Vanessa threatened his family!”
“He’s lying to you!” Daniel shouted into the phone. “He set up the entire operation! He’s the one who financed the storage room! Look at the property deeds for the old house—the mortgage was co-signed by an LLC registered to Vance’s firm! Have your units enter my property right now!”
There was a tense silence on the line. Then Miller’s voice sharpened into pure professional urgency: “Hold on. I’m keying into dispatch.”
Daniel heard the radio squawk through Miller’s phone: *“Dispatch, this is Miller. Status on unit 14 at 742 Elmcrest Drive?”*
Static hissed over the line.
Then a dispatcher’s voice came back: *“Unit 14 is non-responsive. We received a patrol car automated distress beacon forty seconds ago. Units 12 and 18 en route.”*
Daniel’s heart dropped into an abyss. “Miller!”
“Step on it, Greyson,” Miller snapped, sirens wailing to life in the background of his call. “I’m five minutes out with lights and sirens. Do not enter that house alone!”
Daniel threw the phone onto the passenger seat and floored the gas pedal. The speedometer climbed to eighty, then eighty-five, blowing past red lights with his horn blaring.
The rain came down harder, drumming against the windshield like gunfire.
Ten minutes later, Daniel slid the truck around the corner onto Elmcrest Drive.
At the end of the cul-de-sac, police cruiser 14 sat parked crookedly against the curb. Its driver’s side door hung wide open. The blue dashboard light was spinning lazily, casting eerie reflections against the wet asphalt.
Lying on the sidewalk beside the cruiser was Officer Higgins, clutching his shoulder, groaning in agony as blood seeped through his dark uniform shirt.
Daniel slammed his truck into park, grabbed his pistol from the console, and jumped out into the pouring rain.
“Officer!” Daniel knelt beside the fallen cop. “What happened? Where are they?”
“Two men…” Higgins gasped, his face twisted in pain. “Tactical gear… suppressed weapons… they breached the side door… Greyson, don’t go in… they have…”
Daniel didn't wait to hear the rest.
May you like
He rose to his feet, gripped the firearm with both hands, and sprinted across his front lawn toward the dark, silent house.
***
