Chapter 6 - LINDA’S VERSION
Linda was arrested that afternoon.
Not for attempted murder.
Not yet.
For evidence-related offenses and suspected child endangerment while investigators sorted through the rest.
Daniel called me seventeen times.
I answered none.
Megan sent screenshots.
Robert sent copies of bank correspondence.
My attorney, Rebecca Sloan, filed for emergency temporary custody and protection orders before the courthouse closed.
By evening, my life had become paperwork.
Emma, mercifully, only cared about whether the hotel pool was open.
It wasn’t.
She called this “the worst thing that happened today,” and I almost cried because I desperately wanted her world to become that small again.
At eight that night, Rebecca arrived.
She was fifty, silver-blonde, sharp-eyed, and spoke without wasting words.
“I’ve reviewed what you sent.”
“And?”
“You and Emma do not go anywhere alone for now.”
My stomach tightened.
“You think we’re in danger?”
“I think your husband lied about finances, secretly discussed custody, and participated in a plan to withhold medication from a medically vulnerable child. His mother removed evidence from your home, and police found a document tracking your movements.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is the only responsible answer I have tonight.”
She set a folder on the table.
“The judge granted temporary emergency custody.”
I exhaled.
“Daniel?”
“Supervised contact only, provided child services approves it.”
“What about Linda?”
“No contact.”
“Robert?”
“No restriction currently.”
I nodded.
Rebecca’s expression softened slightly.
“I also filed notice with the trust administrator.”
“You know about that?”
“Robert’s lawyer called me.”
“What happens now?”
“Nothing happens to the trust without scrutiny.”
I looked toward Emma, who was watching cartoons with headphones.
“Could this really be about money?”
Rebecca leaned back.
“People rarely do terrible things for only one reason. Money may be part. Control may be part. Divorce may be part.”
“And Megan.”
“And Megan.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
Rebecca looked at it.
“Don’t answer.”
A voicemail appeared.
I played it on speaker.
Linda’s voice filled the hotel room.
“Sarah, I know you’re angry. I know everyone is telling you things. But you need to understand that Daniel is not innocent in this, and neither is Robert. Call me before they make me take the blame for all of it.”
Rebecca reached forward and stopped the recording.
“Send that to Reed.”
I did.
Ten minutes later, Linda called again.
Then again.
“She’s desperate,” I said.
“Desperate people reveal things.”
At 9:03 p.m., Detective Reed contacted us.
Linda wanted to give a statement.
Her attorney was present.
Did I want to hear the relevant portion afterward?
“Yes.”
Rebecca said, “Only if it helps the investigation.”
An hour later, Reed called back.
His tone was difficult to read.
“Linda admits she withheld the medication.”
I gripped the phone.
“She admits it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She says Daniel asked her to.”
“That matches the email.”
“She claims Daniel told her Emma’s condition had been exaggerated by you and that he had privately spoken with another physician.”
“Did he?”
“We haven’t verified any second physician.”
“What about putting Emma outside?”
“Linda admits doing that. She describes it as discipline.”
I closed my eyes.
“She nearly killed her.”
“I understand.”
“What about going to my house?”
“She says Daniel called her after leaving the hospital and told her there were financial documents in the office that would ‘look bad out of context.’”
Rebecca and I exchanged glances.
“Daniel told her to take them?”
“That is her claim.”
“And the carbon-monoxide detector?”
“She denies touching it.”
“The fireplace?”
“She says it was already on.”
“That’s a lie.”
Reed continued.
“She also denies writing the schedule.”
“Then who did?”
“We’re investigating.”
He paused.
“There’s something else.”
Of course.
“Linda says the trust was never the real reason Daniel wanted custody.”
I looked at Rebecca.
“What was?”
“She says Daniel became fixated on proving you were mentally unstable because he believed it would protect him from something you might discover during divorce proceedings.”
“What?”
“She claims Daniel had been moving company money.”
I frowned.
“Company money?”
“From his employer.”
My stomach dropped.
“Stealing?”
“We’re not using that word without financial records.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“According to Linda, Daniel believed that if you discovered his financial activity, you would report it.”
“I didn’t know anything about it.”
“She says he planned to characterize you as unstable before filing for divorce, so anything you later alleged would appear retaliatory.”
I sat very still.
This was bigger than an affair.
Bigger than custody.
“Did Linda help him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
The detective exhaled.
“She says she believed protecting Daniel protected the family.”
Rebecca muttered, “Classic.”
“What about yesterday?” I asked. “Why risk Emma’s life?”
“Linda claims she never believed Emma was in true danger.”
“She had the medicine in her pocket.”
“Yes.”
“She watched Emma collapse.”
“Yes.”
“And didn’t call 911.”
“Yes.”
My hands shook.
Reed said, “Sarah, she also made an allegation about Daniel.”
“What?”
“She says after Emma collapsed, she called him.”
“When?”
“Approximately eleven minutes before you arrived.”
I went still.
“What did he say?”
“Linda says she told him Emma was lying on the ground and not responding normally.”
I could hear my heartbeat.
“And?”
“She says Daniel told her to wait.”
Rebecca stood.
“Wait for what?”
Reed answered quietly.
“For you to arrive.”
I covered my mouth.
“No.”
“Linda claims Daniel said if emergency services arrived before you, the situation would become impossible to explain.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“He knew she was unconscious?”
“That is Linda’s statement.”
“And he didn’t call an ambulance.”
“Yes.”
Something inside me went numb.
“Do you believe her?”
“I believe portions of her statement can be independently tested.”
“Phone records.”
“Yes.”
“Did she call him?”
“We’re obtaining records.”
I stared at the wall.
Eleven minutes.
Emma had been lying outside.
Linda called Daniel.
If she was telling the truth, my husband knew.
He knew and chose his plan over his daughter.
Rebecca touched my shoulder.
Then Reed said something unexpected.
“Linda also said Daniel was afraid of Robert.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“She wouldn’t explain clearly. She said Robert ‘knows where the original books are.’”
“What books?”
“She wouldn’t say.”
Rebecca wrote the phrase down.
I remembered Robert’s strange guilt.
His decades of silence.
His father’s distrust of Daniel.
“Detective, have you asked Robert?”
“Not yet. We’ve been unable to reach him for the last hour.”
My chest tightened.
“He was texting me earlier.”
“When was the last message?”
I checked.
7:16 p.m.
I’m going to the old storage unit. There’s something there Daniel must not get first.
I had read it while dealing with Emma and forgotten to respond.
I showed Rebecca.
She immediately called Reed back.
Within minutes police were looking for Robert.
At 10:41 p.m., my phone rang.
It was Robert.
I answered instantly.
“Where are you?”
No response.
“Robert?”
I heard breathing.
Then a low groan.
“Sarah.”
“Where are you?”
“Storage.”
“What happened?”
“He was here.”
My blood went cold.
“Who?”
Robert whispered one word.
May you like
“Daniel.”
Then the line went dead.
