Chapter 5 - The Nanny Who Never DiedHer name was Danielle Voss.
For three seconds nobody understood what had happened.
Then Detective Cole drew his weapon.
“Stay in the room.”
Nathan moved toward the hallway.
Cole caught his arm.
“I said stay here.”
“My wife is down the hall.”
“Security is with her.”
A second scream echoed.
Sophie buried her face against my side.
I pulled her close.
Eli stared at the door.
“They’re here.”
His whisper was almost inaudible.
“Who?” I asked.
“The people from the house.”
The hallway filled with running footsteps.
A nurse slammed our door shut.
“Lock it.”
“There’s no lock,” I said.
Nathan dragged a chair beneath the handle.
Cole opened the door only wide enough to speak with an officer outside.
“What happened?”
“Power failure on two floors. Security found someone injured in stairwell C.”
“Who?”
“Hospital employee.”
“Suspect?”
“Unknown.”
Cole looked back at Eli.
“This wasn’t random.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“Who knows he’s here?”
“Police. EMS. Hospital staff. Half the parking lot.”
“And everyone recording us.”
That was true.
Videos of the rescue were probably already online.
I reached for my phone.
Thirty-one missed notifications.
Messages from friends.
Local news alerts.
One headline made my stomach twist.
MYSTERY CHILDREN RESCUED FROM HOT CAR AT WESTBROOK MALL.
There was already video of me swinging the hammer.
Another clip showed Nathan shouting beside the sedan.
His full name appeared in the caption.
“They know,” I whispered.
Cole looked over.
“What?”
“This is already everywhere.”
He took the phone.
“Damn it.”
Eli began crying harder.
“She’ll move Grace.”
Nathan crossed the room.
“Who?”
“The lady.”
“What’s her name?”
“I only heard people call her Mrs. V.”
Nathan stopped.
Rachel’s hospital monitor alarm sounded faintly down the hall.
His head turned.
“Mrs. V?”
Eli nodded.
Nathan looked like he had been struck.
Cole noticed.
“You know someone with that initial?”
“No.”
“You hesitated.”
“I’m trying to think.”
“Nathan.”
His eyes hardened.
“My mother’s name is Victoria.”
The room fell silent.
I had expected almost any answer except that.
“Your mother?” I said.
Nathan shook his head immediately.
“No. Absolutely not.”
Cole remained calm.
“Where is she?”
“Europe.”
“Where specifically?”
“France, supposedly.”
“When did you last speak?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Relationship?”
“Complicated.”
“Why?”
Nathan looked toward Sophie and Eli.
“Not here.”
Cole didn’t press.
The backup lights flickered.
Then full power returned.
Almost immediately a hospital security officer appeared.
“Detective?”
Cole stepped outside.
I heard only pieces.
Stairwell.
Uniform stolen.
Female suspect.
Exited loading dock.
Cole returned.
“She got away.”
“Who?” Nathan asked.
“We don’t know.”
“What happened to the employee?”
“Knocked unconscious. Uniform taken.”
Eli whimpered.
“She came for me.”
Nathan turned toward him.
“No one is touching you.”
“You can’t stop her.”
The boy looked at me.
“She has police.”
Cole’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“Men with badges helped move us.”
The detective went very still.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“City police?”
“Maybe.”
“Uniforms?”
“Sometimes.”
Cole slipped his notebook away.
From that moment, something changed in him.
He stopped speaking freely in front of the officers outside.
He called someone using his personal phone instead of the radio.
Then he ordered hospital security to restrict access to Eli’s floor.
Nathan pulled me aside while Sophie colored on a sheet of hospital paper.
“I need you to take your daughter home.”
“I was planning to.”
“No.”
The urgency in his voice made me look at him.
“I mean leave the hospital now. Quietly.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Eli recognized Sophie.”
“So?”
“So whoever is doing this may realize Sophie matters.”
“She’s five.”
“That doesn’t protect her.”
My stomach tightened.
“She only saw a car.”
“She saw Eli when nobody else did.”
“That’s not evidence.”
“No. But these people put children in a boiling car to send me a message.”
I hated him for being right.
Detective Cole approached.
“He’s right.”
“You want me to leave?”
“I want you somewhere secure.”
“My apartment.”
“Not ideal.”
“I don’t have a secret fortress.”
Nathan said, “I do.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
“My security team can protect you.”
“I met you three hours ago.”
“And your daughter may have just saved my wife and possibly led me to my child.”
His voice cracked on the last word.
I looked away.
“Claire,” he said softly.
It was the first time he had used my first name.
“I cannot lose another person because of this.”
Sophie walked over.
“Mommy, I’m hungry.”
The simplicity of the statement returned me to reality.
She needed food.
A bath.
Sleep.
She didn’t need kidnappers, detectives, billionaires, or dead children who might not be dead.
“We’re going home.”
Cole exhaled.
“I’ll have an officer drive behind you.”
“An officer Eli says might be working for them?”
Cole grimaced.
“Fair point.”
Nathan said, “My driver.”
I almost laughed.
“You think I’m getting into a stranger’s car with my daughter after today?”
He nodded.
“Also fair.”
In the end, Detective Cole drove us himself.
My apartment was fifteen minutes from the hospital.
The entire ride, Sophie talked about Mia.
“Will the baby be okay?”
“The doctors think so.”
“And Eli?”
“I hope so.”
“And Grace?”
I looked at Cole’s reflection in the mirror.
“We don’t know.”
When we reached my building, something was wrong.
My front door was open.
Cole saw it before I did.
“Stay in the car.”
He drew his weapon and approached.
My heart hammered.
Sophie sensed my fear.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know.”
Two minutes later Cole returned.
“Someone searched the apartment.”
I felt sick.
“Stole anything?”
“Doesn’t look like burglary.”
“What does that mean?”
“They opened drawers. Closets. Your daughter’s room.”
Sophie started crying.
“My rabbit.”
I squeezed her hand.
Cole knelt beside the rear door.
“Is her toy rabbit important?”
“She carries it everywhere. We couldn’t find it this morning.”
His eyes met mine.
“Did she take it to school recently?”
“Every day.”
He stood.
“Stay here.”
“What?”
He disappeared inside again.
When he returned, he held a clear evidence bag.
Inside was Sophie’s purple stuffed rabbit.
One ear had been cut open.
A tiny black object protruded from the stuffing.
My mouth went dry.
“What is that?”
“Looks like a tracking device.”
Sophie stared at her rabbit.
“Why is Mr. Bunny broken?”
I couldn’t answer.
Cole crouched.
“Claire, where was this rabbit this morning?”
“I told you. We couldn’t find it.”
“Where did you eventually find it?”
“We didn’t.”
He stared.
“So someone brought it here.”
A terrible realization moved through me.
“They were inside before we came home.”
He nodded.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Cole held up a hand.
“Speaker.”
I answered.
“Hello?”
For a moment there was only static.
Then a woman spoke.
Her voice was calm.
Educated.
Older.
“You should have kept walking in that parking lot, Claire.”
My blood froze.
“Who is this?”
“You’ve involved your daughter in something she cannot understand.”
I looked at Cole.
He was recording.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing from you.”
“Then leave us alone.”
“I intend to.”
A pause.
“Provided Sophie forgets what she heard at school.”
My hand shook.
“What did she hear?”
The woman laughed softly.
“That’s the problem, Claire.”
The line went dead.
Cole immediately tried tracing it.
Blocked.
Burner.
Nothing useful.
Sophie tugged my sleeve.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“I know that lady.”
Cole and I both turned.
“From where?”
“She talked to Miss Laura.”
My knees nearly gave out.
“The lost-kids lady?”
Sophie nodded.
“What did she look like?”
“White hair.”
“Anything else?”
“She had the pretty bird necklace.”
Cole showed her his phone.
“What kind of bird?”
Sophie pointed toward the screen while he searched images.
“That one.”
A silver phoenix.
I heard Cole inhale.
Behind us, Nathan’s voice came from the sidewalk.
He had arrived with two private security officers.
“What did she say?”
Cole showed him the image.
Nathan’s face changed.
“No.”
“What?”
He took the phone.
“That necklace belonged to my mother.”
I stared at him.
“Victoria?”
Nathan nodded.
“But she gave it away years ago.”
“To whom?”
He looked at me.
May you like
“To Grace’s nanny.”
The woman who had supposedly died in the crash with his daughter.
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