Chapter 16 - DANIEL'S LAST ESCAPE
Daniel had not boarded a commercial flight.
Security footage showed him entering the terminal.
Then leaving through another exit twenty-three minutes later.
His phone was found inside a trash container.
His wallet remained in the car.
It looked like escape.
But Rachel thought differently.
“He wants investigators looking outward.”
Jennifer frowned.
“Meaning?”
“He may still be local.”
Police agreed.
Daniel’s passport had been flagged.
Bank accounts were frozen.
His options were shrinking.
At 11:40 p.m., Jennifer’s father-in-law called.
Daniel had contacted him from an unknown number.
“What did he want?”
Jennifer asked.
“Fifty thousand again.”
“Did he say where he was?”
“No.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That I would not help him run.”
Jennifer heard pain in the older man’s voice.
“What did he say?”
“He called me a coward.”
Jennifer closed her eyes.
Daniel’s father continued.
“Then he said this entire mess happened because nobody ever believed in him.”
Jennifer almost laughed.
“He had everyone believing in him.”
“I know.”
“He had more chances than most people ever get.”
“I know.”
Then the older man said something quieter.
“He asked whether you were staying with your mother.”
Jennifer sat straighter.
“Did you answer?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Rachel immediately informed police.
Security was increased around the house.
Jennifer hated it.
The cameras.
The patrol car.
The constant sense of being watched.
But Lily slept peacefully through all of it.
At 1:17 a.m., the doorbell camera detected movement.
Jennifer’s mother froze.
Rachel, who had stayed overnight, checked the monitor.
A man stood outside.
Daniel.
He looked exhausted.
Unshaven.
Rain covered his coat.
He held nothing visible.
Jennifer’s heart pounded.
Daniel pressed the bell.
Then looked directly into the camera.
“Jennifer.”
Rachel called police.
Daniel continued.
“I know you’re there.”
Jennifer remained upstairs with Lily.
“Please.”
“I just want to talk.”
Rachel told her not to respond.
Daniel sat down on the porch steps.
For eleven minutes, he did nothing.
Then he spoke again.
“I’m not going to hurt anyone.”
Jennifer closed her eyes.
The fact that he thought he needed to say it told her how far everything had fallen.
Police arrived.
Daniel did not run.
He stood slowly.
Raised his hands.
And was taken into custody.
As officers placed him in the vehicle, he looked toward the upstairs window.
Jennifer stepped back before he could see her.
She did not feel victorious.
She felt exhausted.
Rachel stood beside her.
“It’s over for tonight.”
Jennifer looked down at Lily.
“No.”
She had learned enough by then to know better.
Daniel’s arrest was not the ending.
May you like
It was simply the moment he could no longer control what came next.
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