Chapter 2 - THE EMPTY HOUSE
The first black bag came out of the pool twenty minutes later.
Emily was no longer watching.
A female officer named Rebecca Miles had taken her into Mrs. Harris’s living room and was gently asking basic questions.
I remained near the kitchen window.
I could see investigators moving through Sarah’s backyard.
Nobody opened the bag outside.
Instead, each one was placed into a large evidence container.
There were four bags in total.
Not three.
The fourth had been resting deeper beneath the water.
Detective Luis Alvarez arrived shortly afterward.
He was in his forties, calm, observant, and clearly uninterested in making assumptions before he had facts.
“You’re Emily’s father?”
“Yes.”
He introduced himself.
Then he asked me to explain everything from the moment Emily stopped answering my calls.
I gave him every detail.
The unanswered messages.
Mrs. Harris’s warning.
The fence.
The enclosure.
The padlock.
The pool.
And finally Emily’s statement.
Mommy tried to stop him.
Alvarez wrote almost nothing while I spoke.
He simply listened.
When I finished, he asked one question.
“Where is Jason?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Sarah?”
“I don’t know that either.”
An officer approached.
“Detective.”
Alvarez turned.
“House is clear.”
That sentence made my stomach drop.
“No Sarah?”
“No Jason.”
The officer shook his head.
“Nothing.”
“Vehicles?”
“Jason’s SUV is parked out front.”
“What about Sarah’s car?”
“In the garage.”
Alvarez looked toward me.
“So neither of them left in their usual vehicles.”
Another officer emerged from the backyard carrying a laptop bag.
Then another brought several cardboard boxes from inside the garage.
Something bigger than a domestic argument had happened here.
Alvarez walked next door with me.
Emily was curled beneath a blanket on Mrs. Harris’s couch.
When she saw me, she immediately reached out.
I sat beside her.
Alvarez remained several feet away.
“Emily.”
She looked at him cautiously.
“My name is Detective Alvarez.”
She nodded.
“I’m going to help find your mom.”
Emily glanced at me.
I nodded.
The detective continued.
“Do you remember seeing Jason leave?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Saturday morning.”
“Was your mom with him?”
Emily hesitated.
“I couldn’t see.”
“Why?”
“Because I was already outside.”
Alvarez’s face stayed controlled.
“In the enclosure?”
Emily nodded.
“Did Jason come back?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Saturday night.”
“Was anyone with him?”
Emily thought for several seconds.
“A man.”
Alvarez leaned forward slightly.
“Do you know his name?”
“No.”
“What did he look like?”
“I only heard him.”
“What did they say?”
Emily closed her eyes.
“They were arguing.”
“About?”
She opened them again.
“The man said Jason had made everything worse.”
Alvarez glanced at me.
Then Emily remembered something.
“He called Jason by another name.”
“What name?”
She pressed her lips together, trying to remember.
“Daniel.”
The room went silent.
Alvarez repeated it.
“Daniel?”
Emily nodded.
“He said, ‘Daniel, you were supposed to get the papers and leave.’”
The detective stood slowly.
That was the first moment I saw genuine concern cross his face.
May you like
Jason might not simply be a dangerous husband.
Jason might not even be Jason.
