Chapter 3
Police reached the motel before Chloe disappeared.
Barely.
Detective Cole called ahead to local units while Adrian stayed home with Emma and two patrol officers. He hated every second of waiting.
At 11:42 p.m., Cole called.
"We have Chloe."
Adrian stood at the kitchen counter.
"Is she hurt?"
"No."
He hated the relief he felt.
"Who took the picture?"
"We don't know."
"Jonah?"
"Still missing."
Adrian looked toward the staircase.
Emma had finally fallen asleep in his bed with the bedroom light on.
"What is Chloe saying?"
"That she wants to talk to you."
"No."
The answer surprised even him.
Cole was quiet.
"You don't have to."
"I want to know what she tells you first."
"Good."
Detective Cole interviewed Chloe for nearly three hours.
By morning, the story had changed twice.
Chloe admitted she knew Jonah Price.
Not well, she said.
Then better than she first claimed.
They had met four months earlier at a fundraiser held at the zoo.
Adrian remembered the event. Chloe had spent half the night networking while he followed Emma through an interactive reptile exhibit.
Jonah had apparently approached Chloe later online.
Friendly messages became flirtation.
Chloe insisted it never became physical.
Detective Cole did not appear convinced.
Jonah complained about his job.
Chloe complained about Emma.
That sentence alone made Adrian feel ill.
Not about parenting challenges.
About Emma herself.
According to Chloe, she told Jonah the girl was "possessive," "dramatic," and "determined to destroy" her relationship with Adrian.
Jonah suggested scaring her.
At first, he proposed locking Emma briefly inside a harmless service room near the reptile wing.
A few seconds alone.
Enough to "teach her" not to wander.
Chloe agreed.
She said the plan changed without her knowledge.
She claimed Jonah gave her the stolen access card that morning and told her it would open a single door.
He texted her directions.
She led Emma down the service hallway.
She used the card.
But when the second door opened, Chloe realized they were near the tiger transfer area.
That was when she supposedly changed her mind.
Adrian heard all of this from Detective Cole in his living room shortly after eight.
"She changed her mind," he repeated.
Cole nodded.
"That's her statement."
"Emma says she pushed her."
"I know."
"And closed the door."
"I know."
"So Chloe is lying."
"Almost certainly about part of it."
Adrian paced.
"Why isn't she arrested?"
"She is being detained while we consult prosecutors. At minimum, we're looking at child endangerment, unlawful access, conspiracy, and potentially much more depending on intent."
"Potentially?"
"Intent matters legally."
"My daughter was feet from a tiger."
"I understand."
"No, you understand paperwork."
Cole let that sit.
Adrian rubbed his face.
"Sorry."
"You don't need to apologize for being angry. You do need to let us prove the right case."
He nodded.
"What about Jonah?"
"We located his truck near an industrial park. Blood was found in the cab."
Adrian stopped pacing.
"His?"
"We don't know yet."
"The picture looked like a basement."
"We're analyzing it."
"And the person who texted me?"
"Burner number."
"So nothing."
"Not nothing. The image metadata was stripped, but the sender made a mistake."
"What?"
"One photo caught a reflection in the motel window."
Cole opened her tablet.
She enlarged part of the photograph showing Chloe outside the motel.
In the dark glass behind her was a faint shape.
A person holding a phone.
The face was almost impossible to see.
But the shirt wasn't.
Green polo.
Zoo logo.
Adrian looked at Cole.
"A zoo employee."
"Looks that way."
"Who?"
"We're comparing staff records."
A sound came from the hallway.
Emma stood there in oversized pajamas.
"Dad?"
Adrian immediately closed the tablet.
"Hey."
"Can I have cereal?"
"Of course."
She looked at Detective Cole.
"Did you catch Chloe?"
Cole answered carefully.
"We found her."
"Is she going to jail?"
"Some grown-ups are deciding what happens next."
Emma nodded as though this made sense.
Adrian poured cereal while Cole packed up.
Before leaving, the detective pulled him aside.
"Change your locks today."
"Chloe doesn't have a key anymore."
"Do it anyway."
"Why?"
"Because someone knew where to photograph Chloe. Someone knew how to reactivate an access card. Someone knew Jonah was missing before police made that public."
Adrian looked toward Emma.
"You think they know where we live."
"I think we should assume they do."
By noon, a locksmith had replaced every exterior lock.
Adrian also changed the garage code, Wi-Fi password, alarm code, and smart-camera logins.
That last one revealed something.
His home security account showed a second authorized device.
Not Chloe's phone.
A tablet.
Device name: ZOO-OPS-14.
Adrian stared at the screen.
He called Cole.
She arrived with a cybercrime officer forty minutes later.
"This device accessed your cameras nine times in the last month," the officer said.
Adrian felt sick.
"Which cameras?"
"Front door. Backyard. Kitchen. Emma's playroom."
"Her bedroom?"
"No bedroom camera listed."
Thank God.
"Can you identify the device?"
"Maybe. Zoo Ops suggests it belongs to the zoo network."
Adrian looked at Detective Cole.
"Someone at the zoo has been watching my house."
"Possibly."
"For a month."
"Yes."
Emma was at Laura's house under police protection by then. Adrian had resisted sending her away until Emma herself asked to go.
"Aunt Laura has two dogs," she had said. "They're loud. Bad people won't come there."
Adrian had nearly broken down.
Now the house felt enormous without her.
The cyber officer continued checking logs.
"Interesting."
Adrian hated that word.
"What?"
"Most sessions lasted under two minutes. But this one lasted forty-seven."
"When?"
The officer read the date.
Three weeks earlier.
Adrian remembered that night.
He and Chloe had attended a wedding-planning dinner.
Emma had stayed home with a babysitter.
"What camera?"
"Backyard mostly. Then front door. Then kitchen."
Adrian frowned.
"Why watch the backyard for forty minutes?"
The officer opened archived clips.
The recording loaded.
Emma was outside alone on the patio, drawing with chalk.
Their babysitter, Mrs. Grant, was visible through the kitchen window.
Nothing happened for several minutes.
Then a man appeared at the side gate.
Adrian leaned closer.
"Who is that?"
The image was partly blocked by a tree.
The man wore a baseball cap.
He opened the gate without knocking.
Emma looked up.
She seemed to recognize him.
The man crouched and handed her something.
A small envelope.
Then he left.
Adrian's heart hammered.
"Play it again."
They did.
"Can you enlarge his face?"
The officer tried.
Still unclear.
But as the man turned, his shirt lifted slightly.
A tattoo showed on his forearm.
Black geometric lines forming the outline of a tiger's head.
Detective Cole pulled out her phone.
"Maya sent me staff photos."
She scrolled.
Stopped.
Turned the screen toward Adrian.
Jonah Price stood beside a transport crate, sleeves rolled up.
On his forearm was the same tiger tattoo.
Adrian stared.
"Jonah came to my house."
"Three weeks ago."
"Emma knows him."
"Maybe."
Adrian grabbed his phone and called Laura.
Emma answered after the first ring.
"Dad?"
"Hey, sweetheart. I need to ask you something."
"Okay."
"A few weeks ago, when Mrs. Grant was babysitting, did a man come to the backyard?"
Silence.
"Emma?"
"Chloe said I wasn't supposed to tell."
Adrian closed his eyes.
Detective Cole watched him.
"What did the man give you?"
"A note."
"Where is it?"
"I threw it away."
"What did it say?"
Emma whispered, "It said if I wanted Chloe to go away, I had to meet somebody at the zoo."
Adrian felt cold from his scalp to his feet.
"Did you?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because it said not to tell you."
"And that scared you?"
"Mom always said secrets from parents are bad."
Natalie.
Even dead, she had protected their daughter.
Adrian swallowed.
"Did you show Chloe the note?"
"Yes."
"What did she say?"
"She got really mad. She said it was just a joke and I should forget it."
Adrian looked at Cole.
This hadn't started today.
Someone had tried to lure Emma to the zoo three weeks earlier.
When she refused, the plan changed.
"Emma, did you ever see that man again?"
Another silence.
"Yesterday."
Adrian's pulse jumped.
"Where?"
"At the zoo."
"Before the tiger?"
"Yeah."
"Did he talk to you?"
"No. He talked to Chloe."
Adrian gripped the phone.
"What did you hear?"
"He said, 'This wasn't the deal.'"
Detective Cole immediately began writing.
"Then Chloe told me to go look at the penguins."
"Did you?"
"A little."
"Did you hear anything else?"
Emma's voice became small.
"Chloe said, 'If you back out now, he'll know everything.'"
Adrian looked at Cole.
"He?" Cole mouthed.
Adrian repeated, "She said he'll know everything?"
"Yeah."
"Did Jonah say who?"
"No."
Then Emma added something that made Detective Cole stop writing.
"But I know the man they were talking about."
Adrian's throat tightened.
"Who?"
"The zoo boss."
"What zoo boss?"
"The one who came to our house for dinner."
Adrian went completely still.
Only one senior zoo official had ever eaten at his house.
Martin Vale.
May you like
Executive Director of Westbridge Zoological Park.
And Chloe's older brother.
