Mom’s shoulder.
“I love you, Mom,” I said.
She glanced at me in the rearview mirror, and the look in her eyes told me everything I needed to know.
She believed me.
* * *
WE ENTERED the house through the garage door, and the first thing I expected, I didn’t get: Daisy didn’t start barking. She always barked whenever we came home, because she knew it was her job to protect us. I thought maybe she was sleeping, so I went to the living room to look for her. But she wasn’t there.
“Daisy!” My voice bounced off the walls as I listened for the sound of padded footsteps that never came. I ran to the kitchen to look for Mom and Connor.
“Daisy’s not here,” I said, tears welling in my eyes.
“Of course she is,” said Connor confidently. “She’s probably sleeping.”
We checked all over the house, every room, under the beds even, but she wasn’t there.
I kept calling her name over and over again: “Daisy! Daisy! Where are you? Come out. Please … please!”
My voice kept breaking into sobs. Even Connor now looked sick with worry. It wasn’t until I was coming downstairs after checking all the bedrooms that I noticed what was wrong. The front door was open slightly, like we’d forgotten to shut it completely on our way out. I checked the screen door for paw marks, thinking maybe she’d gotten out the way she had before—that horrible day Simon came into our lives. But I saw no scratches and the screen was intact. Still, who had left the door open?
We called the police. There should have been a patrol car parked out in front of our house.
“They were called away because of a reported burglary in the neighborhood,” Mom told me. “So they didn’t see anyone take her.”
Then Connor spoke up, and surprised us all.
“What if Simon reported the burglary to get the police to leave so he could come here and take Daisy?”
“Where would he take her?” Mom asked. “Are there hotels around here that allow pets?” She didn’t make it sound like Connor’s theory was far-fetched.
“He’s not staying at any hotel,” I said. Connor and I took turns telling Mom about the rental house, our theory about the place not being rented, and how we sort of proved it.
Mom looked upset, but more about us taking risks than us spying on Simon.
Then Connor’s face lit up.
“What is it, honey?” Mom asked.
“The camera,” he said. “It’s still operational. It’s not running at night to save battery, but if he has Daisy, we might be able to get a picture of her.”
“Who cares about pictures? Let’s go there now and get our dog back,” I said.
“No!”
I jumped at the sound of Mom’s hand slamming against the kitchen table.
“Nobody goes back to that house. Nobody. Is that understood? I’ll call the police. You let me handle this,” Mom said.
I wasn’t about to disagree.
CHAPTER 52
They spent the weekend without Daisy—a whole heart-wrenching, gut-churning, sleepless, brutal weekend.
Nina arrived at the Seabury Police Department for her scheduled meeting with Detective Eric Wheeler, hoping for some kind of development. This was her second trip here.
On her first visit, the detective had assured her he was conducting a thorough investigation, and while he had yet to update Nina on his latest findings, she wasn’t entirely in the dark. She knew something of Simon.
According to her spies, Ginny and Susanna, he was at school, teaching his Monday classes like all was normal. Maggie was staying home under protest. In her mind, it was unconscionable to give Simon any control over her life. Nina did not want her daughter to be in the same building as that man, but Maggie did have a point that school was the safest place for her. Glen was still out there, somewhere, and the police were no longer keeping watch over the house.
Nina had hoped she’d have proof by now that Simon had taken Daisy, or poisoned Maggie, and then he’d be put on leave or fired outright with criminal charges pending, so her daughter could return without worry. Such wasn’t the case.
Her other option for getting Simon out of the picture wasn’t panning out either. She had called Hugh Dolan, texted him numerous times, sent him Facebook messages, but gotten no answer. She had imagined marching into Wheeler’s office holding irrefutable evidence that Simon was a killer. Unfortunately, Hugh had vanished, proving himself unreliable, which really wasn’t surprising.
Nina had fretted the last few days away—everyone had, with Daisy gone. Twice she had nightmares