Chapter 26 - Grace Uncovers the Second Trail
"We have to trace the call," Daniel stammered, pulling out his cell phone, his fingers shaking so violently he dropped it twice. "Miller! I have to call Miller right now!"
"Daniel, wait! Stop, breathe for three seconds!" Grace grabbed his forearms, forcing him to look at her. Her brown eyes were wide with fear, but her jaw was set with absolute determination. "Victoria is a narcissist, but she isn't stupid. That call was routed through a burner bounce relay. Police dispatch won't trace it in time. By the time they triangulate a tower, she could be twenty miles away."
"Then what do we do?!" Daniel shouted, tears of pure rage spilling down his cheeks. "She hit her, Grace! You heard her! Julian struck my little girl!"
"Think about Julian Ross," Grace urged, her mind racing back through the months she spent quietly observing the household, memorizing schedules, receipts, and whispered phone calls behind closed doors. "Julian was Victoria’s private contractor for the foundation’s renovation projects. But two months ago, when I was inventorying the study’s shredder bin, I found shredded fuel receipts. Diesel fuel. For marine engines."
Daniel’s eyes snapped wide. "Marine fuel? Julian doesn't own a yacht."
"No, but his brother did," Grace said, pulling out her personal notebook—the same notebook that had documented Victoria’s systematic cruelty toward Lily. She flipped rapidly through the dog-eared pages. "Three weeks before you found out about the offshore account, Victoria transferred one hundred and eighty thousand dollars to an LLC registered under the name 'Blue Horizon Logistics'. I wrote the dock slip number down because the bill came disguised as architectural supplies."
Daniel grabbed Grace’s notebook. "Slip 44. The Old Point Marina across the bay."
"It’s abandoned during the winter season," Grace explained urgently. "No harbormaster, no automated gate cameras. It’s right off Route 9—less than fifteen minutes from where the prison van was hijacked!"
Without a second thought, Daniel bolted for the garage, Grace right on his heels. As the heavy steel doors of the garage rolled up, Daniel backed his high-powered SUV out onto the driveway, tires tearing into the manicured lawn. Grace leaped into the passenger seat, strapping in as Daniel floored the accelerator, sending the vehicle roaring through the night toward the coastal highway.
Rain began to slash against the windshield, heavy and relentless.
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"Call Detective Miller," Daniel ordered grimly, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles were chalk-white. "Tell him we’re heading to Point Marina. But tell him no sirens. If Victoria sees red and blue lights pulling into that harbor, she’ll toss Lily into the ocean before they even cut the engines."
***
