CHAPTER 5: The Truth Hidden Inside Lily's Backpack
For several seconds, none of us spoke.
The smoke from our burning house curled into the gray morning sky behind us.
Fire engines screamed past on the road.
Police cruisers followed.
Everyone was racing toward the explosion.
Away from us.
Exactly as Derek had planned.
He thought we were dead.
For now...
That was our only advantage.
"Mommy..."
Lily tugged gently on my sleeve.
"Are we ghosts now?"
The innocent question shattered what little control I had left.
I dropped to my knees and hugged her.
"No, sweetheart."
My voice trembled.
"We're alive."
"But Daddy thinks we're dead."
I nodded.
"Yes."
She looked toward the smoke.
"Can we keep it that way?"
I stared at her.
Six years old.
And already thinking like someone being hunted.
I kissed her forehead.
"We're going to be smarter than him."
Noah suddenly looked at Derek's hidden phone.
"It has a location app."
I frowned.
"What?"
"My dad showed me."
He took the phone carefully.
Within seconds, he opened a hidden menu.
A red dot blinked on the screen.
Then another.
Then...
My stomach dropped.
One red dot was moving.
It was labeled:
RACHEL COLLINS
I froze.
"They're tracking me."
Noah shook his head.
"No."
He zoomed in.
"They're tracking something near you."
I searched my pockets.
Phone.
Keys.
Wallet.
Nothing.
Helen searched her coat.
Nothing.
Then Lily quietly raised her little backpack.
"Mommy..."
"What is it?"
"My backpack feels funny."
I opened the backpack.
The stuffed rabbit.
Her inhaler.
Granola bar.
A coloring book.
Then...
Something small slipped out and landed on the pavement.
A silver coin.
Except...
It wasn't a coin.
It was a tracking device.
No larger than a quarter.
Hidden beneath the rabbit.
My blood ran cold.
Derek hadn't been tracking me.
He'd been tracking Lily.
Lily burst into tears.
"Daddy put that there."
"When?"
"The day before yesterday."
I looked at her.
"You remember?"
She nodded.
"He said it was a magic lucky coin."
She wiped her eyes.
"He said princesses always carry lucky coins."
My heart broke.
He had used his own daughter's trust to mark her for death.
I crushed the tracker beneath a rock.
The screen on Derek's phone changed instantly.
The red dot disappeared.
Good.
Let him think we'd burned with it.
Then Noah gasped.
"Wait..."
He tapped another icon.
"There are more trackers."
The screen filled with tiny blinking dots.
Dozens of them.
Different names.
Different addresses.
Different families.
Different children.
Helen covered her mouth.
"Oh my God..."
This wasn't just us.
Each dot had a name beside it.
Case 12
Case 18
Case 27
Some were marked green.
Others...
Gray.
I tapped one.
Status:
CLOSED
Date:
Eight months earlier.
Cause of death:
Residential Gas Explosion
My stomach lurched.
Another.
House Fire
Family of four.
No survivors.
Another.
Carbon Monoxide Leak
Mother and son deceased.
Another.
Vehicle Accident
Brake failure.
Case closed.
I couldn't breathe.
This organization had been murdering families for years.
And every death had been ruled an accident.
"What are these cases?" I whispered.
Helen's face turned white.
"My son..."
She swallowed.
"He investigated accidents exactly like these."
Noah nodded.
"Dad said they weren't accidents."
"He said someone was cleaning up witnesses."
A notification suddenly popped onto the screen.
Emergency Protocol Activated
Case 31 Failed
Deploy Recovery Team
Recovery Team?
My pulse spiked.
Then every dot on the map began moving.
Toward us.
"They know we're alive."
Noah's fingers flew across the screen.
"No..."
He looked terrified.
"They don't."
He turned the phone toward me.
"They're following the last signal."
I frowned.
"The house?"
He nodded.
"They're sending everyone to the fire."
I exhaled.
Then Noah whispered:
"But when they don't find our bodies..."
"They'll know."
A police helicopter thundered overhead.
I instinctively waved.
Helen grabbed my arm.
"No!"
"Why?"
"They own people."
"What?"
"My son told me..."
Her voice shook.
"...never trust the first officers who arrive."
As if proving her right, Derek's phone buzzed again.
DIRECTOR
Local police have been notified.
Sheriff Malone will secure the scene.
He already knows the report.
No survivors.
I felt the blood drain from my face.
The sheriff.
The very person I would have run to for help.
Was already working for them.
"We can't go to the police," I whispered.
Helen nodded.
"No."
"We can't go home."
"There is no home."
"We can't call Derek."
She almost laughed.
"He's trying to kill us."
Then Lily quietly reached into the front pocket of her backpack.
"Mommy..."
"What is it?"
"I forgot."
She pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"I found this in Daddy's office last week."
My heart skipped.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought it was a drawing."
She handed it to me.
I unfolded the page.
It wasn't a drawing.
It was a courthouse floor plan.
Every hallway.
Every entrance.
Every security checkpoint.
One office was circled in thick red marker.
Beside it, Derek had handwritten four words.
Judge Amelia Carter — Monday 9:00 A.M.
Below that was another note.
One that made my entire body go numb.
If Rachel survives... eliminate the judge first.
I looked up at the burning smoke rising over what had once been my home.
This had never been about insurance.
It had never been about our marriage.
Somehow...
My husband had become part of a conspiracy to murder a federal judge.
And without realizing it...
My six-year-old daughter had stolen the one piece of evidence that could destroy them all.
Far across town, a black SUV engine roared to life.
Inside, Derek looked at the live feed on his tablet.
His confident smile slowly disappeared.
The thermal scan showed only one body inside the ruins.
Not two.
Not three.
His eyes narrowed.
Then he whispered the words that sent a chill through everyone in the vehicle.
"They're alive."
"Find my daughter."
May you like
"She has the file."
TO BE CONTINUED…
