CHAPTER 6 — THE CAMERA CASSANDRA MISSED
The photograph showed Sophie walking toward Ethan’s car after school.
She wore a red backpack and carried a folder against her chest.
The image had been taken from across the street with a long-distance lens.
On the back, someone had written:
SCHEDULE CONFIRMED. PICKUP WINDOW: 3:10–3:25.
Ethan stared at the photograph on Daniel’s phone.
“This is not about a wedding.”
Detective Ortiz agreed.
“Someone was tracking your daughter.”
“Cassandra?”
“Possibly. Or someone working with her.”
Ethan looked at Sophie through the hospital window.
“What does ‘pickup window’ mean?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Olivia closed her briefcase.
“We should arrange private security immediately.”
“I’m taking her home.”
Ortiz shook her head.
“Not until we know whether your home has been compromised.”
“She cannot stay here unprotected.”
“She won’t. I’ll assign an officer outside her room.”
Ethan wanted to argue, but Sophie needed stability more than he needed control.
Daniel’s phone rang.
He checked the screen.
“It’s Mia.”
“Answer it.”
Daniel put the call on speaker.
Mia’s voice was low and hurried.
“I found something.”
“Where are you?” Ethan asked.
“In my car. I left the lodge.”
“Are you safe?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did you find?”
“Cassandra’s mother told everyone to delete their photographs and videos from the bridal suite. She said the family would sue anyone who shared private footage.”
“Did you delete yours?”
“No.”
Ethan waited.
Mia took a shaky breath.
“I was recording a behind-the-scenes video for Cassandra’s wedding page. I left my phone propped against a flower vase.”
“Did it capture the terrace?”
“Not the terrace itself. But it captured Cassandra taking Sophie out of the room.”
Ethan’s pulse quickened.
“Send it to Daniel and Detective Ortiz.”
“I already did.”
Daniel’s phone chimed.
A video file appeared.
He pressed play.
The footage began with bridesmaids moving through the bridal suite while music played from a speaker. Cassandra stood in front of a mirror as a stylist adjusted her veil.
In the background, Sophie entered holding a small framed photograph of Laura.
“Cassandra,” Sophie said. “Dad wanted this on the family table.”
Cassandra’s smile vanished.
“Take that out of here.”
“But Dad said—”
“I do not care what your father said.”
The room became quieter.
Sophie held the photograph tightly.
“It’s my mom.”
Cassandra turned toward the bridesmaids.
“Can someone remove her?”
No one moved.
Sophie took a step backward.
“I just wanted Mommy’s picture at the wedding.”
Cassandra crossed the room and grabbed her wrist.
Even through the phone speaker, Sophie’s gasp was audible.
“Tonight is not about your dead mother.”
Mia covered her mouth.
The video continued.
Cassandra dragged Sophie toward the terrace.
Sophie struggled to keep hold of Laura’s photograph.
“You’re hurting me.”
“Then stop fighting.”
Cassandra opened the door and pushed Sophie outside.
“Stay there until you learn how to behave.”
“Please, I’m cold.”
Cassandra took the brass key from the inside lock.
“You should have thought about that before trying to ruin my wedding.”
She closed the door.
Locked it.
Then placed the key in her makeup bag.
For several seconds, the bridesmaids said nothing.
Finally, Mia spoke from somewhere behind the camera.
“Cassandra, you can’t leave her out there.”
“She’ll be fine.”
“It’s freezing.”
“She wants attention. Don’t reward her.”
Cassandra returned to the mirror.
Outside the glass, Sophie knocked repeatedly.
The stylist looked uncomfortable.
“Maybe we should bring her back inside.”
Cassandra picked up the nail file.
“If anyone opens that door before I finish getting ready, you can leave with her.”
The video ended.
Ethan could barely breathe.
Detective Ortiz took the phone.
“This gives us enough to seek an arrest warrant for child endangerment.”
“Find her.”
“We will.”
Mia remained on the call.
“There’s more.”
Ethan closed his eyes briefly.
“What else?”
“After Cassandra locked Sophie outside, Vivian came into the room.”
“Was she on the video?”
“No. My phone stopped recording because a call came through.”
“What did Vivian say?”
“She asked if Sophie had signed the card.”
“What card?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“It sounded like some kind of sample. Cassandra said Sophie had refused to write her full name, so she made her copy it several times.”
Olivia stepped closer.
“A signature sample.”
Mia began crying again.
“I think so.”
Ethan’s stomach turned.
Cassandra had needed a convincing version of Sophie’s handwriting.
For what?
He remembered the note found in Sophie’s pocket.
Daddy, if I disappear after the wedding, Cassandra made me go.
“Did Cassandra see Sophie write that note?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan looked at Olivia.
“Could someone forge Sophie’s consent to attend a boarding school?”
“At eight years old, her consent would not be legally required. But her signature might appear on personal statements or therapy documents.”
Detective Ortiz’s phone rang.
She stepped aside to answer.
A minute later, she returned.
“We found Ron Keller.”
“Where?” Ethan asked.
“At a private airfield twenty miles outside Denver.”
“Was Cassandra with him?”
“No.”
“Then why was he there?”
“He was carrying fifty thousand dollars in cash and a one-way ticket to Mexico.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Cassandra paid him to disable the cameras.”
“That’s what we suspect.”
“Has he talked?”
“Not yet.”
Ortiz looked toward Sophie’s room.
“But officers searched his vehicle.”
Ethan waited.
“They found a child’s overnight bag in the trunk.”
The bag was pink.
Inside were clothes in Sophie’s size, a toothbrush, medication bearing a false name, and a plane ticket issued for an eight-year-old passenger.
The destination was Zurich.
Departure time: 9:15 the next morning.
Ethan stared at the ticket.
“Cassandra wasn’t sending Sophie to boarding school.”
Detective Ortiz’s expression was grim.
“No.”
“She was taking her out of the country.”
Olivia examined the name printed on the ticket.
EMILY VALE.
Not Sophie Cole.
A false identity.
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“Why Switzerland?”
Before anyone could answer, Sophie screamed from inside the hospital room.
Ethan ran through the door.
She was sitting upright in bed, staring at the television.
A news report showed Cassandra’s photograph beside the headline about the canceled wedding.
Sophie pointed at the screen.
“That’s not where she is.”
Ethan moved closer.
“What do you mean?”
“She told Grandma Vivian she would hide at the lake house if the wedding went wrong.”
“What lake house?”
May you like
Sophie’s eyes widened.
“The one where they kept the other girl.”
