Chapter 2 - THE PRIVATE FAMILY MATTER
Richard called 911 before Logan could stop him.
The dispatcher instructed him to check Claire's breathing and keep her warm without moving her neck. He removed his rain-soaked jacket, laid it over her, and counted each shallow breath aloud.
Logan stood in the doorway telling a different story.
Claire had been drinking. She struck Margaret during an argument, ran into the storm, and locked herself in the shed. Logan said he was giving her time to calm down.
“From the outside?” Richard asked, pointing at the broken hasp.
Logan claimed the lock engaged automatically when the door closed.
Margaret supported every word.
Paramedics found Claire hypothermic, dehydrated, and barely responsive. Police photographed the bruises, the broken door, and Richard's damaged shoulder. Logan accused Richard of trespass and destruction of property. Margaret showed officers redness on her wrist and said Claire had grabbed her.
No one was arrested that night.
At the hospital, toxicology found no alcohol. It did find a prescribed anti-anxiety medication at nearly three times Claire's expected level. Logan produced the prescription bottle and said she often took extra pills during emotional episodes.
Richard had never heard of the prescription.
Claire woke shortly before dawn. Her first reaction was to clutch the blanket and ask whether Logan had followed her.
Then she saw her father.
“You came.”
Richard held her hand. “I should have come sooner.”
She tried to explain. The night before, while clearing the shed to make space for a pottery studio, she found a loose floorboard. Beneath it was a sealed plastic envelope.
Inside was a handwritten letter addressed to whoever found it.
To the next woman he brings here.
The writer described being locked in the same shed, drugged, photographed, and later pressured to sign a statement saying she had harmed herself. She signed only one name.
Hannah.
Logan's former fiancée was named Hannah Price.
The Mercer family told everyone she left the country nine years earlier after stealing from Logan.
Claire hid the envelope in her clothes and confronted him. Logan demanded it. Margaret held Claire's arms while he searched her. Claire managed to call Richard before the phone was taken.
“Where is the letter now?” Richard asked.
Claire looked toward the hospital-room door.
“It was still under my shirt when I lost consciousness.”
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Her wet clothing had arrived from the ambulance in a sealed evidence bag.
The plastic envelope was gone.
