Chapter 9 - THE SECOND DESTINATION
Why did Elaine change the destination?
That became the real mystery.
The second house belonged to:
Peter Hale.
Elaine’s brother.
He was supposed to be out of state.
He was not.
Police found:
children’s clothes,
a booster seat,
cash,
two prepaid phones,
and printed driving directions to Pennsylvania.
Lucas stared at the evidence.
“This wasn’t temporary.”
Elaine said nothing.
Peter was arrested for questioning.
His explanation:
Elaine feared the birthday plan would fail.
If Rachel called police too fast, they needed a backup location where Maisie could stay “off-grid” for twenty-four hours until Lucas filed emergency custody papers.
Not kidnapping, he claimed.
Temporary protective custody.
Police did not accept his terminology.
Then an email.
ELAINE:
If she files first, we lose control.
PETER:
Then Lucas files before she knows where the child is.
ELAINE:
Exactly.
Lucas read it twice.
His face changed.
He had agreed to scare Rachel.
A terrible act.
But Elaine and Peter planned something larger:
withhold Maisie long enough to create a custody advantage.
Lucas had been both conspirator and target.
Rachel did not care.
“You put her in the dumpster.”
He looked down.
May you like
“Yes.”
That answer ended their marriage more surely than any affair could have.
