Chapter 10 - THE THREE MEN WERE NEVER THE DANGER
Nathan requested a meeting through Emily’s attorney.
Emily almost declined.
Then Priya said, “There’s something about the airport Daniel has been misrepresenting.”
Emily agreed.
Nathan arrived alone.
He placed his phone facedown.
No recording.
No dramatic folder.
“I want to explain why we approached you.”
“You approached Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“You terrified him.”
Nathan shook his head.
“I think he was terrified before he saw us.”
Emily waited.
Nathan had contacted Daniel by email four days before the airport.
He identified himself.
He explained that he represented Michael and Laura’s investigator.
He requested preservation of communications and a meeting with counsel.
Daniel replied once.
Wrong person.
Nathan then called Mercer Logistics.
Daniel hung up.
The next day Daniel purchased the Portugal ticket.
Nathan learned about the flight through lawful investigative work connected to the civil claim.
He and the Grants’ attorney went to O’Hare hoping to stop Daniel from disappearing before documents could be preserved.
Michael came because he insisted.
“Why?”
Nathan looked uncomfortable.
“He wanted Daniel to look him in the face.”
Emily understood.
“But none of you were coming for my daughter.”
“No.”
“Daniel made it sound like you were.”
“We heard.”
Nathan slid over copies of messages Daniel had sent after the April hospital stay.
One stood out.
There will be no baby. Please stop contacting us. Emily cannot survive more pressure.
Emily stared.
Daniel had made himself the protector in every version of the story.
To Emily, the Grants were dangerous strangers.
To the Grants, Emily was a fragile grieving woman.
To his employees, Daniel was the owner sacrificing everything to save jobs.
To his lenders, he was temporarily short on cash.
Every audience received a different Daniel.
Every story cast him as the person carrying everyone else.
Then Nathan showed Emily one final email.
It had been sent before the hospital scare.
Michael had asked whether he could send a voice message to the expectant mother.
Daniel replied:
She can’t hear your voice yet. She’ll get attached and change her mind.
Emily’s stomach tightened.
Daniel had been managing not only access.
Emotion.
He decided what Emily supposedly felt.
He decided what Michael and Laura were allowed to feel.
He decided when people could speak to one another.
Three earlier clues suddenly aligned.
His obsession with her passport.
His panic at the approaching men.
His constant insistence that everyone except him was dangerous.
Emily had believed the thriller began at O’Hare.
It had not.
The airport was the first place Daniel lost control of who could talk to whom.
That was the major twist.
The three men were not chasing Emily’s family.
They were the first people Daniel could no longer keep separated from it.
Emily looked at Nathan.
“What happens now?”
“That’s not my decision.”
She appreciated the answer.
May you like
For months Daniel had answered questions that were not his to answer.
Emily was beginning to recognize how different honesty sounded.
