Page 4 of Not Our Daughter

Jade smiled wide. “Really?”

He matched her smile. “Yes, really. Happy birthday, sweetheart.”

Jade immediately slid off the bench, came around the table, and hugged him tightly. Cole noticed Lisa tilt her head at him with narrowed eyes, but she didn’t say anything in the moment. He knew that discussion was coming. Jade had been a competitive cheerleader for years. From an early age, she could tumble and do back tucks with ease. She’d quickly become a star at their local gymnastics gym. But she also had a severe case of scoliosis. It wasn’t obvious with her clothes on. She could hide it well—other than when she wanted to wear a bikini on the lake. Despite their ongoing efforts to deter it, the curve in her spine had gotten much worse this past year as she hit a serious growth spurt. With that growth had come major discomfort. There were nights when his daughter could barely fall asleep because she was in so much pain. It had caused her to pull out of cheer a few months ago.

They’d met with a specialist, who’d recommended spinal fusion surgery. The surgeon felt like he could get her back up and going again, pain-free, in a couple of months. But because they had crappy health insurance, they hadn’t been able to schedule the surgery yet. It’d been horrible watching his daughter deal with not only the physical pain but the emotional anguish that came with stepping away from her love of cheer. So Cole had done what he had to do this morning to rectify the situation.

All smiles, Jade bounced away from the picnic table to go to the restroom.

Alone, Lisa gave him another stare. “You accessed the account?”

He nodded. “This morning. What choice do we have, Lisa? Just sit here and let our daughter suffer? I’m done waiting on the insurance company. They may never approve it.”

“Yeah. It’s just . . . risky.”

“We talked about this last week. You said it was ultimately my decision.”

He’d grappled with the decision every second of every day for the past week.

“I know. It just stirs up the emotions.”

“I really do think we’re safe by now. Besides, did you see the look on her face? That was the happiest I’ve seen her in months.”

Lisa looked over toward the restroom. “You’re right. Shereallyneeds this. So much of her joy is wrapped up in her cheer life. Just scares me, that’s all.”

“Eventually, we must stop living in fear—and just live. It’s been over thirteen years.”

“That’s easier said than done.”

Jade returned. They got up and walked down a path by the water and up to the beach. Jade and Lisa both took their sandals off, stepped into the sand, and moved down to the water. Their sundresses allowed them to wade in without getting their clothes wet. Cole watched them hold hands as they moved into the lake up to their knees. He knew the water was freezing cold. They were both making faces that told him it was nearly insufferable. But they were also laughing about it. He took a moment to fully take in the two of them. His girls. He would do anything for them. He would sacrifice everything for them. He already had. And no matter how overwhelmingly challenging that was, he hadn’t regretted it for a single moment.

A child squealing loudly across the way grabbed his attention. Cole turned around. A little boy was not happy about his snack and was letting his mom know all about it. Then something else caught Cole’s attention, just to the left of the crying child. There was a man holding a camera with a long lens positioned slightly behind a cluster of trees. The guy looked out of place wearing black slacks, a white long-sleeved button-down, and black dress shoes. He was probably in his early thirties, with close-cropped brown hair. Cole squinted. Was the camera lens pointed straight at him? He took a quick glance around, trying to see if there were others who might have the guy’s attention. But there was no one. When Cole turned back, the guy was already walking away down the sidewalk. Cole watched him for a moment. About ten steps down, the guy stopped again and aimed the camera out toward the water. Then he kept on walking, stopping to grab more shots here and there.

Cole exhaled, not even realizing until that moment he’d been holding his breath. It was just some random guy. Cole had just told Lisa they had to stop living in fear. But was it even possible? For most of his adult life, he’d been watching over his shoulder. And he had to admit that accessing the account today had put him slightly on edge. He had no way of knowing if anyone had ever connected him with the offshore accounts. He’d created two accounts under two different names on the day they left Austin. Eight years ago, he’d tapped into one of the accounts when they’d needed money to buy their current house. Nothing came of that. No one showed up at their door flashing badges. And now they were several more years down the road. Were they even really looking for them anymore? He kept watchful eyes on the guy with the camera until the man finally walked around a building and disappeared entirely.

It was probably nothing.

Three

Agent Burns sat in a battered leather recliner—recently purchased at a garage sale—in front of a cheap, forty-two-inch flat-screen TV in the living room of his otherwise empty condo. He was watchingRaiders of the Lost Ark, even though he’d seen the movie a dozen times already. He had nothing else to do this afternoon but watch Harrison Ford outrun a massive boulder. Saturdays had really sucked since the divorce went final. He often found himself bored as hell, ready for the weekend to quickly pass so he could just get back to the office already. In his pre-divorce life, he usually spent weekends working in the garage on various projects—or outside, taking care of the yard. He loved the smell of fresh-cut grass. But he had neither a garage nor a yard in this condo building. To make matters worse, his ex-wife was letting their yard go to hell. She was probably doing it to spite him. He’d buy a house for himself again one day. But divorce was expensive, so that wasn’t in his current budget.

He stood up, walked over to a window in the living room, and peeked through the blinds. The sun was beginning its descent behind the ugly apartment building right next to his. Weekend nights usually stank even worse than the days. He was lonely. Perhaps he should hit up a bar somewhere. Although he wasn’t even sure where to go these days—he hadn’t done the bar thing in years. There was a pub right around the corner, but the thought of going there all by himself made him feel likea real loser. He considered calling Agent Davis, seeing if the guy wanted to hang out since he’d made the offer here and there. But Davis probably had hot dates every weekend night. Burns had a few buddies his age who were also divorced, but all they seemed to do was sit around drinking heavily and badmouthing their ex-wives. He’d rather do that by himself.

He grabbed his phone, typed out a quick text to his daughter.

Batting cages at Cameron Run tonight? Chocolate shakes after?

He knew it was a long shot. Especially after the disaster this morning at the zoo. But he’d overheard Izzy mumble to a friend on the phone earlier that she had no plans tonight. If she wanted to go with him, surely Nicole would allow it, even if it was off schedule. They used to go to Cameron Run a lot as a family. A place with a water park, minigolf, and batting cages. How long ago was that? Five years? Would Izzy also now consider this place lame? Did anyone ever outgrow hitting baseballs and drinking shakes?

He stared at his phone screen and perked up when he noticed the dots suddenly appear, showing his daughter was actually replying to his text. But then the dots disappeared just as quickly without any message showing up. He watched for a few more seconds, but nothing happened. Izzy had clearly gotten his message but had chosen to ignore him. He sighed, set his phone down, walked over to the fridge, and grabbed a bottle of Guinness. It was looking like beer and Chinese takeout again. Then his phone started ringing. He hurried back over, hopeful. He frowned when he saw Agent Davis’s name on the screen.

“What?” he answered with a grunt.

“Hey, boss. This is a bad time?”

“Yeah, kinda busy,” he lied. “But I got a moment.”

“Good. Check your email. I just sent you a digital package.”

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