CHAPTER TWO — THE APPOINTMENT

Bell returned to the kitchen with news that Isabel had not answered her telephone.
He had called her work number, personal number, and emergency contact.
The last confirmed message from Isabel had been sent shortly after eight that morning.
She had promised a fellow technician that she would meet him for coffee before heading to Daniel’s house.
She never arrived.
Daniel checked the time.
It was eleven seventeen.
“Could she already be here?” he asked.
“We searched the backyard before you arrived,” Bell said.
“There is no indication she entered the property today.”
The statement provided little comfort.
Ortiz directed a uniformed officer to stay with Carol while she and Bell checked nearby streets.
Carol demanded to know whether she was under arrest.
“That depends on what you tell us and what our examination establishes,

” Ortiz said.
“I recommend you stop talking until you understand your rights.”
Carol muttered something about her son, and Ortiz stopped at the doorway.
“What about your son?”
“Nothing.”
“You said Gideon wasn’t supposed to return.”
Carol pressed her lips together.
“I need a lawyer.”
Ortiz nodded and stepped outside.
Daniel remained in his kitchen, staring at the motionless water beyond the glass.
He had owned the house for seven years.
He had taught his niece to swim there, hosted neighborhood barbecues, and spent whole Saturdays repairing a pump that always seemed to break before a holiday.
Now strangers in gloves were photographing objects intended to pull someone beneath a tarp.
He opened the service application on his phone.
Isabel’s appointment still appeared on the schedule for noon.
A bright green checkmark beside her name indicated that it had been confirmed the previous afternoon.


He tried calling her directly.
The call rang twice before going to voicemail.
“Isabel, this is Daniel Reed,” he said.
“Please do not come to my property.”
He hesitated before continuing.
“Something dangerous has happened, and investigators are looking for you.”
He ended the message without mentioning Carol or the trap.
If somebody else had her phone, more details would only help that person.

His sister, Nora, called after seeing police vehicles on the street.
She wanted to know whether he was hurt.
“I’m fine, but I need you to keep everyone away from my house,” Daniel replied.
“That includes your kids.”
Nora had brought her ten-year-old daughter over the previous weekend.
The girl had dropped her goggles under the diving board and begged Daniel to retrieve them.
The memory made him look away from the window.
“What happened?” Nora asked.
Daniel told her enough to explain the danger without repeating the investigators’ confidential details.
She swore quietly and offered to drive over.
“Please don’t,” he said.
“There are enough people here already.”
After the call, Daniel noticed an unfamiliar smear of white dust on his kitchen counter.
It was near the open window above the sink, which faced Carol’s side yard.
He had cleaned that counter the night before.
He photographed the mark without touching it.
There were two tiny gray flecks embedded in the dust.
Daniel checked the window lock and found it fully engaged.
The mark might have come from the workers who trimmed his trees last week.
It might also have come from someone testing whether the window could open.
He told Bell when the investigator returned.
Bell collected the flecks and asked whether Daniel had a basement or spare storage room.
“Just the garage and the equipment closet,” Daniel said.
“Why?”
“Price may be looking for something he believes Isabel left here.”
Daniel shook his head.
“She only serviced the pool.”
“That may be precisely why she chose your address.”