The Man in Daniel’s Room
Chapter 17 - The Man in Daniel’s Room
Police surrounded the house while Mack kept Grant on the phone.
“What do you want?” Mack asked.
“What I was promised.”
“You were promised nothing.”
“I built that family after Danny destroyed it.”
Sarah stood beside Lena, listening through a headset.
Grant sounded exhausted and furious.
He had entered Daniel’s old room and locked himself inside. Police believed he carried no firearm, but they could not be certain.
“I took care of Sarah,” Grant said. “I raised Eli.”
“You controlled them.”
“I saved them from you.”
Mack looked toward Eli, who waited in Lena’s car several houses away.
Grant continued.
“Danny was weak because he wanted everyone to love him. You taught him that.”
“No,” Mack said. “I taught him to be afraid of disappointing me.”
The admission silenced Grant.
Mack had spent years defending himself.
Now he had nothing left to defend.
“You want someone to blame for the distance between me and Daniel?” Mack said. “Blame me. But you chose what you did afterward.”
“He attacked me in the truck.”
“You were driving.”
“He grabbed the wheel.”
“You left him there.”
Grant began breathing rapidly.
The call was being recorded.
Lena wrote a note and held it up.
KEEP HIM TALKING.
Mack asked about the crash.
Grant described pulling Daniel from the passenger side after the truck struck the barrier. Daniel was alive.
He begged Grant to call an ambulance.
Instead, Grant searched Daniel’s pockets for the business ledger proving the stolen money.
He took Daniel’s jacket and walked away when he heard another vehicle approaching.
“I thought someone else would stop,” Grant said.
“But no one did,” Mack whispered.
Sarah closed her eyes.
Grant had finally admitted Daniel was alive when he abandoned him.
Sirens approached from another direction.
Grant heard them.
“You recorded me.”
“You told the truth.”
“No. You trapped me.”
Grant stepped onto the second-floor balcony.
Officers shouted for him to show his hands.
He looked toward Mack across the yard.
For one terrible second, Mack thought Grant might jump.
Sarah moved past the officers.
“Grant,” she called.
He turned.
“You told me you loved us,” she said. “But love does not require someone else to disappear.”
Grant’s shoulders dropped.
The fight left his face.
He raised his empty hands.
As officers led him away, he looked at Sarah.
“I gave you nine years.”
May you like
Sarah did not move.
“No,” she replied. “You stole them.”
