Chapter 2 - The Van Coming at Six
Police separated everyone.
Maisie refused to let go of Graham.
A paramedic examined her while Graham sat beside her on the foyer bench, still wearing his tuxedo.
Sloane’s wedding flowers remained everywhere.
White roses.
Candles.
Gold ribbons.
A celebration frozen around a crime scene.
The documents inside Maisie’s suitcase identified a facility called Stonebridge Child Wellness Center.
According to the paperwork, Maisie suffered from severe behavioral disturbances.
Aggression.
Night terrors.
Self-harming behavior.
Dangerous defiance.
None of it was true.
Maisie had struggled after losing her mother two years earlier.
She sometimes woke crying.
She disliked strangers.
She became anxious whenever Graham traveled.
But she was not dangerous.
The application claimed Graham had requested an emergency ninety-day residential evaluation.
A private transport company was scheduled to collect Maisie from the mansion at six that evening.
While Graham was supposed to be at his own wedding reception.
He looked at the forged signature again.
Sloane insisted Graham had approved everything weeks earlier.
Graham’s attorney arrived and immediately contacted Stonebridge.
The center had received the documents electronically.
Staff there believed they were legitimate.
They had never spoken directly with Graham.
Sloane had handled every call.
Then police found another problem.
The emergency contact listed for Maisie was not Graham.
It was Sloane.
The secondary contact was a man named Owen Carter.
Sloane’s older brother.
Graham barely knew him.
According to the forms, Graham had authorized both of them to make medical decisions while Maisie was away.
Again, the signature was forged.
The transport van had already left Burlington.
It was still coming.
Graham canceled the placement personally.
Then the wedding videographer approached him.
The man looked shaken.
His camera had been running in the foyer before Graham arrived.
Not because he meant to film Maisie.
He was capturing decorative footage of guests entering.
The camera had recorded Sloane walking toward the child.
Recorded the restraint.
Recorded Maisie begging to be released.
Recorded Sloane checking the front windows repeatedly as if she were waiting for someone.
And recorded one sentence police immediately replayed.
Sloane told Maisie that once Graham signed the wedding license, he would choose his new wife over her.
The cruelty had been calculated.
But the video contained something else.
Minutes before touching Maisie, Sloane made a phone call.
May you like
The microphone captured the name she used.
Owen.
