Chapter 10 - THE SECOND RESCUE CALL
Investigators reconstructed the days I was missing.
The mudslide occurred at 8:47 on Monday morning.
Our field vehicle stopped transmitting shortly afterward.
Maya notified Daniel by 9:30.
Search teams located the empty truck Tuesday afternoon.
The driver and I reached a remote clinic early Wednesday.
Clinic staff identified me and attempted to contact my emergency person.
Daniel answered.
He told them they had the wrong Victoria Carter.
The nurse documented his response because it seemed strange.
She called again from a different line.
Daniel said his wife was dead.
At the time, no agency had reported me dead.
He then contacted the clinic’s regional administrator and claimed someone was impersonating me to access insurance information.
The clinic restricted outgoing calls from my room while staff verified my identity.
That was why I could not reach Lily.
I had believed damaged systems and storm confusion caused the delay.
Daniel had created it.
When my fingerprints and company records confirmed who I was, the clinic notified Carter Response.
Maya received the notice.
Daniel intercepted it through the emergency email account and instructed staff not to contact me because “law enforcement was investigating identity fraud.”
Maya obeyed for six hours before contacting the county rescue coordinator directly.
By then I had left the clinic to help reach the ranger station, believing the company still did not know where I was.
Daniel had not caused the mudslide.
He had turned every confirmation of my survival into another obstacle.
The prosecutor added potential computer-fraud, obstruction, and reckless-endangerment theories to the investigation. No arrest followed immediately.
They needed records, witnesses, and proof of intent.
Daniel continued supervised visits with Lily.
He brought no gifts after the stuffed rabbit.
He followed instructions.
The reports described appropriate behavior.
I struggled with the contradiction.
The same man who could kneel patiently while Lily tied his shoelaces had watched Claire hurt her.
The same man who read her favorite book from memory had told a clinic I was an impostor.
Good moments did not cancel dangerous choices.
Mara prepared for the company-control hearing and the next family-court review.
She asked whether I would accept a settlement that removed Daniel from management, returned identifiable funds, and preserved supervised parenting time without a public trial.
“Would he admit what he did?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Then no.”
Mara leaned back.
“Be careful. Wanting truth is different from needing a confession.”
“I need the record corrected.”
“Yes. But you may have to decide which outcomes protect Lily and the company rather than satisfy every emotional demand.”
I knew she was right.
I also knew Daniel had built his plan through records.
A false death notice.
A forged signature.
A fabricated caregiver form.
An edited video.
If I accepted silence, his documents might outlive the truth.
The ranger station’s full phone log arrived.
My call home was not the only call.
The station supervisor had called Daniel directly after I left, confirming that I was alive and traveling toward Wenatchee.
That call lasted six minutes.
Daniel could not claim he failed to understand.
Immediately afterward, he called Claire.
Their call lasted eleven minutes.
Police obtained Claire’s cloud backup under warrant.
A text sent during that conversation read:
She is moving faster than expected.
Daniel replied:
Keep Lily believing it until the transfer clears.
Claire asked:
What if Victoria reaches the house first?
Daniel answered:
Then we use the scene we prepared.
The video of Claire hurting Lily had been part of that scene.
Daniel expected me to react.
He needed me angry, muddy, frightened, and threatening in front of cameras.
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I had not interrupted their plan when I kicked Claire away from my child.
I had completed the image they intended to use against me.
