The house hadn’t just been emptied.
It had been wiped.
Except for Chloe’s call.
If she called at 11:47, she was alive then.
By 2 a.m., detectives arrived. Detective Samuel Ortiz introduced himself.
“Custody arrangement?” he asked.
“Supervised visits only,” I said. “He lost his temper in court.”
“Recent contact?”
“He kept texting from new numbers. She blocked him.”
Ortiz nodded toward the tablet in an evidence bag. “Last outgoing call was to you. Device lost signal at 11:47. It pinged again nineteen minutes later near the highway.”
“They were moving,” I said.
“Yes. That timeline helps.”
“Anywhere he might go?”
I swallowed. “He once mentioned a hunting cabin near Prescott. Said there’s no cell service.”
Ortiz immediately relayed the information.
Soon an AMBER Alert went out with Chloe’s photo and Mark’s gray SUV. My own phone buzzed with it.
At dawn, Ortiz returned.
“We have a sighting,” he said. “Gas station camera captured his vehicle.”
Hours later, officers located the SUV abandoned near a desert access road. Footprints led to a remote cabin.
“They’re inside,” Ortiz told me over the phone. “We’re negotiating.”
Every second felt endless.
Finally, my phone rang again.