Chapter 5: The Man Waiting Outside
Thomas didn't waste time explaining.
He closed the blinds, took the digital recorder from the desk, and placed it inside his jacket.
"Evelyn, use the underground exit.""
She shook her head.
"That exit is monitored.""
"Not the service corridor.""
I stood between them.
"Someone is following us?""
Thomas looked at me.
"Someone has been following you since you left the hospital.""
My mouth went dry.
"How do you know?""
He opened his briefcase and showed me a series of photographs.
My house.
The hospital entrance.
The parking garage where Daniel usually left his car.
And finally, a photograph of me sitting inside a coffee shop three weeks earlier.
I recognized the day immediately.
It was the afternoon I had met my physician to discuss why my medication wasn't working.
A dark sedan was parked across the street.
Its windshield reflected the sunlight.
"Who took these?"" I asked.
"I did.""
"Why were you following me?""
"I wasn't following you. I was watching the people watching you.""
Evelyn stood.
"Thomas, we need to get her somewhere secure.""
"Agreed.""
I looked at him.
"Can you please tell me what's happening?""
Thomas hesitated.
Then he pulled out a chair.
"Your mother hired me to investigate Daniel shortly before she died. She believed he was using her company to move money without authorization.""
"How much?""
"At least four hundred thousand dollars.""
I stared at him.
"Four hundred thousand?""
"That was what we could prove at the time.""
"And Dr. Harris?""
"He was introduced to Daniel through a private medical consultancy. Your mother discovered that the consultancy had been billing her estate for services that were never provided.""
Evelyn frowned.
"Why wasn't that included in the official report?""
Thomas looked at her.
"Because someone removed the supporting documents.""
I felt a sudden wave of anger.
"Then why didn't you go to the police?""
"I did.""
He reached into the briefcase again.
This time, he produced a folded newspaper clipping.
The headline read:
*PRIVATE SECURITY CONTRACTOR QUESTIONED IN BENNETT ESTATE DISPUTE.*
My face appeared in a smaller photograph beneath the headline.
I looked at Thomas.
"You?""
He nodded.
"Two weeks after your mother's funeral, I was accused of stealing confidential company records. The police searched my apartment. I lost my security license. My wife was followed home from work.""
"Who accused you?""
"Daniel.""
I sat down.
Thomas continued.
"Your mother had made a recording before she died. She knew something was wrong. But the original recording disappeared from her house.""
I remembered the recorder he had just played.
"Then what was that?""
"A copy. The original was hidden somewhere your mother believed Daniel would never look.""
"Where?""
Thomas looked at Evelyn.
"That's why I'm here.""
Evelyn opened the desk drawer and removed a small brass key.
I recognized it.
It belonged to my mother's old writing desk.
The desk had been stored in the guest bedroom of my childhood home.
After her death, Daniel had insisted that we sell most of the furniture.
I had refused to part with that desk.
He had eventually convinced me to put it in storage.
I stared at the key.
"What's inside?""
Thomas shook his head.
"I don't know. Your mother never told me.""
"Then how do you know there's something inside?""
"Because the night she died, she called me and told me she had placed something important in the desk. She said I should retrieve it if anything happened to her.""
He paused.
"But by the time I arrived at the house, the desk was gone.""
I looked at Evelyn.
"Where is it now?""
She opened a file on her computer.
"The storage company is still operating. I can arrange access.""
Thomas shook his head.
"Not through the original account.""
"Why?""
"Because Daniel knows about it.""
I frowned.
"How?""
Thomas took out another photograph.
It showed Daniel standing beside the storage unit.
Vanessa was with him.
They were carrying a large cardboard box.
I recognized the blue velvet blanket wrapped around it.
My mother's desk.
I felt sick.
"They've been there?""
"Three days ago.""
I looked at the photograph more closely.
The date was printed in the corner.
Three days ago.
The same day I had been lying in the hospital.
"Did they take it?""
"I don't know.""
Thomas leaned closer.
"But I believe they were looking for something.""
Evelyn stood.
"Then we need to get there before they return.""
We left through the service corridor.
A black SUV waited in the underground parking garage.
Thomas drove.
Evelyn sat beside him.
I sat in the back, watching every car that entered the garage.
For the first ten minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Thomas asked a question.
"Did Daniel ever ask you to change your mother's estate arrangements?""
"Not directly.""
"Think carefully.""
I remembered something.
Six months before my mother died, Daniel had brought home a folder.
He had told me it was a routine property management document.
He asked me to sign the final page.
I had refused because the document was complicated.
He had laughed and said he would handle it.
At the time, I hadn't thought much about it.
"I didn't sign anything," I said.
Thomas glanced at me in the mirror.
"Good.""
We arrived at the storage facility twenty minutes later.
It was a large industrial building on the edge of the city. Rows of metal doors lined the interior.
Evelyn spoke with the manager while Thomas inspected the corridor.
A few minutes later, she returned.
"Unit 318.""
Thomas nodded.
We walked toward the far end.
The unit was unlocked.
That was the first thing that worried me.
The second was the smell.
Fresh paint.
Someone had recently been inside.
Thomas raised his hand.
"Stay behind me.""
He opened the metal door.
Inside were several cardboard boxes, a broken lamp, and an old wooden chair.
But no desk.
I walked in.
My mother's things had been thrown into boxes.
Photographs lay scattered across the concrete floor.
A small porcelain bird was broken in half.
I picked up a framed picture.
It showed my mother and me on my tenth birthday.
I ran my thumb over the glass.
"Why would they destroy all this?""
Thomas examined the walls.
"Because they were searching.""
I turned.
"For what?""
He pointed toward the back corner.
A rectangular patch of dust-free concrete marked where something had recently been moved.
Then he crouched.
"There's something here.""
He reached beneath a metal shelf and pulled out a small black box.
It was locked.
Evelyn took the brass key from her pocket.
It fit.
Inside was a folded envelope, a USB drive, and a small photograph.
I picked up the photograph first.
My mother stood outside a hospital room.
Beside her was a younger man.
He was wearing a white coat.
I recognized him immediately.
Dr. Harris.
But the photograph was dated almost a year before my mother's death.
On the back, my mother had written:
*The doctor Daniel introduced me to. Find out why he knows so much about our family.*
I looked at the USB drive.
"What's on it?""
Thomas shook his head.
"Let's find somewhere secure before opening it.""
Then I heard a metallic sound behind us.
The storage unit door began sliding shut.
Thomas spun around.
"Get out!""
He shoved Evelyn toward the corridor.
I grabbed the box.
But before I could follow, a man's voice came from outside.
"Mr. Reed. It's been a long time.""
Thomas froze.
A figure stepped into the doorway.
Daniel.
He was holding my mother's diamond necklace.
The same necklace Vanessa had worn in my living room.
He smiled at me.
"You really should have stayed in the hospital, Nia.""
Then he raised his phone.
And I saw the photograph displayed on the screen.
It was a picture of me standing inside the storage unit, holding the black box.
May you like
Beneath it was a message he had already sent to someone.
*She's found it. Activate the agreement.*
