Chapter 2: The Officer's Family Secret
For three seconds, I forgot about the café.
I forgot about the warrant.
I forgot about the people watching us.
All I could hear was Trevor's sentence.
"My family?""
He straightened his uniform and adjusted the collar.
"That's right.""
"Which member of your family is involved in this investigation?""
He smiled without showing his teeth.
"You'll find out.""
Daniel moved closer.
"Officer Rock, you're not going anywhere.""
Trevor looked at him.
"Am I under arrest?""
"Not yet.""
"Then I'd suggest you stop treating me like a criminal.""
Daniel didn't blink.
"I'd suggest you stop giving us reasons to.""
I returned to the table and collected the photograph.
The image showed Trevor beside a second man outside a warehouse. The man's face had been obscured, but the date stamp was visible.
Eleven months earlier.
The same night Emily disappeared.
I slipped the photograph into an evidence sleeve.
"Daniel, get Harold somewhere safe. Have Lewis coordinate the statement.""
"What about you?""
"I'm going to the motel.""
"Absolutely not alone.""
I gave him a look.
He sighed.
"Fine. I'll have a team escort you.""
Trevor watched us.
"You really think your badges make you invincible?""
"No," I replied.
"But they make you nervous.""
I walked toward the door.
Outside, the black SUV was gone.
That bothered me more than I wanted to admit.
The motel sat on the edge of Ashborne, beside an abandoned gas station and a field of dead grass. When we arrived, two federal agents were already waiting near the entrance.
My room had been torn apart.
The mattress was on the floor. The curtains hung from one hook. Clothes had been scattered across the carpet, and the small desk lamp lay broken beneath the window.
Someone had searched carefully.
Not desperately.
They knew what they wanted.
Daniel examined the damaged lock.
"Whoever did this had a key.""
I looked at the bathroom mirror.
GO HOME, KENDRA.
The words had been written in red lipstick.
Beneath them was a smaller sentence.
YOUR MOTHER COULDN'T SAVE YOU EITHER.
My chest tightened.
Daniel turned toward me.
"Kendra?""
I stared at the message.
My mother had died twelve years earlier.
She had been a county prosecutor in Pennsylvania. Before her death, she'd spent nearly three years investigating a network of corrupt police officers.
Her last case involved a missing teenage girl.
The investigation had collapsed after my mother was accused of mishandling evidence.
Two weeks later, she died in a car accident.
At least, that's what the official report said.
I took a photograph of the mirror.
"Don't touch anything," I told the technicians.
Daniel studied my expression.
"Did you recognize the message?""
I nodded.
"Someone knows about my mother.""
"Was she connected to this case?""
"Not officially.""
I opened my handbag and removed a small photograph I'd carried for years.
My mother stood beside a younger woman outside a courthouse.
The woman was smiling.
I had never known her name.
My mother had written something on the back in blue ink.
If anything happens, find the girl from Ashborne.
Daniel read the words twice.
"Where did you get this?""
"It was inside her desk after she died.""
"And you never investigated it?""
"I was twenty-four. I had just buried my mother. I didn't know what I was looking at.""
Daniel studied the photograph.
"That woman looks familiar.""
"From where?""
He enlarged the image on his phone.
"Wait.""
He searched the FBI database.
A minute later, he turned the screen toward me.
The woman was listed as Rebecca Shaw.
Former Ashborne police dispatcher.
Reported missing twelve years ago.
I felt the room tilt slightly.
"That's impossible.""
"Why?""
"Because the official missing-person report says she left town voluntarily.""
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
"She was twenty-nine when she disappeared.""
I stared at my mother's handwriting.
The girl from Ashborne.
Rebecca had been the girl.
And my mother had known her.
Before we could discuss it further, one of the technicians called from the doorway.
"Agent Hayes? We found something.""
He held up a small plastic bag.
Inside was a torn piece of paper.
There were three names written on it.
EMILY CARTER.
JONAH PRICE.
REBECCA SHAW.
Underneath them was a fourth name.
My mother's.
ELIZABETH HAYES.
I stared at it.
"Where did you find that?""
"Under the floorboard beside the bed.""
Daniel looked at me.
"Someone wanted you to find this.""
I shook my head.
"No. Someone wanted me to believe they left it here.""
I examined the paper through the plastic.
The handwriting was familiar.
Not my mother's.
Not Trevor's.
Then I noticed the small number in the bottom corner.
Room 214.
I knew that number.
It belonged to the old Ashborne police station.
The building had been abandoned after the department moved into its new headquarters.
I turned to Daniel.
"We need to go there.""
He checked his watch.
"It's nearly midnight.""
"Then we have less time than I thought.""
Daniel studied the paper.
"Why Room 214?""
I looked at him.
"Because that's where my mother was last seen with Rebecca Shaw.""
We drove to the old station with two vehicles behind us.
The building stood at the end of a narrow street, its windows dark and its entrance covered by a rusted security gate.
A faded sign still carried the town's police insignia.
Daniel examined the padlock.
"Someone's been here recently.""
Fresh scratches marked the metal.
I crouched beside the door.
There were muddy footprints.
Three different shoe patterns.
One belonged to a heavy boot.
The same style Trevor wore.
Daniel drew his weapon.
"Federal agents!""
Silence.
Then something crashed upstairs.
We entered through the side door.
The air smelled of wet plaster, dust, and old cigarette smoke.
Our flashlights moved across the hallway.
Room 214 was at the far end.
The door was open.
Inside, an old desk sat beneath a broken ceiling fan. Filing cabinets lined one wall. A yellowed photograph hung crookedly beside the door.
I stepped closer.
It showed five people standing outside the police station.
Trevor Rock.
Chief Brennan.
A younger officer.
Rebecca Shaw.
And my mother.
I felt my fingers go numb.
Daniel came beside me.
"That's your mother?""
"Yes.""
He pointed at the younger officer.
"Who's that?""
I looked closer.
The officer's face was unmistakable.
It was the man from the photograph in the café.
The man standing beside Trevor.
But there was something else.
A handwritten date beneath the photograph.
November 14.
The exact date Rebecca Shaw disappeared.
I approached the filing cabinet.
One drawer was unlocked.
Inside was a single folder.
The label read:
*OPERATION SILENT HOUSE.*
I opened it.
The first page contained a list of names, payment amounts, and dates.
The second page was a photograph of a young woman sitting in a chair.
Her hands were tied.
Her eyes were covered.
And on the back, someone had written:
She knows what happened to Elizabeth.
I heard Daniel's radio crackle.
"Unit Two, report.""
Static.
Then a man's voice answered.
"Unit Two here. We've got movement outside.""
Daniel raised his weapon.
"Identify yourself.""
A gunshot exploded somewhere downstairs.
I dropped behind the desk.
Daniel pulled me down.
Another shot followed.
Then a voice echoed through the empty station.
"Agent Hayes!""
I recognized it immediately.
May you like
Trevor Rock.
"Come out, sweetheart. We need to talk about your mother.""
