Chapter 4: The Man in the Photograph
Marcus Williams stared at the photograph until the screen dimmed.
Then he tapped it awake and enlarged the image again.
The blue house. The two children. The dark window behind them.
And the man standing in the reflection, wearing an Iron Kings leather vest.
Marcus knew that vest.
He knew the patch stitched between the shoulder blades, the faded white lettering, and the tiny tear near the right shoulder where a piece of metal had caught the leather years ago.
He had seen it at a funeral seventeen years earlier.
The vest belonged to Thomas "Tank" Callahan.
Tank had been one of the Iron Kings' founding members. He had been the man who taught Marcus how to ride, how to negotiate with angry men, and how to recognize when someone was lying.
He had also been the man Marcus had buried after a motorcycle crash on Route 9.
At least, that was what everyone had been told.
"Boss?""
Raymond's voice sounded distant.
Marcus lowered the phone.
"What?"" he asked.
Raymond studied his face.
"You've gone white.""
Marcus turned the screen toward him.
"Tell me what you see.""
Raymond took the phone.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then his eyebrows pulled together.
"That's Tank's vest.""
"Yes.""
"But Tank's dead.""
"That's what we were told.""
Raymond looked at the photograph again.
"Who sent this?""
"Daniel Bennett.""
"The missing man?""
"Apparently.""
Raymond glanced toward the hospital room where Lila's brother was being treated.
"Maybe somebody stole Tank's vest.""
"Maybe.""
But Marcus didn't believe it.
The tear in the shoulder was too distinctive. So was the patch, with a crooked white thread that Tank had refused to let anyone repair.
Marcus remembered standing beside Tank's grave in the rain, listening to the priest stumble through a prayer while fifty bikers bowed their heads.
He remembered the closed casket.
He remembered the detective who had explained that the body was too badly burned for an open viewing.
And he remembered Tank's widow screaming that the police had made a mistake.
For seventeen years, Marcus had dismissed that last memory as grief.
Now it returned with the force of a punch.
"Raymond," he said quietly, "get me the original crash report.""
"Tonight?""
"Right now.""
Raymond handed the phone back.
"What's going on, Marcus?""
Marcus looked at the image one last time.
"Something I should've questioned a long time ago.""
Across the corridor, Officer Daniel Price approached with a second officer.
"Mr. Williams, I need to ask you a few questions about that phone call.""
Marcus slipped the phone into his pocket.
"Ask.""
"Did Daniel Bennett tell you where he was?""
"No.""
"Did he threaten you?""
"No.""
"Did he explain why he believes someone is after his children?""
Marcus paused.
"He said the people who took him seventeen years ago had found out where his children were.""
Price's expression sharpened.
"Seventeen years ago?""
"That's what he said.""
The second officer exchanged a glance with Price.
Price opened his notepad.
"Mr. Williams, Daniel Bennett was reported missing three months ago. Seventeen years ago, he was involved in a motorcycle accident in which another man died.""
Marcus felt the blood drain from his face.
"Who told you that?""
"We've been reviewing the information connected to the Bennett family. The name appeared in an old report.""
"Which man died?""
Price checked his notes.
"Thomas Callahan.""
Raymond swore under his breath.
Marcus didn't move.
Price looked between them.
"Do you know something about this accident that you haven't told us?""
Marcus's jaw tightened.
"I knew Tank. I was there the night he supposedly died.""
"Supposedly?""
Marcus met his gaze.
"An old friend just sent me a photograph of a man wearing Tank's vest. That man shouldn't exist.""
Price's expression changed.
"May I see the photograph?""
Marcus hesitated.
Then he showed him the image.
Price studied it carefully.
"That could be anyone wearing the vest.""
"Yes," Marcus replied.
"It could.""
"But you believe it's Thomas Callahan?""
"I believe someone wants me to think it is.""
The officer nodded slowly.
"That's an important distinction.""
Before Marcus could answer, a sharp cry came from the treatment room.
"Lila!""
Everyone turned.
The girl was standing beside Noah's bed, clutching Buttons the rabbit. Her brother had begun moving beneath the blankets, his face pinched with discomfort.
Dr. Patel was at his side.
"Easy, Noah," she said.
"You're in the hospital. You're safe.""
Noah opened his eyes.
For a moment, he stared at the ceiling without understanding where he was.
Then he saw Lila.
"Lili?""
She rushed forward.
"I'm here!""
Noah's lower lip trembled.
"Mommy?""
Lila froze.
Marcus saw the answer form in her face before she spoke.
"Mommy isn't here yet, baby.""
Noah started crying.
"I want Mommy.""
Lila climbed onto the chair beside the bed and pressed Buttons against his chest.
"I brought you your rabbit. Look. I saved him for you.""
Noah clutched the toy.
Then, in a voice so small that everyone leaned closer, he whispered, "The bad man took Mommy.""
Dr. Patel stopped adjusting the blanket.
Marcus stepped toward the bed.
"What bad man, Noah?""
The boy's eyes darted toward the door.
He began shaking.
Lila immediately took his hand.
"It's okay. Big M is here.""
Marcus crouched beside him.
"That's right, little man. I'm Big M. Nobody's going to hurt you here.""
Noah swallowed.
"The man with the ring.""
Marcus went still.
"What ring?""
Noah lifted his trembling hand and pointed at his own finger.
"Big silver ring. Like this.""
Marcus looked at Raymond.
Neither man spoke.
Tank had worn a silver ring with a black stone. He had bought it at a flea market and bragged for years that it was the only piece of jewelry he'd ever owned that didn't make him look ridiculous.
Marcus forced his voice to remain gentle.
"Did that man come to your house?""
Noah nodded.
"He said Daddy was bad.""
Lila began crying again.
"He told Mommy Daddy was dead," she whispered.
"But Mommy said Daddy called.""
Noah gripped his sister's sleeve.
"Mommy told me to hide.""
"Where did you hide, buddy?"" Marcus asked.
"In the cupboard.""
"And then?""
Noah's face crumpled.
"The man took Mommy outside. I heard her scream.""
Lila covered her mouth.
Marcus felt something inside him harden.
He looked at Officer Price.
"You need to get people to that house.""
Price nodded to the second officer, who immediately stepped into the corridor to make a call.
But Noah wasn't finished.
He turned toward Marcus, tears shining on his cheeks.
"The man said he was going to find the other children.""
Marcus's heart lurched.
"What other children?""
Noah shook his head.
"I don't know.""
Then he whispered something that made the entire room fall silent.
"He said he was going to finish what happened to Daddy.""
Marcus slowly rose to his feet.
Seventeen years earlier, Tank had died in a crash that had never made sense.
Daniel Bennett had vanished.
A little boy had described a silver ring.
And now someone was hunting two children while warning that an old tragedy wasn't finished.
Marcus looked at Raymond.
"Get every Iron King to the clubhouse," he ordered.
"Nobody leaves alone tonight. Nobody answers an unknown number. And nobody tells anyone where these children are.""
Raymond nodded.
"What about Tank?""
Marcus glanced at the darkened hospital window.
"Especially anything about Tank.""
Then his phone vibrated again.
Another message from Daniel.
*Check the grave. You buried the wrong man.*
Beneath the message was an address.
And a time.
*Midnight. Bring no police.*
Marcus checked his watch.
11:32 p.m.
He looked toward Lila and Noah.
For the first time in seventeen years, he wondered whether his oldest friend had been alive all along.
May you like
And if Tank was alive, Marcus needed to know one thing before midnight.
Why had the man he'd trusted most in the world allowed him to bury someone else in his grave?
