Chapter 14 - The Man Who Left
My former husband, Alex Reed, had left us two years earlier. He moved to Nevada after our divorce and sent birthday cards to Theo with photographs of desert sunsets. He had never asked why I stopped bringing Theo to my parents’ house. He had never asked why I changed my phone number.
I had told myself he was absent because he was selfish.
Now Rose said he had helped Warren locate her adoptive parents.
Alex agreed to speak through a lawyer. The interview took place by video, his face pale against a motel room wall.
“I didn’t know what Warren was doing,” he said.
“You found Rose for him.”
“He told me she was a fraud trying to extort your family.”
“Why did he ask you?”
Alex rubbed his hands together. “Because I was desperate.”
He had accumulated gambling debt after losing his job. Warren offered him money to track down a woman who might threaten the company. Alex accepted, believing it was a private investigation.
“When did you realize?”
“The first time I saw Rose, Warren told me to follow her instead of speaking to her. Then he showed me photographs of you and Theo. He said if I refused, you would lose custody because of the money in your trust.”
“You let him threaten me.”
“I thought I could fix it.”
“You always say that after you make things worse.”
He looked away.
Alex admitted he had given Warren information about my schedule, my work, and the people I trusted. He also admitted he had broken into my storage unit six months earlier, searching for records he believed I possessed.
“Did you send the threat to my house?”
“No.”
“Did you know about the blue door?”
“Warren showed me photographs of it.”
Ortiz asked whether he knew where Warren was hiding. Alex said no, but he remembered one place Warren had mentioned: a vacation cabin in northern Michigan, owned through New Meridian.
Federal agents found the cabin empty. Inside, they discovered a wall covered with photographs of me, Theo, Rose, Paige, and Owen.
At the center was a picture of the Bell family taken at Jonah’s funeral.
Every face had been crossed out except mine.
Warren had left a note beneath it.
She was always the hardest one to break.
The discovery frightened me more than the gunfire at the warehouse. A violent moment ended. A plan could continue for years.
I asked Ortiz whether Warren would come after Theo.
“He will if he thinks it helps him escape.”
“Then I need to know what his next move is.”
“We’re working on it.”
“I’m not asking to be involved in the operation. I’m asking for the truth.”
She studied me. “You’re allowed to be afraid. You’re not allowed to let fear make you careless.”
That sentence stayed with me.
I stopped answering unknown calls. I changed Theo’s school pickup list. I created a folder with every document, photograph, and recording, then gave copies to Ortiz, Marcus, and a lawyer recommended by Rose.
For the first time, I felt strategic instead of cornered.
The next morning, Theo’s teacher called.
“Someone came to the school asking for him,” she said.
“What did they look like?”
“A woman. Red scarf. She said she was family.”
Rose had been with me when the woman appeared.
We checked the security footage.
The woman was my mother’s attorney.
She had not come to take Theo.
She had come to leave something in his classroom mailbox.
Inside the envelope was a photograph of Jonah standing beside the blue door.
May you like
On the back, in Warren’s handwriting, were six words.
Ask your mother what she did next.
