Chapter 6 - The Man in the Birthday Photo
Detective Morales stared at Noah’s phone for a long time before speaking.
“You’re sure?”
Noah nodded. “I saw him once outside East Harbor Storage. Dad was loading a duffel bag into his truck. The guy in the gray suit was standing by the office.”
“How long ago?”
“Maybe three weeks.”
Claire looked at her son. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Noah gave her a look that answered the question before he spoke. “Because everything weird around Dad had a normal explanation until yesterday.”
Morales zoomed in on the birthday photo. “Do you remember his face clearly?”
“Enough.”
The detective sent the image to herself.
Megan crossed her arms. “So some stranger tied to Rick’s storage unit was in my house at Lily’s birthday?”
Claire turned. “Your house?”
Megan nodded. “This picture is from last year. You had the party here because your kitchen ceiling was being repaired.”
Claire remembered. Rick had invited two “work friends” late in the afternoon. One had stayed ten minutes. The other had barely spoken.
She had not noticed either man.
The realization made her feel foolish in a way that hurt deeper than being deceived. Rick’s second life had not existed in hidden alleys and secret rooms. It had walked through family photographs.
Morales asked, “Did Richard ever explain who he brought?”
“No.”
“Do you have more pictures?”
Megan opened her cloud album.
For the next forty minutes, they searched.
The gray-suited man appeared in three photos.
In one, he stood beside Rick near the backyard fence. In another, he was taking a call near the kitchen window. In the third, he was half-hidden behind a group of relatives.
Every time, his expression was neutral.
Every time, he was watching Rick.
Morales texted the images to someone.
Ten minutes later, she received a reply.
Her face changed.
Claire saw it. “Who is he?”
Morales looked at Noah and Lily.
“Megan, can you take Lily upstairs?”
Lily protested. “I’m not a baby.”
“No,” Claire said softly. “But some conversations are for adults.”
Lily crossed her arms exactly like Noah did when angry.
Noah almost smiled.
Megan led her upstairs.
Morales waited until they were gone.
“His name is Adrian Holt.”
Claire frowned. “I’ve never heard that.”
“You probably wouldn’t have.”
“Why?”
“He works private security.”
“For Voss?”
Morales hesitated. “Officially, for a corporate risk firm. Unofficially, he’s been associated with several people investigated for illegal lending and gambling operations.”
Noah leaned forward. “So he’s muscle?”
“Don’t use movie language,” Morales said.
“Is it wrong?”
Morales did not answer.
Claire felt a cold heaviness settle in her stomach. “Why would he be at Lily’s birthday?”
“That’s what I want to know.”
The detective stood.
“I’m going to request access to East Harbor’s security footage. Stay here. Do not contact Holt. Do not contact Voss. And if Rick calls, record the time and tell me.”
As Morales reached the door, Noah asked, “What if Dad shows up?”
“Don’t open it.”
“What if he’s hurt?”
Morales looked at Claire.
Claire answered. “We call an ambulance.”
Noah nodded.
After the detective left, Claire sat with her son at the kitchen table.
“Are you angry at me?”
He shrugged.
“That means yes.”
“I’m angry at everybody.”
“Fair.”
He looked toward the stairs.
“Mostly him.”
Claire did not ask which him.
At nine, Rick called.
Claire answered on speaker.
His breathing was ragged.
“Claire.”
“Where are you?”
“I need Noah.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“I have no idea what I think anymore.”
“Put him on.”
Noah shook his head.
Claire said, “He doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“I’m his father.”
“That stopped being a magic sentence.”
Silence.
Rick’s voice dropped. “Tell him the eight hundred is back.”
Claire went cold. “How do you know?”
Rick did not answer.
“Did you send it?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Voss called.”
Noah leaned toward the phone. “Why did he return my money?”
Rick heard him.
“Noah?”
Noah’s face hardened. “Answer the question.”
Rick swallowed audibly.
“Because he wants you to think he’s the good guy.”
“Compared to you, that’s not hard.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Rick whispered, “I deserved that.”
The admission surprised Noah enough to silence him.
Rick continued. “Listen. The money wasn’t the point. The phone is.”
“The phone from the storage unit?”
“Yes.”
“Give it to the police.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because some of the people on it are police.”
Claire looked at Morales’s empty chair.
“Which police?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said—”
“I don’t know names. I know uniforms.”
Noah said, “Then give it to the state police or FBI.”
Rick laughed bitterly. “You think I know who’s clean?”
Claire felt anger rising. “You don’t get to suddenly become cautious. You dragged us into this.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
The word came out broken.
Then Rick said, “Claire, I need you to ask Noah something.”
“No.”
“He has a blue backpack.”
Noah’s eyes widened.
Claire looked at him.
Rick continued, “The one he used for work.”
Noah stood.
“What about it?”
Rick said, “There’s a flash drive sewn into the bottom lining.”
Noah went pale.
Claire whispered, “What?”
Rick’s voice shook. “I put it there last month.”
Noah stared at the guest-room ceiling as if he could see the backpack upstairs.
“You hid something in my bag?”
“I needed somewhere nobody would search.”
“You used me.”
“I was trying to protect it.”
“You used me as a hiding place.”
“I’m sorry.”
Noah laughed once, but there was no humor in it.
“Was that why you kept asking where my backpack was?”
“Yes.”
Claire stood. “What’s on the drive?”
“A copy of the phone.”
“Everything?”
“Most of it.”
Noah looked furious. “You put criminal evidence in my backpack and let me carry it to work?”
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
“That’s your answer for everything.”
“I know.”
Claire could hear Rick crying now.
She had seen him angry, sarcastic, drunk, defensive, triumphant, exhausted.
She had almost never heard him cry.
“Where are you?” she asked.
Rick did not answer.
“Rick.”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Then what do you want us to do with the drive?”
“Give it to somebody named Ellen Ward.”
“Who is that?”
“A federal prosecutor.”
Noah whispered, “How do you know her?”
Rick said, “Because Voss is not the only person who’s been watching me.”
The call ended.
Claire and Noah stood frozen.
Then Noah ran upstairs.
He returned thirty seconds later carrying the blue backpack.
Megan followed.
“What’s happening?”
Noah put the bag on the table and turned it upside down.
Nothing fell out except a charger, two pens, and a diner receipt.
He ran his fingers along the bottom seam.
There was a bump beneath the fabric.
Megan brought scissors.
Claire stopped her.
“No. Morales first.”
Noah stared at the backpack.
Then something vibrated inside it.
All three jumped.
Noah whispered, “That isn’t possible.”
The vibration came again.
Not from the lining.
From the side pocket.
Noah reached in and pulled out a phone he had never seen before.
The screen was locked.
May you like
One message glowed across it.
WE KNOW YOU FOUND THE DRIVE.
