Chapter 6 - A Photograph Beneath the Seat
Dominic kicked the door open.
The room was empty.
A speaker on the floor had played Toby's scream.
The gunshot had been recorded.
Kaye collapsed against the wall.
“They're playing with me.”
Dominic crouched beside her.
“They're making mistakes.”
“How?”
“They want us emotional.”
“I am emotional!”
“Exactly. And you're still thinking.”
Kaye looked at him.
“You found the wire.”
“You found the backpack. The bicycle. The watch. You keep noticing what the rest of us overlook.”
Kaye stood.
“Then let's look.”
She searched the room.
Not like a gangster.
Like a mother cleaning up after a seven-year-old.
Children left traces.
Crumbs.
Fingerprints.
Objects adults ignored.
Beneath a chair, Kaye found a tiny plastic dinosaur.
Toby carried six in his backpack.
“He left this.”
Dominic picked it up.
A strip of paper had been wrapped around its tail.
Toby had written:
RED TRUCK.
Mateo checked traffic cameras.
A red delivery truck had passed the church twenty-three minutes earlier.
They followed its route.
It ended at a storage facility.
One unit stood open.
Inside they found the chair from Toby's photograph.
And another dinosaur.
This one pointed toward a parked sedan.
Kaye opened the rear door.
Under the seat was a photograph.
Michael Vale.
Beside him stood Helen.
Holding a baby.
Dominic stared.
“Who is that child?”
Helen had not come with them.
Kaye turned the picture over.
One sentence:
THE WRONG BROTHER DIED.
Dominic went still.
Evan took the photograph.
“This can't be real.”
“Why?”
“Because Michael died before this date.”
Dominic checked it.
Evan was right.
The photograph was dated two months after Michael's supposed death.
Dominic's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
August's voice.
“You're finally asking the right question.”
“Where is the boy?”
“Safe.”
“If you hurt him—”
“You still think this is about hurting him?”
August laughed.
“This is about inheritance.”
Dominic's father had left a private trust.
If Michael survived, or had a lawful descendant, control of certain assets could transfer away from Dominic.
But Dominic didn't care.
“Take it.”
August went silent.
“All of it,” Dominic said. “Whatever you want. Give me Toby.”
Kaye looked at him.
August laughed again.
“You always were sentimental.”
A child's voice sounded faintly behind him.
“Mom!”
Kaye grabbed the phone.
“Toby!”
“Mom, there's water!”
The connection ended.
Water.
Kaye thought.
Cedar Ridge reservoir.
Old pumping station.
They ran.
But before Dominic entered the SUV, Mateo grabbed his arm.
“What?”
Mateo showed him the photograph again.
Something had been hidden beneath the seat with it.
A hospital bracelet.
The name printed on it was Michael Vale.
May you like
The date was yesterday.
And beneath the name was a room number...
