CHAPTER 5 – THE SECOND HIDING PLACE
Dad had always believed that one backup wasn't a backup.
He taught us that when we were kids.
Important documents went in two places.
Photographs went on two drives.
House keys had duplicates.
Daniel remembered everything Dad taught him.
“Garage.”
We drove there the next morning with Detective Lena Ortiz.
Mom wasn't allowed inside while police continued documenting evidence.
Daniel walked directly to Dad's old workbench.
He opened a drawer.
Nothing.
Then another.
Nothing.
Finally he removed a wooden model airplane Dad had built with him.
He turned it upside down.
There was a tiny screw beneath one wing.
Inside the hollow body was a USB drive.
Ortiz looked at Daniel.
“Your dad was careful.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Scared.”
The USB contained scanned medical records.
Bank statements.
Emails.
And photographs.
One email was from Dad to his attorney.
Evelyn has been asking questions about Daniel's trust.
Another was worse.
If anything happens to me, do not allow Evelyn sole guardianship over Daniel.
My eyes burned.
Dad knew.
Maybe not everything.
But enough.
Then we found the toxicology report.
The real one.
Three substances had been detected in Dad's blood.
Only one had been prescribed.
The others could cause dangerous cardiac complications when combined.
Ortiz immediately called someone.
I watched Daniel.
He wasn't looking at the report.
He was staring at an old photograph of Dad.
“You okay?”
“No.”
It was the simplest answer he had given all day.
I sat beside him.
“Me neither.”
Daniel touched Dad's face in the photograph.
“He knew.”
“Yeah.”
“He was scared.”
“Yeah.”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't help.”
My heart broke.
“You were twenty-three.”
“I saw things.”
“You didn't know what they meant.”
“I saw Mom.”
“Danny—”
“I saw Marcus.”
I took his hand.
“You survived.”
He looked at me.
Then his expression changed.
“I recorded him.”
“Dad?”
“Marcus.”
“When?”
Daniel looked toward Detective Ortiz.
“Night Dad died.”
Ortiz heard him.
She slowly lowered her phone.
“Daniel.”
Her voice became very gentle.
“Where is that recording?”
Daniel looked at the USB drive.
“Not there.”
“Where?”
He hesitated.
May you like
Then said something that made Ortiz immediately call for backup.
“Marcus has it.”
