Chapter 5 - The Man Who Disappeared)
Daniel Reeves looked older than his photographs.
He arrived at Shawn's office just after midnight accompanied by his wife, Ellen.
His hair had grown long.
A scar crossed his jaw.
He kept checking the windows.
Shawn closed the conference room door.
"Why hide?"
Daniel looked at Detective Brooks.
"Because Garrett found out I copied the files."
"You could have gone to police."
"I tried."
"What happened?"
"I got a message containing my son's school schedule."
Silence.
Daniel continued.
"Then pictures of my wife leaving work."
Ellen reached for his hand.
"I resigned. We moved. Daniel stayed away so Garrett would think he'd run."
Brenda had believed Daniel might be dead.
Garrett had encouraged that fear.
Another layer of control.
Brooks asked, "Why come forward now?"
Daniel looked at Shawn.
"Because Garrett called me."
"When?"
"Tonight."
Shawn leaned forward.
"What did he want?"
"The deed."
"Why would he think you have it?"
"He doesn't. He wants me to help him find it."
"Where is he?"
Daniel shook his head.
"He didn't say."
"Can you call him?"
"He'll know."
"Know what?"
"That I'm cooperating."
Brooks said, "He already knows someone has the drive."
Daniel looked at her.
"No. He thinks the drive he took from the furnace is real."
Shawn frowned.
"How?"
"I told him."
"You've been talking to him?"
"For months."
Shawn stood.
"You said you were hiding from him."
"I am."
"Then why are you helping him?"
"I'm not."
Daniel remained calm.
"I'm feeding him information."
Brooks stared at him.
"Without law enforcement?"
"I didn't trust law enforcement."
"Why?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Because one of Garrett's clients is a retired judge. Another is a city contractor. Another is a former police supervisor."
Brooks's expression hardened.
"Names."
Daniel handed her a notebook.
"I kept everything."
Shawn paced.
"Where does Garrett go when he needs to disappear?"
Daniel answered immediately.
"North."
"New Hampshire?"
"Maybe Maine."
"He has a house in New Hampshire."
"He wouldn't use his own property."
"What would he use?"
Daniel looked toward the windows.
"One of his clients owns hunting cabins."
Brooks opened the notebook.
"Which client?"
Before Daniel could answer, his phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Daniel looked at the screen.
Garrett.
Brooks raised a finger.
Daniel answered.
"Yeah."
Garrett's voice came through faintly.
"Did you find her?"
"Not yet."
"Then find her."
"Maria's in the hospital."
"That's not what I asked."
Shawn looked at Daniel.
Find her.
Not find it.
Garrett wanted Maria.
Daniel said, "Hospital has police."
"Police leave."
"You want me to take her?"
"I want you to ask one question."
"What question?"
"Where did she put the original."
Daniel glanced at Shawn.
"The deed?"
Garrett went silent.
Then said, "Don't say that word again."
The call ended.
Brooks immediately contacted hospital security.
Officers were placed outside Maria's room.
Shawn drove there anyway.
His mother was awake when he entered.
He sat beside her.
"Why is Garrett afraid of you?"
Maria smiled faintly.
"Because he thinks I am foolish."
"Mom."
"He always did."
She shifted against the pillow.
"When he married Brenda, he talked to your father about money as if I wasn't in the room."
Don sat near the window.
Maria continued.
"So I listened."
"To what?"
"Everything."
She described the beginning.
Garrett offered to help manage their retirement accounts.
At first his advice seemed good.
Then statements became confusing.
Don challenged him.
Garrett convinced Brenda that Don was developing dementia.
When Don fell and broke his wrist, Garrett used the hospitalization to introduce Dr. Leonard Crane.
Crane prescribed sedatives.
The medication made Don confused.
Then Garrett filmed the confusion.
"He created his own proof," Shawn said.
Maria nodded.
When she threatened to call Shawn, Garrett showed her a recording of Brenda admitting she had signed several transfers.
"He said Brenda would go to prison."
Shawn looked down.
"So you stayed quiet to protect her."
"At first."
"And later?"
"Later he threatened you."
"Me?"
"He said your company had government contracts. He said one accusation of financial abuse against your parents would destroy your reputation."
Shawn almost smiled.
"Mom, I would have survived."
"I know that now."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I was afraid."
Shawn held her hand.
"What about the deed?"
Maria looked toward Don.
Don nodded.
She continued.
"The original is not what Garrett truly wants."
Shawn frowned.
"What does he want?"
"The restriction."
"What restriction?"
Don answered.
"When I bought Easton, the seller added a clause. If the land is ever transferred outside direct family ownership before his death, a conservation trust gets first purchase rights at the original price."
Shawn stared.
Original price decades ago.
Probably less than two hundred thousand dollars.
"If Garrett takes control through guardianship and transfers it to one of his companies..."
"He could trigger the clause," Don said.
"So why would he want that?"
Maria smiled.
"Because the restriction was removed."
"When?"
"Seven years ago."
"Then what matters?"
"The release document."
Now Shawn understood.
Without proof the restriction had been legally released, any buyer or lender might refuse the property.
Garrett's scheme depended on the release.
"Where is it?"
Maria squeezed his hand.
"I gave it to someone Garrett would never suspect."
"Who?"
She looked toward the hospital door.
"Father Thomas."
Shawn blinked.
The priest who had married Don and Maria forty eight years earlier.
"He has it?"
"He has half."
Shawn stared.
"Half?"
Don smiled.
"I tore it in two."
Shawn looked between them.
"Where is the other half?"
May you like
Don pointed toward Brenda's name on Shawn's phone.
"Your sister has had it for three years."
