Chapter 9 - The Dead Grandfather
Nathan backed into the wall.
"No."
Oliver looked frightened by his father's reaction.
Emily touched her son's shoulder.
"It's okay."
Nathan stepped forward.
"Oliver, what do you mean you saw Grandpa Richard?"
"At Grandma's house."
"When?"
"When Daddy was downstairs."
Nathan stared at Emily.
Last summer, Oliver had spent a weekend with Helen while Nathan repaired a leaking pipe in her basement.
Emily remembered because she had argued against the visit.
Helen had claimed it was important for Oliver to spend time with family.
"What did Grandpa look like?" Emily asked.
Oliver shrugged.
"Old."
"Like the pictures?"
"More old."
Nathan grabbed his phone and pulled up a photograph.
Richard Moore at sixty-one.
Gray hair.
Glasses.
Thin smile.
"Was this the man?"
Oliver looked carefully.
Then shook his head.
"No."
Nathan exhaled.
Emily almost did too.
Then Oliver pointed to Richard's eyes.
"But he had these."
Emily frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Same eyes."
Nathan and Emily looked at each other.
"Did Grandma tell you he was Grandpa Richard?" Emily asked.
"No."
"What did she call him?"
Oliver thought.
"Mr. Gray."
Nathan sat down.
His face went pale.
Emily recognized that look.
"You know that name."
Nathan nodded slowly.
"My father used it."
"What?"
"Gray wasn't a person."
"What was it?"
"A password."
Officer Reyes moved closer.
"Password for what?"
Nathan looked at him.
"The encrypted archive."
Everyone went silent.
Oliver continued coloring.
Children did not understand when their innocent memories destroyed entire worlds.
Nathan crouched beside him.
"Buddy, where did you see Mr. Gray?"
"In Grandma's room."
"Bedroom?"
"No. Other room."
"What other room?"
"The room behind the clothes."
Nathan looked at Emily.
Helen had a walk-in closet.
Emily had seen it dozens of times.
No second room.
Unless there was another hidden space.
Nathan stood.
"We need to search her house."
Reyes nodded.
"We're already working on the warrant."
"No, now."
"That's not how this works."
"If the man Oliver saw is connected to Dad's archive, he may know my mother has been arrested."
Reyes looked at Han.
"Call the judge again."
Emily turned to Oliver.
"What did Mr. Gray say to you?"
Oliver's crayon stopped.
"He asked my name."
"And?"
"I said Oliver."
"What did he say?"
"He said that wasn't my real name."
Emily stopped breathing.
Nathan cursed under his breath.
"What else?"
"He said Mommy had another name too."
"Rebecca?"
Oliver nodded.
Emily's blood ran cold.
"You've heard that name before?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Grandma says it when she's mad."
Nathan stood abruptly.
"Mom knew Oliver heard them."
Emily looked at him.
"That's why last night happened."
Nathan nodded.
"She wasn't punishing him because he called her a liar."
"She was trying to scare him into silence."
Officer Reyes's phone buzzed.
He answered.
The conversation lasted less than thirty seconds.
When he hung up, his expression was grim.
"We found your mother's car."
Emily's heart stopped.
"Where?"
"Parking garage downtown."
"Is she inside?"
"No."
"Any sign of her?"
"Blood on the driver's seat."
Emily grabbed the edge of the bed.
Nathan stepped closer.
"How much?"
"Not enough to know."
Emily whispered, "Someone took her."
Reyes's jaw tightened.
"Maybe."
"Why would anyone take my mother?"
Nathan looked at her.
"Because she knows who you were before you became Emily Harlow."
Emily turned toward him.
"You said you didn't know Rebecca Lane."
"I don't."
"But you knew enough to hide my name."
"I was trying to understand before I told you."
"That's your excuse for everything."
Nathan looked at the floor.
"I know."
Oliver suddenly lifted another drawing.
"Mommy."
Emily forced herself to look.
"What is it?"
Oliver had drawn the restaurant.
A table.
People.
A boy outside.
And a tall figure standing behind a window.
"Who's that?"
Oliver pointed.
"The man who watched me."
Emily's skin prickled.
"What man?"
"He was in the kitchen door."
Nathan leaned closer.
"Did you see his face?"
Oliver nodded.
"Can you describe him?"
Oliver reached for a black crayon.
He drew a line across the figure's cheek.
"A scar."
Officer Reyes immediately turned toward Han.
"Get the restaurant footage from every camera that wasn't disabled."
Nathan's face went pale.
"What?"
Reyes looked at him.
"Marcus Vale has a scar across his left cheek."
The retired detective.
The man Nathan claimed had visited Helen years ago.
The man who investigated Peter Colson's death.
The man who might have watched Oliver freeze.
Twenty minutes later, Han returned.
She put the security image on the screen.
A tall man stood near the restaurant kitchen at 7:16 p.m.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
Scar across his cheek.
Marcus Vale.
But he wasn't looking at Oliver.
He was looking at Helen.
May you like
And in the next frame, Helen appeared to hand him something.
A small black envelope.
