Chapter 11 - The Call)
Bell arrived at the house twenty minutes later.
Claire was angry that he came.
She was also relieved.
Both feelings remained possible around him.
He placed Daniel's phone inside a signal-isolation pouch.
"You should have waited."
Claire stared.
"Fourteen months?"
"You know what I mean."
"No, I don't."
"That number may have been monitored."
"By whom?"
"That's what we need to determine."
Sophie sat on the staircase with Max.
Bell lowered his voice.
"She shouldn't hear everything."
Claire looked back.
"Sophie has heard lies for fourteen months. I'm done treating truth like the dangerous thing."
Bell accepted that.
The number connected to an inactive prepaid device.
Last known use: somewhere in Pennsylvania.
Then nothing.
But the phone contained more than the number.
A hidden folder held photographs Daniel had taken inside Hart Fiduciary Services.
One showed Robert meeting Judge Malcolm Reeves.
Another showed Margaret carrying a stack of files.
A third showed an unfamiliar man entering through the back door after midnight.
Bell recognized him.
Claire noticed instantly.
"Who?"
Bell hesitated.
"Thomas Vale."
"Who is Thomas Vale?"
"Former federal investigator."
"Former?"
"He left after an internal misconduct inquiry."
"What kind?"
"Evidence handling."
Claire almost laughed.
"Of course."
Bell enlarged the image.
Vale carried a silver briefcase.
A date stamp showed it had been taken three weeks before Daniel's crash.
Bell's phone rang.
He listened.
"Understood."
He hung up.
"What?"
"Robert wants to talk."
"To you?"
"To you."
Claire shook her head.
"No."
Bell looked surprised.
"I don't care what new story he wants to tell."
"That might be wise."
"He had a year to tell me Daniel was alive."
"We don't know when Robert learned."
"He said seven weeks after the funeral."
"Assuming that's true."
Claire went to the kitchen.
On the refrigerator was a photograph of Sophie with Daniel and Max.
Daniel had the puppy tucked inside his jacket.
Sophie was laughing.
Claire took the photograph down.
On the back, Daniel had written a date.
Three months before his death.
Below it:
Her best protector has four paws and no idea what a trust is.
Claire stared.
Daniel had hidden the key on Max deliberately.
Not because Max mattered to the conspiracy.
Because Daniel knew Sophie would protect him.
Claire looked toward her daughter.
"Why did Dad tell you to remember Orion?"
Sophie thought.
"It was part of the game."
"What game exactly?"
"When we saw the three stars, I had to remember where we'd been."
Claire turned.
"Where you'd been when?"
"The day he gave me the key."
Bell approached.
"Think carefully, Sophie. Before the storage facility, where did your dad take you?"
Sophie closed her eyes.
"We got pancakes."
"Where?"
"I don't remember."
"Then?"
"We went to the blue-door place."
"Then?"
"We drove a long time."
Claire and Bell exchanged looks.
"Where?"
"Somewhere with trains."
"A station?"
"Maybe."
"What did Daniel do there?"
"He gave a man an envelope."
Bell crouched.
"What did the man look like?"
"Old."
"Hair?"
"White."
"Anything unusual?"
Sophie thought.
"He had a silver ring."
Claire looked at Bell's hand.
A plain silver ring was on his right little finger.
Bell saw her looking.
His expression changed.
"This belonged to my father."
Claire did not speak.
Sophie looked from him to her mother.
"He had one like that."
Bell slowly removed the ring.
"What else?"
"The man gave Dad a ticket."
"What ticket?"
"I don't know."
"Train?"
Sophie shook her head.
"Locker."
Bell stood.
"What station?"
Sophie squeezed her eyes shut.
"There was a clock outside."
Claire searched images on her phone.
Union Station.
Richmond Main Street.
Fredericksburg.
Alexandria.
Sophie pointed.
"That one."
Alexandria Union Station.
Bell contacted local authorities.
Old locker records had long since been purged.
But the station still contained a small bank of rental storage lockers maintained by a private company.
Daniel's brass key had already opened the storage unit.
The silver key from Max's fake tag remained in evidence.
Bell requested it.
Two hours later they stood before locker 308.
The silver key fit.
Inside was an envelope.
No documents.
No drive.
Only a cassette recorder.
And another note.
Claire unfolded it.
IF ROBERT IS STILL LYING, PLAY THIS FOR MARGARET.
Bell stared.
May you like
Claire looked at him.
"Let's go."
