Chapter 3 - the key marked b17)
Thomas Vane arrived at Daniel's house before Ava could call him.
That alone made Daniel suspicious.
He stepped from a black sedan wearing a dark blue suit despite the early hour.
Thomas was fifty four, elegant, silver haired, and known throughout the county as the man wealthy families called when they wanted problems to disappear quietly.
He looked at the police tape across the garage.
Then at Daniel.
"I heard about Lily."
"From who?"
"Lydia's assistant."
Daniel said nothing.
Thomas approached.
"Is she all right?"
"She almost froze to death."
Thomas lowered his eyes.
"I'm sorry."
"You represented Mara."
Thomas looked at him again.
"I still represent the Vale estate."
"You handled the paperwork after she disappeared."
"Yes."
"You told me she was dead."
"Daniel."
"You told me to stop searching."
"I told you the search teams had exhausted every reasonable option."
Daniel pulled the folded paper from his pocket but did not show it.
"What's B17?"
For the first time, Thomas lost control of his expression.
It lasted less than a second.
But Ava saw it too.
Thomas recovered.
"I don't know."
Daniel stepped closer.
"Try again."
"I genuinely don't know what you're talking about."
Ava spoke.
"Then you won't mind coming to the station."
Thomas looked at her.
"Am I under arrest?"
"No."
"Then I have meetings."
"You also have questions waiting."
Thomas smiled politely.
"Detective, I have spent thirty years advising clients not to volunteer for police interviews. It would be embarrassing if I ignored my own advice."
He turned toward his car.
Daniel called after him.
"The date on the paper is two days after Mara disappeared."
Thomas stopped.
He did not turn around.
Daniel continued.
"Your initials are beside it."
Thomas stood still for a moment.
Then he entered his car and drove away.
Ava watched until the sedan disappeared.
"That got his attention."
"Can you search B17?"
"We already are."
The answer came three hours later.
B17 was not an address.
It was a storage unit.
Marrow County Self Storage.
Unit B17 had been rented eighteen months earlier under the name Evelyn Ross.
The account had been paid in cash for one full year.
After that, monthly payments were made automatically from a prepaid card.
The rental agreement listed no emergency contact.
The security footage from the original rental date had long since been deleted.
But the manager remembered something.
The woman who rented the unit had worn a baseball cap and sunglasses.
She had seemed frightened.
And she had repeatedly looked toward the parking lot.
Police obtained a warrant.
Daniel stood beside Ava when the brass key was inserted into the lock.
It turned.
The metal door rolled upward.
Inside were six plastic storage containers.
A folding table.
Two suitcases.
A child's red raincoat.
Daniel stopped breathing.
He knew the raincoat.
Lily had worn it the night Mara disappeared.
Daniel walked inside.
"Why is this here?"
Ava photographed it before touching anything.
"Was Lily wearing this when you last saw Mara?"
"Yes."
"How did it get here?"
"I don't know."
Daniel opened the first plastic container.
Women's clothes.
Mara's clothes.
Not old ones.
Not clothes taken from their house.
He saw receipts inside the pockets.
Dates.
Several were dated months after the crash.
Daniel sank onto one knee.
"This isn't possible."
Ava examined another box.
Inside were photographs.
Daniel picked up the first.
Mara standing outside a motel.
The photograph had a date printed in the corner.
Three weeks after her disappearance.
The second photograph showed Mara sitting in a parked car.
The third showed her entering a pharmacy.
The fourth showed her with a man Daniel had never seen.
Her face was thinner.
Her hair had been cut short.
But there was no question.
It was Mara.
Alive.
Daniel's hands began shaking.
Ava took the photographs.
"Someone was watching her."
Daniel opened another box.
Medication bottles.
Most labels had been removed.
A black notebook.
Cash.
A prepaid phone.
And a small handheld recorder.
Ava put on gloves.
"Don't touch anything else."
Daniel barely heard her.
Eighteen months of grief collapsed inside him.
Mara had been alive.
At least for some period after the crash.
Someone had known.
Someone had photographed her.
Someone had hidden the evidence.
Daniel turned on the recorder.
A woman's voice filled the storage unit.
Mara.
"If Daniel finds this, then something has already gone wrong."
Daniel closed his eyes.
He had forgotten the exact sound of her voice.
The recording continued.
"Do not trust my mother."
Ava looked at him.
Mara spoke again.
"And whatever happens, do not let Lily remember the red door."
The recording ended.
Daniel stared at the recorder.
Ava pressed stop.
"What red door?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I have no idea."
Behind them, something moved outside the storage unit.
Ava reached for her weapon.
"Police. Show yourself."
A shadow crossed the far end of the corridor.
Then running footsteps disappeared around the corner.
Daniel and Ava rushed after them.
They reached the parking lot in time to see a black sedan speeding through the gate.
May you like
Daniel recognized it.
Thomas Vane's car.
