Chapter 6 - The Colonel at the Wedding
Colonel Samuel Voss had retired from the United States Army nine years earlier.
At least publicly.
Emma had served beneath him during the most difficult period of her military career.
He had been disciplined, respected, intelligent, and almost impossible to read.
He was also the person who introduced her to Daniel Caldwell.
That memory returned with vicious clarity.
A military charity dinner.
Washington.
Daniel working as a consultant for a defense logistics firm.
Voss placing a hand on Daniel's shoulder.
"Emma, you should meet this man. He understands numbers better than most people understand language."
At the time, it felt accidental.
Now Emma wondered whether anything had been accidental.
She called Detective Brooks from the hospital parking garage.
"Search Samuel Voss."
"Who is he?"
"My former commanding officer."
There was silence.
Then Brooks asked, "Why?"
"Daniel called someone the Colonel."
"Lots of retired officers use that title."
"Not around Daniel."
Emma explained the connection.
Brooks promised to check.
Emma drove home.
At seven thirty, Lily was eating pancakes at Sarah's kitchen table.
When Emma arrived, Lily ran to her.
"Did you see him?"
"Not Dad."
"The other man?"
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
Emma looked at Sarah.
Sarah understood immediately.
"Coffee?"
"Please."
Lily folded her arms.
"I'm eleven."
"I know."
"You said we were going to find out."
"We are."
"Then tell me."
Emma sat across from her daughter.
She chose the truth carefully.
"The man in Grandpa Warren's basement knew your father."
Lily's eyes widened.
"He thinks Dad was alive recently."
"Recently like when?"
"Within the last year."
Lily stared.
Her pancake remained untouched.
"Why didn't he call me?"
"I don't think he could."
"Was he kidnapped?"
"Maybe."
"By Grandpa?"
"We don't know yet."
Lily's anger appeared suddenly.
"Stop saying that."
Emma understood.
For adults, uncertainty was uncomfortable.
For children, it could feel like betrayal.
Emma reached across the table.
"Lily, there are people who may have lied for years. If I tell you something before I'm sure, I become one of them."
Lily looked down.
After a moment, she took Emma's hand.
"Okay."
Emma returned home around nine.
Her front door was unlocked.
She stopped before touching it.
She knew she had locked it.
Her hand moved instinctively toward the concealed pistol holster beneath her jacket.
She called police.
Then she waited across the street.
Officer Ramirez arrived with two patrol cars.
They searched the house.
Nobody inside.
Nothing obviously stolen.
But Emma knew immediately what had been touched.
A storage box from the attic had been placed on her bed.
Inside were Daniel's old photographs, tax records, letters, and military souvenirs Emma had forgotten she owned.
Someone had removed one photograph.
Only one.
Her wedding picture.
The photograph showing Colonel Samuel Voss standing behind Daniel.
Emma stared at the empty space in the album.
Ramirez stood beside her.
"You sure it was there?"
"Absolutely."
"Anything else missing?"
"No."
"So somebody broke into your house to steal a wedding photo."
"Not the wedding photo."
Emma looked at him.
"They wanted the man in it."
That evening Brooks called.
"We have a problem."
Emma stepped onto her back porch.
"What?"
"Samuel Voss died four years ago."
Emma's stomach tightened.
"How?"
"Plane crash in Montana."
"Body recovered?"
Pause.
"No."
Emma almost laughed.
"Of course."
Brooks continued.
"There's more. The federal agency that investigated the crash sealed part of the file."
"Which agency?"
"Defense Criminal Investigative Service initially. Then another office took over."
"Which office?"
"I can't tell."
"You can't or you won't?"
"I literally can't. The record doesn't identify it."
Emma stared into the darkness of her backyard.
"Lucky us."
Brooks lowered her voice.
"Emma, somebody also accessed our case management system this afternoon."
"Looking for what?"
"Thomas Vale."
"From where?"
"An authenticated federal law-enforcement terminal."
Emma's military instincts returned in full.
"Do you know which terminal?"
"We're tracing it."
"Don't."
Brooks went silent.
"If whoever accessed it has federal credentials, they'll know you're tracing."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"Give them something else to look at."
"What?"
Emma thought of Thomas's sequence.
Four.
Two.
Seven.
Eleven.
Red cedar.
Then she remembered Daniel's photograph.
The yellow stripe.
The partial number 42.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Do you have property records for Caldwell Development?"
"Some."
"Look for anything connected to the number 42711."
Brooks typed.
A few seconds passed.
Then she stopped.
"What?"
Emma asked.
Brooks said slowly, "There was a property."
"Where?"
"42711 Cedar Industrial Road."
Emma's pulse jumped.
"Red cedar."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Emma..."
"Who owns it?"
"Property was condemned in 2018."
"Current owner?"
Brooks was silent for several seconds.
May you like
Then:
"Samuel Voss."
