Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO ATTENDED HIS OWN FUNERAL
The maintenance train stopped inside a dim tunnel less than five minutes later.
Laura forced open the carriage door and climbed onto a narrow service platform. The disposable phone had gone silent, and no further calls came.
She followed illuminated exit signs until she reached a stairwell behind the station’s administration building.
By the time she returned home, it was nearly two in the morning.
She placed the photograph, ticket, phone, and brass key on her dining table.
One of them is dead.
Mark’s note could mean that one person in the photograph had already died. It could also mean that one of them had been declared dead while still alive.
Laura scanned the image at high resolution.
The waterfront warehouse behind the group had a faded sign reading Mercer Cold Storage. The building had been abandoned for twelve years.
The train ticket was for a journey scheduled the following afternoon. Its destination was Bellweather, a small coastal town eighty miles north.
The passenger name printed on it was Daniel Reed.
Laura searched the name and found hundreds of results.
Then she searched it with Mark’s date of birth.
An obituary appeared.
Daniel Reed had died in a boating accident nine years earlier.
The obituary photograph showed the silver-haired man from Mark’s picture.
Laura stared at the screen.
One of them is dead.
Daniel Reed was officially dead, yet he had been photographed with Mark less than a month ago.
The next morning, Laura took the train to Bellweather.
The brass key opened a room at the Harbor Rest Motel.
Inside, she found no luggage and no personal possessions. A portable radio sat on the windowsill. A folder rested beneath the mattress.
The folder contained death certificates.
There were twenty-six of them.
Each belonged to someone who had died in an accident, fire, drowning, or unexplained medical emergency during the previous ten years.
Laura searched the names.
Eleven had been wealthy business owners.
Six had worked in law enforcement or government.
Four were journalists.
One was Daniel Reed.
Another name made Laura’s hands tremble.
Mark Bennett.
His certificate had been signed two days before the crash.
The document was an unsigned draft, but every detail had already been completed, including the date and location of his death.
Someone had planned the accident.
Laura photographed each page.
As she reached the final certificate, music began playing from the radio.
It was the song from her wedding.
Laura approached cautiously.
The radio was not connected to a station. A small digital receiver had been wired into the back.
The music stopped.
Mark’s voice filled the room.
“If you’re hearing this, I failed to keep you away.”
Laura grabbed the radio.
“Mark?”
The message continued without responding.
“I know you’ll want answers. I know you’ll follow every clue because that is who you are. But before you decide to trust anyone, remember this. A familiar voice is not proof of a familiar person.”
Laura’s hope collapsed.
It was only a recording.
“I found a system that can erase people without killing them. It can also bring dead people back when someone needs a new identity. They call it the Echo Registry.”
A noise sounded in the motel parking lot.
Laura looked through the curtains.
A black car had stopped outside her room.
Mark’s recording continued.
“The Registry controls medical records, police evidence, insurance files, and voice authentication systems. They knew I was investigating them. They also know what you can do.”
The car doors opened.
Two men stepped out.
“You must find the original recording from Case 418,” Mark said. “It contains the only voice they cannot reproduce.”
Laura’s throat tightened.
Case 418 had been sealed seven years ago.
It was the case that had almost ended her career.
Someone knocked on the motel door.
“Mrs. Bennett?” a man called. “Bellweather Police.”
Laura did not answer.
Mark’s recording reached its end.
May you like
“And Laura, if you see me before you find that recording, run.”
The motel door handle began to turn.
