By sunrise the next morning, Travis\u2019s black Ford had been found.<\/p>\n
Abandoned.<\/p>\n
A county road twelve miles outside town.<\/p>\n
The driver's door was unlocked.<\/p>\n
The keys were gone.<\/p>\n
The front passenger hubcap was still missing.<\/p>\n
Inside the truck police found fast-food wrappers, two empty water bottles, a sweatshirt, a pair of binoculars and several printed photographs.<\/p>\n
They also found Amber\u2019s fireproof lockbox.<\/p>\n
Closed.<\/p>\n
Bentley was sitting at my table when Detective Harris called.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon't react strongly,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n
I looked at Bentley.<\/p>\n
He was doing multiplication problems.<\/p>\n
That was probably why Harris warned me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou found it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs the evidence inside?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe box is locked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBreak it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will obtain authorization.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hated procedure whenever procedure required waiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about Travis?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAny sign where?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlood?\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInside the truck?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I lowered my voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould he be injured?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
That should have comforted me.<\/p>\n
It did not.<\/p>\n
An injured desperate man frightened me more than an uninjured one.<\/p>\n
Harris continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a second blood source.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlood on the storage facility floor appears to belong to someone other than the blood in the truck.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo people were hurt?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know who?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
I ended the call and told Doug only what Bentley could safely hear.<\/p>\n
Truck found.<\/p>\n
Lockbox recovered.<\/p>\n
Travis missing.<\/p>\n
No speculation.<\/p>\n
At ten, Amber called.<\/p>\n
Her voice was stronger.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm being discharged tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
I nearly shouted.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlready?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot home-home.\u201d<\/p>\n
A rehabilitation facility for several days.<\/p>\n
Still in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
Still supervised.<\/p>\n
Still safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat counts.\u201d<\/p>\n
She laughed softly.<\/p>\n
It was the healthiest sound I had heard from her.<\/p>\n
Then I told her about the lockbox.<\/p>\n
She went quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas it opened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat's inside besides the phone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginal ledgers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
I knew that silence now.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmber.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInsurance documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBusiness insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy does that matter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Travis filed a claim.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst what?\u201d<\/p>\n
She explained.<\/p>\n
After their company collapsed, a warehouse they rented burned.<\/p>\n
Travis claimed equipment and materials worth nearly three hundred thousand dollars were destroyed.<\/p>\n
Insurance paid a large settlement.<\/p>\n
Amber had always believed the warehouse had been mostly empty.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think he burned it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the records?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShow equipment had been moved weeks before.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Fraud.<\/p>\n
Possibly arson.<\/p>\n
No wonder Travis wanted the evidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone hurt in the fire?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat you know of.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She heard my concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiss Arlene, I never thought this was dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou moved cities and hid documents in a storage unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he wanted to avoid prison.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe assaulted you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd threatened children.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her voice tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I softened mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. You're right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Amber said something unexpected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere's one person you need to call.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMarcus Hale.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wrote the name down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTravis\u2019s old business partner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere does he live?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLast I knew, Lafayette.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does he know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amber had not spoken to Marcus in years.<\/p>\n
He had vanished shortly after the warehouse fire.<\/p>\n
At the time, Travis claimed Marcus stole company money.<\/p>\n
Amber believed him.<\/p>\n
Later she reconsidered.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo police know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told them this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then why tell me?<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Marcus knew about the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
That mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould he have gone to the storage unit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I called Harris.<\/p>\n
He already had officers searching for Marcus.<\/p>\n
That afternoon the blood results returned.<\/p>\n
Harris came in person.<\/p>\n
Never a good sign.<\/p>\n
Bentley was in the backyard with Doug.<\/p>\n
Maddie was asleep.<\/p>\n
Harris sat at my kitchen table.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blood from Travis's truck belongs to Travis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he\u2019s hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow badly?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnknown.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the storage unit?\u201d<\/p>\n
He placed both hands on the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarcus Hale.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou found him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know it's his blood?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrior record. DNA available.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat prior record?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAssault charge from years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Against whom?<\/p>\n
Harris hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cTravis Nolan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The story shifted again.<\/p>\n
Marcus and Travis had fought months before the warehouse burned.<\/p>\n
The charge was dropped.<\/p>\n
Marcus left town shortly after.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Marcus was at the storage unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Travis was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLikely.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey fought.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I gave him a look.<\/p>\n
He corrected himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe strongly suspect there was a confrontation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho took the lockbox?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTravis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis blood is on the handle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Marcus?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe're looking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlive?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
That phrase stayed with me.<\/p>\n
We hope.<\/p>\n
At four that afternoon, police opened the lockbox.<\/p>\n
The contents were largely intact.<\/p>\n
Ledgers.<\/p>\n
Insurance documents.<\/p>\n
Receipts.<\/p>\n
Copies of payments.<\/p>\n
An old black smartphone.<\/p>\n
One envelope of photographs.<\/p>\n
And a sealed letter.<\/p>\n
Addressed to Amber.<\/p>\n
Written by Marcus.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long had it been there?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cDated three years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmber knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was strange.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did it get inside her lockbox?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris did not know.<\/p>\n
The letter had apparently been placed there before Amber moved the box into storage.<\/p>\n
Perhaps years ago.<\/p>\n
Perhaps while she and Travis still shared an office.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can't share the full contents yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you share the important part?\u201d<\/p>\n
He considered.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarcus believed Travis was preparing to blame Amber for the missing money.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn't he tell her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe claims he tried.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amber had never received the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who put it in the box?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter referenced the warehouse.<\/p>\n
Marcus believed the fire had been planned.<\/p>\n
He also wrote that Travis kept \u201ca second set of books\u201d documenting cash jobs and payments to people who helped him.<\/p>\n
One name appeared repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Not an employee.<\/p>\n
Not a customer.<\/p>\n
A county inspector named Gerald Pike.<\/p>\n
I knew Gerald.<\/p>\n
Everyone did.<\/p>\n
He had retired two years earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you telling me a county inspector was taking bribes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m telling you Marcus alleged it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that have to do with Amber?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris leaned back.<\/p>\n
\u201cMrs. Whitaker, if these records are authentic, Travis wasn't hiding one crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had built a system.<\/p>\n
Fraud.<\/p>\n
False inspections.<\/p>\n
Insurance claims.<\/p>\n
Shell payments.<\/p>\n
Maybe more.<\/p>\n
Amber had accidentally preserved the evidence.<\/p>\n
No wonder he had hunted her for years.<\/p>\n
At six, Doug took the children to get pizza.<\/p>\n
I remained home because Harris expected another call.<\/p>\n
It came twenty minutes later.<\/p>\n
Not Harris.<\/p>\n
Unknown number.<\/p>\n
I nearly ignored it.<\/p>\n
Then answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n
Breathing.<\/p>\n
A man.<\/p>\n
Weak.<\/p>\n
\u201cArlene Whitaker?\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is Marcus Hale.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every muscle in my body tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't have much time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice are looking for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst tell me Amber is alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is.\u201d<\/p>\n
A long breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMarcus, where are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to the storage unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I could get the box before Travis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n
My grip tightened around the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you go there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause somebody called me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmber.\u201d<\/p>\n
I froze.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmber has been hospitalized.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen someone used her number.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin went cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did they say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Travis had found the unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you believed it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew what was inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
He ignored the question.<\/p>\n
\u201cListen to me. Travis isn't working alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause somebody has been feeding him information.\u201d<\/p>\n
About Amber.<\/p>\n
About the storage unit.<\/p>\n
About police movements.<\/p>\n
About us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened at the unit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI got there first. Someone had already cut the lock.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTravis?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he arrived after me.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart began pounding.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there was someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you see them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCar?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGray sedan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlate?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Travis came?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWanted the box.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou fought.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a knife.\u201d<\/p>\n
I gripped the counter.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he stab you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSide.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd his blood?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI hit him with a tire iron.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMarcus, call 911.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo cops until I tell you something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
His breath rattled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe phone in that box has messages.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot the old business messages.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA recording.\u201d<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night of the warehouse fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it show?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot show.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAudio.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is on it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTravis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus stopped speaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarcus?\u201d<\/p>\n
When he answered, his voice had fallen almost to a whisper.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoug.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared across my kitchen toward the framed photograph of my son.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoug Whitaker.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoug barely knew Travis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk him where he worked twelve years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
I could barely breathe.<\/p>\n
Doug had changed careers several times.<\/p>\n
Construction.<\/p>\n
Property maintenance.<\/p>\n
County contracting.<\/p>\n
He never talked much about those years.<\/p>\n
Marcus continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk him why Travis had his signature.\u201d<\/p>\n
The forged locksmith authorization.<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArlene.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to move.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMarcus, don't hang up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon't trust anybody who had access to that property.\u201d<\/p>\n
The line clicked dead.<\/p>\n
I stood alone in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
Five minutes later headlights crossed my front window.<\/p>\n
Doug\u2019s car pulled into the driveway.<\/p>\n
Bentley jumped out carrying a pizza box.<\/p>\n
Maddie followed, laughing.<\/p>\n
Doug closed the driver\u2019s door and looked toward me through the glass.<\/p>\n
My son.<\/p>\n
The man who had canceled the eviction.<\/p>\n
Bought groceries.<\/p>\n
Fixed Amber\u2019s cabinet.<\/p>\n
Protected the children.<\/p>\n
And somewhere on a phone recovered from Travis Nolan\u2019s stolen lockbox was a recording that, according to a bleeding man hiding from police, connected Doug to the crime that had started all of this years before Amber ever moved next door.<\/p>\n
By sunrise the next morning, Travis\u2019s black Ford had been found. Abandoned. A county road twelve miles outside town. The driver's door was unlocked. The keys were gone. The front … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23813,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23765\/revisions\/23813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}