Thomas refused to explain in the parking garage.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s patience broke.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have used those two words for thirteen years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked around at officers, maintenance workers, cameras.<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel, please.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something in his voice convinced her.<\/p>\n
Hayes moved us to a secure state police facility outside the city.<\/p>\n
No Chicago department personnel were told where.<\/p>\n
Henderson went to a hospital under state protection.<\/p>\n
Cole was taken to a different facility.<\/p>\n
Vale remained missing.<\/p>\n
In a windowless conference room, Thomas finally sat across from us.<\/p>\n
Mom beside me.<\/p>\n
Hayes and Ortiz opposite him.<\/p>\n
Thomas folded his hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe person who forced me into hiding was Elena.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cElena Ward?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told us she helped you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen she forced you to disappear?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth are true.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained.<\/p>\n
After the attack in the parking garage, Elena helped stage his death because she believed the network would otherwise kill him and come after Mom.<\/p>\n
The original plan was seventy-two hours.<\/p>\n
Then Elena discovered something.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d Hayes asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone had accessed the sealed informant tape.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLocker 214?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore she hid the copy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wouldn\u2019t tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew Bishop?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at Mom.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe believed someone close to Rachel had been unknowingly carrying information for the network.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cValerie.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cAunt Valerie?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom looked stunned.<\/p>\n
\u201cValerie was twenty-three.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was dating someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDerek\u2019s cousin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom searched her memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel Kensington?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I had never heard the name.<\/p>\n
Thomas said Daniel worked for a logistics company owned indirectly by Richard Kensington.<\/p>\n
Valerie thought he was charming and wealthy.<\/p>\n
She did not know he used her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d Mom asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gave her packages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom went pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe used to deliver things for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told me she was helping with his business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was carrying documents between people in the network.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she know what they were?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayes asked, \u201cProbably?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI investigated her. I found no evidence she understood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom looked furious.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou investigated my sister without telling me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to protect you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere it is again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas lowered his eyes.<\/p>\n
Elena believed Valerie\u2019s connection meant the network had a direct route into Rachel\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
That was why she insisted Thomas remain dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t Valerie tell us about Daniel now?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Mom answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey broke up before you were born.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel disappeared from Chicago shortly afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDead?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. He lives in Arizona under another name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayes wrote it down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does this have to do with the Archivist?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel worked directly for the Archivist.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cName?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never learned it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayes\u2019s frustration showed.<\/p>\n
Thomas continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cElena did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why not tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she stopped trusting everyone who had been touched by the network.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIncluding you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause my access credentials were used to retrieve sealed records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe thought I might have cooperated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas rubbed his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe gave me one choice. Stay dead and let her dismantle the network quietly, or return home and risk bringing them directly to Rachel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom whispered, \u201cAnd you chose her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI chose you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her voice was calm now.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou chose for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas had no defense.<\/p>\n
That distinction seemed to hurt him more than her anger.<\/p>\n
I asked, \u201cWhat happened after Colorado?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cElena and I separated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou went where?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWyoming first. Then Montana.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know she was alive?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor several years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you talk?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIndirectly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough Grandpa?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHenderson?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat changed six years ago?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at Hayes.<\/p>\n
\u201cElena sent me a warning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat warning?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Archivist knew I was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said the network had changed. Bishop was becoming less important. The Archivist was controlling succession directly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Elena disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you search?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFind anything?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly fragments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayes asked, \u201cSuch as?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA safe house in Nebraska. Burned. A storage locker in Utah. Empty. An account in Vancouver that received one payment after she vanished.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNorthstar.\u201d<\/p>\n
The same company.<\/p>\n
Thomas opened his coat and removed a small notebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tracked every surviving Northstar payment.\u201d<\/p>\n
He slid it across.<\/p>\n
Most recipients were coded.<\/p>\n
One code appeared repeatedly.<\/p>\n
V-23.<\/p>\n
Mom stared at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cValerie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was twenty-three when Daniel recruited her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Valerie wasn\u2019t receiving money from Northstar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot directly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas turned the page.<\/p>\n
Payments went to a property company.<\/p>\n
That company paid the mortgage on Valerie\u2019s house for almost three years.<\/p>\n
Mom looked sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told me she got a refinancing deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe may have believed that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr she knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n
Valerie was still in custody.<\/p>\n
Hayes arranged a second interview.<\/p>\n
This time Thomas remained behind one-way glass.<\/p>\n
Valerie did not know he was alive.<\/p>\n
Mom entered with Hayes.<\/p>\n
I watched beside Dad.<\/p>\n
Valerie looked exhausted.<\/p>\n
Hayes placed a photograph of Daniel Kensington on the table.<\/p>\n
Valerie\u2019s reaction was immediate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you get that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Daniel ask you to do when you dated?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThink carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at Mom.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you asking about Daniel?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Thomas investigated him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Valerie went pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom watched her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Valerie shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou reacted to his name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Daniel hated Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Behind the glass, Dad stiffened.<\/p>\n
Hayes asked, \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas embarrassed him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel said Thomas accused his family of criminal things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Daniel give you packages?\u201d<\/p>\n
Valerie stopped.<\/p>\n
Mom whispered, \u201cVal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eyes filled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. A dozen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you take them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOffices. Hotels. Once a police station.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayes leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never knew names.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDescribe them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Valerie remembered three people.<\/p>\n
An older man with a cane.<\/p>\n
A woman with red hair.<\/p>\n
And a police officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat officer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou delivered packages to him more than once?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you identify a photograph?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayes displayed archived personnel photographs from that period.<\/p>\n
Valerie moved slowly through them.<\/p>\n
Robert Warren.<\/p>\n
No.<\/p>\n
James Hayes.<\/p>\n
She paused.<\/p>\n
Dad leaned toward the glass.<\/p>\n
Valerie shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin Vale.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charles Doran.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then another photograph.<\/p>\n
Valerie froze.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayes turned the screen.<\/p>\n
The officer was Leonard Price.<\/p>\n
The same name as the medical examiner who signed Thomas\u2019s death certificate.<\/p>\n
Except Leonard Price was not a medical examiner in the photograph.<\/p>\n
He was a police evidence technician.<\/p>\n
Mom stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayes checked.<\/p>\n
Two men named Leonard Price.<\/p>\n
The medical examiner and the evidence technician.<\/p>\n
Brothers.<\/p>\n
The evidence technician was Daniel\u2019s contact.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you deliver?\u201d Hayes asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSealed envelopes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything else?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne time, a cassette.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled behind the glass.<\/p>\n
Locker 214.<\/p>\n
The original tape.<\/p>\n
Hayes asked, \u201cDid you know what was on it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho gave it to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did Price take it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Valerie remembered something.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018Tell Keeper it\u2019s clean.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel wasn\u2019t working for Bishop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the Keeper?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArchivist.\u201d<\/p>\n
He corrected himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe role may have had another name then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Valerie continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel got angry because I heard that word.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Keeper was an accounting term.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you believe him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was twenty-three and stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s expression softened for half a second.<\/p>\n
Then hardened again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about your mortgage?\u201d<\/p>\n
Valerie looked confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayes showed her the payment records.<\/p>\n
She stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou received favorable refinancing from a company tied to Northstar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought Daniel arranged it because he felt guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGuilty about what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLeaving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayes asked, \u201cWhen did he leave?\u201d<\/p>\n
Valerie thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree days after Thomas disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas and I looked at each other.<\/p>\n
Not coincidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Daniel contact you afterward?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you have it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
Valerie closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething strange.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018Your sister will be safe as long as the photograph stays where I left it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat photograph?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did he leave it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas whispered beside me.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
He turned toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel\u2019s wedding photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom and Thomas had never married.<\/p>\n
I knew that.<\/p>\n
So I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat wedding?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked through the glass at Mom.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer parents\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandpa and Grandma.<\/p>\n
Mom kept their wedding photograph on her bedroom dresser.<\/p>\n
It had been there my entire life.<\/p>\n
We returned to the apartment with a state team.<\/p>\n
The framed photograph showed Grandpa in a dark suit and Grandma in a simple white dress.<\/p>\n
Mom removed the backing.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Then Thomas examined the wooden frame.<\/p>\n
One corner was thicker.<\/p>\n
He pried loose a narrow strip.<\/p>\n
A tiny rolled piece of paper slid out.<\/p>\n
Mom stared.<\/p>\n
Daniel had hidden something in her parents\u2019 wedding picture before Thomas disappeared.<\/p>\n
The paper contained only a sequence.<\/p>\n
Sixteen digits.<\/p>\n
Hayes recognized the format.<\/p>\n
\u201cBank account?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvidence archive access code.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what system?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOld municipal evidence storage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ortiz entered the number into an offline copy of archived indexes.<\/p>\n
One record appeared.<\/p>\n
Case 8841.<\/p>\n
Sealed juvenile file.<\/p>\n
Subject name redacted.<\/p>\n
Year:<\/p>\n
Thirty-two years earlier.<\/p>\n
Long before Thomas disappeared.<\/p>\n
Hayes frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow does this connect?\u201d<\/p>\n
The file\u2019s original investigating officer was Robert Warren.<\/p>\n
The future first Bishop.<\/p>\n
The witness listed beneath him was seventeen years old.<\/p>\n
Name:<\/p>\n
Leonard Price.<\/p>\n
Not the medical examiner.<\/p>\n
The evidence technician.<\/p>\n
Then one more line appeared.<\/p>\n
A second juvenile witness.<\/p>\n
Name sealed by court order.<\/p>\n
But the birth date was visible.<\/p>\n
Mom stared at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s face lost all color.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel Bennett.<\/p>\n
Grandpa had been connected to Robert Warren decades before any of us knew Bishop existed.<\/p>\n
And he had never told anyone.<\/p>\n
Thomas refused to explain in the parking garage. \u201cNot here.\u201d Mom\u2019s patience broke. \u201cYou have used those two words for thirteen years.\u201d \u201cI know.\u201d \u201cThen stop.\u201d He looked around at … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31442","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\/31442","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=31442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31477,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31442\/revisions\/31477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}