I kept staring at the page.<\/p>\n
Henry's name was written beneath a list of people connected to Matthew's investigation. Beside it was the date of our first meeting.<\/p>\n
The room seemed to lose all sound.<\/p>\n
I looked at Henry.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were on this list before I knew you.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn't answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHenry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know why.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn't enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The police officer took the document from me and examined the handwriting under a lamp.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis appears to be an original.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho wrote it?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe'll have to compare it with the other samples.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry remained motionless.<\/p>\n
I turned toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid anyone arrange our meeting?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're certain?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen explain the date.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can't.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer frightened me more than denial would have.<\/p>\n
Daniel stepped closer to the desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe the date doesn't mean what we think.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the date Henry and I met.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what else could it mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel studied the page.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe someone was watching him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would anyone watch me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you were already connected to Matthew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel pointed at the list.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were following Victor before the accident. Someone may have known.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked between them.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Henry didn't meet me until much later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn't mean someone didn't know he would.\u201d<\/p>\n
The possibility made my stomach turn.<\/p>\n
I remembered our first meeting.<\/p>\n
A rainy afternoon.<\/p>\n
A caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Henry had approached me after I dropped my papers.<\/p>\n
He had smiled.<\/p>\n
He had apologized.<\/p>\n
He had helped gather everything.<\/p>\n
At the time, it had felt random.<\/p>\n
Now every detail seemed suspicious.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you first see me?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Henry answered quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the caf\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know I would be there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid someone tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how did you know my name?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had your husband's photograph in your wallet.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered.<\/p>\n
Matthew's photograph.<\/p>\n
I had taken it out while waiting for coffee.<\/p>\n
Henry had seen it.<\/p>\n
I had thought nothing of it.<\/p>\n
But he had recognized Matthew.<\/p>\n
And he had recognized me.<\/p>\n
I felt sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou approached me because you knew who I was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I wanted to know whether you were okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's what you said before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it's the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The police officer interrupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere's something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
He held up another page.<\/p>\n
The date beside Henry's name was not simply a date.<\/p>\n
It was accompanied by a short note.<\/p>\n
Observe.<\/p>\n
Nothing more.<\/p>\n
No instruction.<\/p>\n
No explanation.<\/p>\n
Just one word.<\/p>\n
Observe.<\/p>\n
I looked at Henry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was supposed to observe you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer photographed the page.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe'll investigate.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wanted to believe him.<\/p>\n
But another thought had already taken hold.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if the person who wrote this knew Henry would eventually meet me?\u201d<\/p>\n
No one answered.<\/p>\n
We spent the next several hours going through the files.<\/p>\n
One folder contained photographs of Henry.<\/p>\n
Not many.<\/p>\n
Three.<\/p>\n
All taken before our marriage.<\/p>\n
One showed him leaving his workplace.<\/p>\n
Another showed him entering a grocery store.<\/p>\n
The third showed him standing outside the caf\u00e9 where we first met.<\/p>\n
My hands went cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was taken that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry stared at the photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn't see anyone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWere you being followed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked at the image.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever took this was close.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt watched even inside the room.<\/p>\n
The officer said they would examine the photographs for identifying details.<\/p>\n
Then we found a handwritten note beneath them.<\/p>\n
Henry is not the target.<\/p>\n
He is the route.<\/p>\n
I stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry looked as confused as I was.<\/p>\n
Daniel's expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means they wanted him close to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The realization was devastating.<\/p>\n
I looked at my husband.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of my father?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of Matthew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the money?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every answer was uncertainty.<\/p>\n
Then I remembered something.<\/p>\n
The old envelope.<\/p>\n
Matthew's letter.<\/p>\n
He had warned me about a man I might meet someday who knew what happened that night.<\/p>\n
He had not said that man would become my husband.<\/p>\n
He had only told me to judge him by what he did afterward.<\/p>\n
That suddenly felt deliberate.<\/p>\n
Matthew had known Henry might enter my life.<\/p>\n
Or at least he had known the possibility existed.<\/p>\n
I asked Henry whether Matthew had ever told him that he should stay away from me.<\/p>\n
Henry shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he ever tell you to protect me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he ever tell you to marry me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry looked almost offended.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I believed him.<\/p>\n
Whatever had happened between us, it had not been planned by Matthew.<\/p>\n
But someone else might have tried to manipulate the circumstances.<\/p>\n
That possibility was enough to make me question everything.<\/p>\n
The next morning, investigators traced the photographs.<\/p>\n
The camera used had been purchased under a false name.<\/p>\n
But the store had security footage.<\/p>\n
A man had bought it.<\/p>\n
His face was partially visible.<\/p>\n
The police eventually identified him.<\/p>\n
He worked for my former employer.<\/p>\n
The same man whose name had appeared in the old records.<\/p>\n
I remembered him.<\/p>\n
Martin.<\/p>\n
He had always been polite.<\/p>\n
Quiet.<\/p>\n
Reliable.<\/p>\n
I had trusted him.<\/p>\n
He had known my schedule.<\/p>\n
He had known when I met Henry.<\/p>\n
He had known where I lived.<\/p>\n
He had known about Matthew's investigation.<\/p>\n
And he had access to business records.<\/p>\n
The pieces were becoming unbearable.<\/p>\n
Martin was questioned.<\/p>\n
At first, he denied everything.<\/p>\n
Then the police showed him the photograph.<\/p>\n
His story changed.<\/p>\n
He admitted following Henry.<\/p>\n
But he insisted he hadn't arranged our meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy were you watching him?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Victor ordered it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Victor thought Henry had Matthew's evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin looked at Henry.<\/p>\n
\u201cHenry never had the documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why watch him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Victor thought he knew where they were.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour husband did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMatthew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why follow Henry?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause after Matthew died, Victor believed Henry had been given something.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Henry.<\/p>\n
He slowly shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the key.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
Martin nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key to the storage unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered the small metal key.<\/p>\n
Matthew had given it to Henry.<\/p>\n
Someone had known.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho told Victor?\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin hesitated.<\/p>\n
Then he said, \u201cYour uncle.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy uncle?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told Victor that Henry had been close to Matthew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut my uncle didn't know about the key.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked Martin the question I had been afraid to ask.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas Henry ever supposed to be harmed?\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why was he the route?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Victor wanted to know whether Henry would lead him to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
The entire mystery had been moving around me.<\/p>\n
Not because I was the target of every scheme.<\/p>\n
Because I was the person everyone believed would eventually lead them to Matthew's evidence.<\/p>\n
I looked at Henry.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou weren't sent to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were followed to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That distinction mattered.<\/p>\n
But it didn't erase the fear.<\/p>\n
That evening, Henry and I sat alone in the house.<\/p>\n
Eleanor was asleep.<\/p>\n
The police had taken most of the documents.<\/p>\n
For the first time in days, the house was quiet.<\/p>\n
Henry said, \u201cI never used you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI should have told you everything sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought silence would keep you safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I reached for his hand.<\/p>\n
Then stopped.<\/p>\n
Trust could not be restored with one gesture.<\/p>\n
Not after everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have one question left,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho changed the plan?\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe driver was supposed to frighten Matthew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVictor arranged it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut someone made sure Matthew wouldn't survive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that person knew exactly where Matthew would be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry's face tightened.<\/p>\n
I whispered the conclusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone close to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we still haven't found that person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then the phone rang.<\/p>\n
The police were calling.<\/p>\n
They had recovered a deleted message from Martin's phone.<\/p>\n
It had been sent to Victor two days before Matthew died.<\/p>\n
It contained only one sentence.<\/p>\n
He won't give her up.<\/p>\n
I stared at Henry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is her?\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room seemed to freeze.<\/p>\n
Then he added:<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we think we finally know what Matthew refused to give them.\u201d<\/p>\n
I kept staring at the page. Henry's name was written beneath a list of people connected to Matthew's investigation. Beside it was the date of our first meeting. The room … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6695","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\/6695","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=6695"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6711,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6695\/revisions\/6711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}