Chapter 3 - Locker 214
Nathan called the police before he did anything else.
Officer Martinez took the initial statement. Nathan expected disbelief. Instead, the officer looked at Lily's shaking hands, photographed a red mark on her wrist, and asked careful questions.
"Did Ms. Crane hit you?"
"No," Lily said. "She squeezed me. She wanted Mommy's book."
"Did she threaten you?"
Lily hesitated.
"She said people who remember things wrong can make bad things happen to their family."
Nathan's stomach turned.
By midnight, the children were asleep in Nathan's bedroom with the door locked. Nathan sat in the kitchen reading Emma's notebook.
Most pages looked harmless: grocery reminders, school dates, dentist appointments.
Then the handwriting changed.
Numbers. Initials. Bank transfer amounts.
V.C.
$48,000.
$112,500.
$76,000.
Beside one entry Emma had written: N's signature copied again.
Nathan read the line three times.
At 1:17 a.m., Detective Elena Ruiz called. She had handled Emma's crash after the responding officers requested a detective because the car left the road at high speed.
"The death was ruled accidental," Ruiz said. "But I remember your wife's file."
"Why?"
A pause.
"Because the crash bothered me."
Nathan sat straighter.
"What bothered you?"
"No skid marks. No braking before impact. The mechanic blamed a failed brake line, but the vehicle burned badly enough that we couldn't establish when the line failed. There was also a witness who reported a dark SUV leaving the area. We never found it."
Nathan looked through the kitchen window toward the empty driveway where Victoria's dark SUV had been parked an hour earlier.
"Detective... I think I know who drove that SUV."
By morning, Ruiz had arranged to meet him at Union Station, where a wall of old rental lockers still operated beside the commuter platforms.
Locker 214 opened with Emma's brass key.
Inside sat a gray metal cash box.
Nathan lifted the lid.
There were bank records, a digital voice recorder, and a sealed envelope with his name on it.
He reached for the envelope.
Behind them, a locker door slammed.
May you like
Ruiz spun around.
A man in a baseball cap was already running.
