Chapter 12 - Uncle Stephen
We found Stephen's town house unlocked.
A lamp was broken in the entryway.
His phone lay beneath the stairs.
There was no Stephen.
Tessa called police.
I searched the study until Renee told me to stop contaminating the scene.
Then I saw a framed family photograph hanging crooked.
Behind it was a wall safe.
Dad knew the code.
That fact did not improve my mood.
Inside were old Whitmore board minutes, bank statements, and a black notebook.
The notebook contained dates and initials.
MR - payment.
RB - transfer.
AV - watch.
DC - useful.
Daniel Cross.
Useful.
My marriage reduced to one word in my uncle's handwriting.
Dad sat heavily on the sofa.
"Stephen introduced you to Daniel."
I remembered the charity dinner five years earlier.
Stephen had seated Daniel beside me.
I had thought it was coincidence.
Nothing felt accidental anymore.
Renee found a deed in the safe for a warehouse held by a Reed-controlled company.
The address matched an industrial property near Gary, Indiana.
Then a detective called Tessa.
Stephen's car had been found at O'Hare.
No airport footage showed him entering a terminal.
He had been taken somewhere else.
At 4:30 p.m., Daniel finally agreed to meet me in a public parking garage under police observation.
He looked exhausted.
"I did terrible things," he said. "But I didn't marry you because Stephen paid me."
"He called you useful."
"Because he learned I had debt. He used it."
"You stole from my company."
"Yes."
"You forged medical records."
His eyes dropped.
"Yes."
"You locked me in a cage."
He swallowed.
"Yes."
There was nothing left to defend.
Then Daniel handed me a key card.
"Adrian is alive."
I stared at him.
"Where?"
"The Gary warehouse. Marcus moved him yesterday."
"How do you know?"
May you like
Daniel looked over my shoulder as if expecting someone to appear.
"Because I was supposed to help move him again tonight."
