Chapter 2 - The Photograph
Daniel moved first.
"Close the door."
The attorney stepped back. Charles did not.
Eli handed the photograph to Nora. The date stamp was forty-eight hours old.
Her hospital bag had disappeared the same night Owen stopped answering his phone. Inside it had been Lucy's ultrasound records, Nora's insurance documents, and a sealed envelope Owen had told her not to open unless he failed to come home.
"Where is he?" Nora asked.
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face. "I don't know."
"That's not good enough."
Charles cut in. "This man is trespassing."
Eli looked at him. "Then call the police."
Charles didn't.
That frightened Nora more than shouting would have.
Daniel finally looked at her. "Owen called me. He said someone was tracking his truck. I met him at Dad's lake house because he thought it was safe."
"Why were you holding my bag?"
"Because Owen gave it to me."
"Why?"
Daniel glanced at Charles.
That was answer enough.
Nora pushed the guardianship papers off the bed. "Everybody out except Daniel and Eli."
"Nora," Elaine pleaded.
"Out."
Charles leaned toward Lucy.
Nora pulled the baby closer.
His voice dropped. "You don't understand what you're protecting."
"Then explain it."
Charles straightened.
"Not here."
He left with Elaine and the attorney.
Daniel locked the door behind them.
Eli reached into his jacket and placed a brass key on Nora's blanket.
"Owen mailed this to me yesterday morning," he said. "No note. Just the key."
Daniel stared at it.
His face changed.
"I know that key."
"To what?" Nora asked.
Daniel swallowed.
May you like
"A Halcyon evidence locker."
Eli explained that Owen had contacted him because they had served together on a disaster-recovery contract years earlier. Owen trusted him because Eli had no ties to the Mercers, Halcyon, or Dallas society. That independence, Daniel said, was exactly why someone would want him gone next.
