Chương 14
Daniel stared at the voicemail icon.
Mara moved beside him.
“What could he possibly explain?”
Daniel’s mind returned to the warehouse.
Gavin approving overtime that did not exist anymore.
Gavin knowing about Daniel’s shoulder injury.
Gavin signing the incident report after the conveyor accident.
Gavin knowing which urgent-care clinic Daniel had used.
Gavin had known about the old prescription problem because Daniel had disclosed it during a workplace safety review.
Daniel looked at Laura.
“He knew.”
“Knew what?”
“About the pills.”
Laura’s face changed.
Daniel turned to Harris.
“He knew my prescription history.”
Harris’s attention sharpened.
“How?”
“Workplace medical paperwork.”
“Would he have access to it?”
“He shouldn’t.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Daniel thought about Gavin’s office, the unlocked file cabinets, the leave forms, injury reports, workers’ compensation records.
“Maybe.”
Harris reached for his radio.
Before he could speak, Daniel’s phone buzzed again.
This time the message contained no words.
It was a photograph.
Daniel opened it.
The picture showed his apartment door.
Not an old picture.
A grocery delivery bag sat beside the threshold, the same bag Daniel’s neighbor had texted him about that morning.
Below the image, Gavin had written one sentence.
If you want to know why I did it, come home alone.
For a moment, Daniel felt the old impulse take over.
Move first.
Fix it before anyone else could touch it.
Keep the mess contained until it looked less like a mess.
He reached for his coat.
Laura said, “No.”
Daniel stopped.
Harris lowered his radio.
“Mr. Mercer, you are not going to that apartment.”
“He’s there.”
“Possibly.”
“He sent a picture from my hallway.”
“That tells us where the phone taking the picture was when the photograph was made.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You think I care about the distinction?”
“You should.”
Harris pointed at the phone.
“He asked you to come alone after admitting knowledge of evidence connected to this situation.”
“I can get him talking.”
“Or you can destroy whatever chance there is of establishing what actually happened.”
That reached Daniel where warnings about danger did not.
He looked at Laura.
She had Owen tucked against her chest, and her face was still pale, but the fear in it had changed.
She was afraid for him now.
“Don’t go,” she said.
Daniel sat down.
The decision felt like failure for approximately three seconds.
Then Harris was speaking into his radio, Cynthia was calling hospital administration, and Mara was closing the blinds as though Gavin might somehow be watching from the parking garage.
Daniel forwarded the entire message thread to Harris.
He did not answer Gavin.
Twenty minutes later, two Columbus police officers arrived and took Daniel into a consultation room.
He told the truth badly.
He interrupted himself.
He forgot times and corrected them.
He admitted the old oxycodone problem before either officer asked.
He admitted lying to Laura about money.
He admitted losing his temper Monday night.
When one officer asked whether he had threatened Laura, Daniel said no, then sat with the question long enough to add, “I told her I couldn’t do this if she treated me like some addict every time I made a mistake.”
“What did you mean by ‘do this’?”
“Our marriage.”
The words embarrassed him.
He kept going.
“I wanted to hurt her feelings.”
The younger officer looked up from his notes.
“Did it work?”
Daniel rubbed his palms together.
“Yeah.”
He hated the answer.
It also felt cleaner than defending himself.
They asked about Gavin, the warehouse, Daniel’s injury, the medical paperwork, the overtime cuts, and whether Gavin had ever shown unusual interest in Laura.
Daniel said no until a memory made him stop.
At the company picnic, Gavin had asked Laura whether Daniel had told her about the promotion.
There had been no promotion.
Daniel had laughed it off as Gavin messing with him.
Later, Gavin had apologized and claimed he meant a possible lead position.
Daniel had forgotten about it because nothing came of it.
The older officer wrote that down.
“Any reason Cole would want you away from work?”
Daniel shook his head.
Then he thought about the overtime records.
“I complained about payroll.”
The officer waited.
“Three months ago, some guys started getting hours on their checks they hadn’t worked.”
“Extra money?”
“Then deductions the next pay period.”
Daniel had assumed payroll software was malfunctioning.
Gavin had told him corporate was correcting it.
Daniel had stopped asking when Owen’s birth got closer and his own hours were cut.
The officer did not tell him what that meant.
He only asked for names.
Daniel gave them.
By the time the interview ended, night had settled against the hospital windows.
No one had gone to Daniel’s apartment while he was being questioned.
Uniformed officers had gone instead.
Gavin was no longer there.
The grocery bag remained outside Daniel’s door.
A neighbor reported seeing a man leave through the rear stairwell.
That was all Daniel was told.
He returned to Laura’s room carrying the knowledge like a stone.
Mara had fallen asleep in the visitor chair with her mouth slightly open.
Laura was awake.
Owen slept in the bassinet beside her.
“Did they find him?” she asked.
“No.”
Laura looked toward the bassinet.
“So he’s out there.”
“Yeah.”
Daniel sat beside the window.
The hospital had become quieter.
Somewhere down the corridor, a newborn cried and was answered by a tired voice.
Laura said, “I’m sorry.”
Daniel looked at her.
“For what?”
“For believing him.”
“You believed what fit.”
“That’s not better.”
“No.”
She flinched slightly at the answer.
Daniel leaned forward.
“I gave him something to work with.”
“You didn’t make him come here.”
“No.”
“You didn’t make him fake that bottle.”
“No.”
“But?”
Daniel looked at his hands.
“But when somebody told you I was lying, you already knew I lied.”
Laura’s eyes filled.
Neither of them tried to rescue the other from that.
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The next morning, Gavin was arrested at a motel near the interstate.
Daniel learned the details in pieces over the following two days.
