Chương 5
His voice dropped.
“She was holding her side.”
I looked at the table.
I already knew that part.
Hearing it from someone else made it feel new.
“Did anyone help her?”
Evan shook his head.
“People pretended not to notice.”
That sentence angered me more than if he had told me they laughed.
Cruelty was one thing.
Permission was another.
“What changed now?”
Evan looked at me for several seconds.
“You came into the gym.”
I said nothing.
“He told everybody you were some old guy trying to intimidate him.”
“That’s probably how it looked.”
Evan almost smiled.
“Maybe.”
Then his face changed again.
“After you left, Dustin started freaking out.”
“About what?”
“He asked who had talked to Marcy.”
I leaned back.
“He thought someone had.”
“He knew.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Evan rubbed the coffee sleeve until it tore.
“He started asking about security footage.”
That got my attention.
“What footage?”
“The gym has cameras.”
“Inside the office?”
“No.”
“Hallway?”
“Yes.”
My pulse changed.
Not because a camera solved anything.
A hallway could not show what happened behind a closed door.
But it could establish time.
People.
Movement.
Maybe condition.
“Does the footage still exist?”
Evan looked away.
“That’s why I messaged you.”
I waited.
“Dustin told the manager to delete recordings from certain dates.”
“When?”
“The day after you came in.”
I felt something cold settle behind my ribs.
“Did the manager do it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who manages the system?”
“Guy named Neil Carter.”
“Employee?”
“Yeah.”
“Will he talk?”
Evan laughed once.
“No chance.”
“Why?”
“Victor pays him.”
That did not mean impossible.
It meant difficult.
I looked at Evan.
“Do you have proof Dustin asked for deletion?”
“No.”
“Did anyone else hear him?”
“Coach did.”
“The owner?”
“Rick.”
“So Rick knows.”
“Rick knows a lot.”
That sounded less like information and more like warning.
“What are you afraid of, Evan?”
His eyes met mine.
“Victor.”
“Specifically?”
“He ruins people.”
“How?”
“Jobs disappear.”
He counted on his fingers without seeming to notice.
“Leases get complicated.”
“Cars get vandalized.”
“Somebody’s ex suddenly hears things.”
“Nothing you can prove.”
That was familiar.
Not organized crime in the movie sense.
Something more boring.
More effective.
A network of favors, pressure, and plausible deniability.
“Has he threatened you?”
“Not directly.”
“Then what?”
Evan looked at his coffee.
“My brother got fired yesterday.”
That explained the timing.
“From Victor’s warehouse?”
“Yeah.”
“Reason?”
“Attendance.”
“Was he missing work?”
“Twice in six months.”
“Enough under company policy?”
“I don’t know.”
Evan’s mouth tightened.
“Dustin asked me the day before if I’d been talking.”
I sat back.
“Were you?”
“No.”
That bothered me.
If Evan was telling the truth, someone had started looking for leaks before there was one.
“Did Dustin say who he thought you were talking to?”
“No.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Evan closed his eyes for a second.
“He said, ‘People who forget who helped them shouldn’t expect help twice.’”
That sounded like a message meant to travel.
I took out a small notebook.
Evan stiffened.
“I’m not giving you a statement.”
“I didn’t ask for one.”
“What are you writing?”
“Dates.”
He watched me.
“Why?”
“Because memory changes.”
He looked toward the door.
“You were military, right?”
“Yes.”
“Marines?”
“Yes.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Dustin says you trained killers.”
I almost laughed.
“That sounds like Dustin.”
“What did you actually do?”
“Taught people how not to panic when somebody was trying to hurt them.”
Evan considered that.
“That’s not how he tells it.”
“I’m learning that Dustin likes his version of things.”
For the first time, Evan relaxed slightly.
Then his phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen and went rigid.
“Who is it?”
He stood.
“I have to go.”
“Evan.”
“I shouldn’t have come.”
“You already did.”
He stared at me.
“Don’t use my name.”
“I won’t without talking to you first.”
“I mean it.”
“So do I.”
He hesitated.
Then he reached into his pocket and put a small flash drive on the table.
I looked at it.
“What’s this?”
“Something Neil gave me months ago.”
“Why?”
“He was drunk.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
Evan glanced around the coffee shop.
“He thought it was funny.”
“What is it?”
“Backup.”
My heartbeat slowed.
The dangerous moments were usually the ones that made people rush.
“What kind of backup?”
“Camera clips.”
“From the gym?”
“Yes.”
“Which dates?”
“I don’t know all of them.”
“Did you watch it?”
“Some.”
His face had gone tight again.
“Is Marcy on it?”
Evan looked at me.
“Yes.”
I did not touch the drive.
Not yet.
“Why would Neil give this to you?”
“He wanted help fixing his laptop.”
“That still doesn’t make sense.”
“He copied stuff before Victor’s accountant came in to replace the recorder.”
“Why?”
“I told you.”
Evan looked frustrated.
“He thought it was funny.”
“What was funny?”
“Victor telling everybody the old system had failed.”
That was different.
A man secretly preserving footage from a supposedly failed surveillance system was not harmless.
“Did Neil know what he had?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does Victor know this exists?”
“I really hope not.”
His phone buzzed again.
This time he did not look.
“Take it.”
I still did not reach for it.
“If this belongs to Neil, taking it could create problems.”
“It’s a copy.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I made another one.”
That surprised me.
Evan gave me a tired look.
“I’m scared, Mr. Mercer.”
“Daniel.”
“Whatever.”
His voice broke slightly.
“I’m scared, and I’m tired of pretending I’m not.”
Then he walked out.
I sat there staring at the flash drive.
Every instinct I had told me to plug it into a computer immediately.
Instead, I called Marcy.
“I met Evan.”
There was a long silence.
“What did he say?”
“Enough.”
“Dad.”
“I need to ask you something first.”
“What?”
“Do you want to know what the gym cameras recorded?”
She did not answer.
I could hear traffic on her end.
Then a car horn.
May you like
Then her breathing.
“Are there cameras inside the office?”
