Chương 6
Evelyn's breathing changed.
"Emily, I called because Harrison is missing from where security took him."
"He's with police."
"No, he isn't."
Ruiz looked up.
"What?"
I said.
"He left."
Ruiz stepped closer.
"How do you know?"
Evelyn heard him.
"Who's there?"
"Detective Ruiz."
Her tone changed immediately.
"Detective, I was told my husband was taken downstairs for questioning."
"He was."
"Then where is he?"
Ruiz moved toward the door.
"Stay on the line."
He left the room.
Dad followed to the threshold but didn't cross it.
I could hear Ruiz speaking quickly to someone in the hall.
Evelyn's voice came through my phone.
"Emily."
I almost hung up.
"What?"
"Is Thomas there?"
Dad looked at me.
"Yes."
"Put him on."
Dad shook his head.
I said, "He doesn't want to speak to you."
"Tell him this is about Daniel."
Dad's face changed.
"What about Daniel?"
Evelyn heard him.
"The letter."
Harrison had mentioned a letter.
The one his brother supposedly wrote naming Dad.
Dad stepped closer.
"What letter?"
Evelyn's voice lost some of its certainty.
"The one Daniel sent from Afghanistan."
"I never knew about a letter."
"Harrison has it."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Dad stared at the phone.
Evelyn continued.
"He keeps it in a safe at the office."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because yesterday Harrison accused Marcus of stealing it."
I felt something shift inside me.
Not understanding.
Direction.
"When did he notice it missing?"
I asked.
"Yesterday morning."
"Did Marcus admit taking it?"
"No."
"Then why did Harrison accuse him?"
Evelyn hesitated.
"Because the safe also contained financial records."
Dad and I looked at each other.
"What records?"
"Emily, this is company business."
I almost laughed.
"You called me."
She ignored that.
"Harrison has spent the last six months investigating payments Marcus authorized."
"To Northstar?"
The silence on the line was immediate and complete.
Dad stopped breathing for a second.
"How do you know that name?" Evelyn asked.
I didn't answer.
She recovered quickly.
"Who told you?"
"Marcus left spreadsheets open."
"Did you copy them?"
There was fear in her voice now.
Not fear for Marcus.
Fear of something broader.
"No."
She exhaled.
"Good."
Dad leaned toward the phone.
"Why good?"
Evelyn didn't respond.
Then she said, "Because those records are why Harrison wanted Marcus removed from the company."
The pieces began connecting, though not cleanly.
Marcus had claimed Harrison was trying to push him out.
That part might have been true.
But not because Harrison wanted more control.
Because Harrison had found something.
"Northstar bought vehicles from Dad," I said.
Evelyn went quiet again.
"What?"
"Two fleet vehicles."
"That doesn't make sense."
Dad said, "Colin Mercer signed."
This time we heard something fall on Evelyn's end.
Maybe a glass.
Maybe her phone shifting against a table.
"Colin?"
Her voice dropped.
"Are you sure?"
"I have invoices."
"Thomas, listen to me."
Dad went still.
"Don't go to your garage."
"Already handled."
"No."
Her voice cracked.
"I mean don't go anywhere alone."
That frightened me more than her threats had.
"Evelyn, what is Northstar?"
She didn't answer.
I heard footsteps on her end.
Then a door closing.
When she spoke again, her voice was lower.
"It was supposed to be a vendor."
"For what?"
"Security consulting."
"For Vance Holdings?"
"Yes."
"But?"
"We paid them for services that don't appear to exist."
Dad's face hardened.
"How much?"
"I don't know the final amount."
"Ballpark."
"Nearly four million dollars over three years."
My stomach dropped.
Four million dollars.
This was no longer about Marcus padding an expense account.
"Who approved it?"
I asked.
"Marcus."
"And Harrison found out."
"Eventually."
"Why didn't he go to police?"
Evelyn's answer came slowly.
"Because he wanted to know how much damage there was before he destroyed his son."
There it was.
The Vance family disease in one sentence.
Protect first.
Consequences later.
Maybe.
Dad looked away.
"What does Daniel's letter have to do with any of this?"
"I don't know."
Evelyn sounded genuinely frightened now.
"Harrison started reading it again after he found the payments."
"Why?"
"He wouldn't tell me."
Ruiz came back into the room.
His face was tight.
"Harrison didn't leave voluntarily."
The words cut through everything.
Evelyn heard them.
"What does that mean?"
Ruiz looked at me, then Dad.
"A man wearing hospital transport scrubs signed him out of the interview area saying his physician needed him upstairs."
Dad said, "And someone believed that?"
Ruiz's jaw tightened.
"He had hospital credentials."
Colin.
Nobody said the name.
We didn't need to.
Ruiz took my phone.
"Mrs. Vance, stay where you are."
Evelyn snapped, "Don't order me around."
"Then consider it strong advice."
He ended the call before she could argue.
Dad moved toward the door.
Ruiz blocked him again.
"No."
"He's been taken."
"I know."
"Then move."
"Thomas."
Dad's face was different now.
Not angry.
Terrified.
Harrison had become connected to Daniel, to a battlefield Dad never discussed, to a promise or memory buried for thirty years.
That connection had changed something.
I saw it happen.
Ruiz saw it too.
"You cannot help Harrison by becoming the second missing person."
Dad looked ready to ignore him.
So I said the only thing I knew would stop him.
"If you leave, I'm alone."
He turned.
The sentence hurt both of us.
I hated using Lily and myself as an anchor.
I hated that it worked.
Dad came back to the bed.
He sat heavily.
"That's dirty."
"I learned from professionals."
His mouth twitched.
Then my phone vibrated in Ruiz's hand.
A new photograph appeared.
This one showed Harrison sitting in a chair beneath harsh fluorescent lights.
His wrists were tied in front of him.
There was blood on his shirt collar.
In his lap lay a folded sheet of yellowed paper.
Dad stood so fast the chair scraped backward.
Beneath the photograph was another message.
May you like
Thomas Hale knows what the letter means.
And for the first time since this began, Dad looked more afraid of the letter than of the man holding Harrison.
