Chương 10
The note made no sense until I remembered the morning Logan was born.
David had handled the paperwork because I had been awake for twenty-six hours and could barely keep my eyes open.
I remembered him sitting beside the hospital window with a clipboard balanced on one knee while I tried to breastfeed a furious six-pound baby who seemed personally offended by existence.
He had asked me how to spell my middle name.
I had thrown a pillow at him.
“Changed how?”
Sergeant Hall looked at the note again.
“That’s all it says.”
I turned toward Alessandro.
His face had tightened.
“You know.”
“No.”
“Don’t.”
“I don’t know what she means.”
Marco looked at him.
“He’s telling the truth.”
I hated that I had started recognizing their lies separately.
“Then David knows.”
Hall said, “We need to find him first.”
My phone rang again.
Everyone froze.
Unknown number.
Hall answered on speaker.
“David?”
Maya’s voice came through instead.
“Catherine?”
I grabbed the edge of the bed.
“Maya.”
She was crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“Where are you?”
“I got out.”
“Where is David?”
A siren wailed somewhere behind her.
“I don’t know.”
“What happened?”
“Peter took him through the back exit.”
Marco said, “Which facility?”
“Glen Burnie.”
Hall was already moving toward the door.
Maya continued.
“David told me to call you.”
“Where are you?”
“Gas station on Aviation Boulevard.”
“Stay there.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“They’re looking for me.”
Sergeant Hall took over.
“Maya, go inside, tell the clerk to lock the door, and stay visible.”
There was a pause.
“Who is this?”
“Baltimore Police.”
“Oh.”
It was the smallest, most human sound I had heard all night.
Maya sniffed.
“Okay.”
I said, “Maya.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
She started crying harder.
“I really am sorry.”
I looked through the glass toward the room where Logan slept.
“I’m not ready to talk about that.”
“Okay.”
“But stay alive.”
Another pause.
“I’ll try.”
The call ended.
Hall left with the younger officer.
Marco followed.
Vance started after them.
I caught his sleeve.
“You stay.”
He looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because I still have questions.”
Dr. Patel appeared in the doorway.
“So does his physician.”
He pointed at Alessandro.
“And my question is why all of you are still here.”
I stepped away from the bed.
“Fine.”
Alessandro spoke before I reached the door.
“Catherine.”
I turned.
His eyes were heavy.
“If David comes back, don’t believe everything he tells you.”
I almost laughed.
“That advice is about two years late.”
His mouth tightened.
“I mean about Logan.”
The room went quiet.
I stared at him.
“What do you know?”
“Nothing certain.”
“Then what?”
He looked toward Vance.
Vance’s face had gone pale.
I followed Alessandro’s gaze.
“What?”
Vance said, “David asked me to alter a hospital record.”
My whole body went cold.
“What record?”
“Logan’s birth certificate application.”
I could hear the monitor behind me.
“That is not something a federal agent does.”
“No.”
“What did he ask you to change?”
Vance hesitated.
“The father’s identifying information.”
I stared at him.
“David is Logan’s father.”
“Yes.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
“I know.”
“Then why change it?”
“To remove one identifier.”
“What identifier?”
“His Social Security number.”
I blinked.
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
The anger left almost as quickly as it came.
“That’s what Marlene meant?”
Vance shook his head.
“I don’t think so.”
Of course not.
Nothing tonight was allowed to be simple.
He rubbed his face.
“David later asked whether the certificate could be amended again.”
“For what?”
“He wanted Logan’s surname changed.”
My throat tightened.
“To what?”
“He never told me.”
“Why?”
“He said if things went wrong, the name Winters would become dangerous.”
I closed my eyes.
Not a secret father.
Not another betrayal.
Just David trying to erase himself from his son before anyone else could.
It should have comforted me.
Instead, it made me furious all over again.
“He planned to erase Logan’s name without telling me.”
Vance said nothing.
“Everybody keeps calling that protection.”
Still nothing.
I went to the room where Logan slept.
Renee sat in a chair beside him.
She looked up.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
I sat on the edge of the second bed.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
Logan had kicked off one sneaker.
Renee picked it up and placed it beneath the chair.
“I’m going to quit,” I said.
She looked at me.
“Tonight?”
“Probably not the ideal time to submit notice.”
“No.”
“I also might be fired.”
“That would be convenient.”
I laughed.
It came out tired.
Renee smiled.
“See?”
“What?”
“Still alive.”
I hated the phrase.
But I understood what she meant.
Twenty-three minutes later, Sergeant Hall called.
They had reached the storage facility.
Peter was gone.
David was not.
There was blood inside the unit.
Not much.
Enough.
A vehicle had been taken from the lot.
The police had the plate.
I stood in the hall and listened without interrupting.
When Hall finished, I asked the only question that mattered.
“Do you think he’s alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Peter could have killed him there.”
The logic was terrible.
It was also all I had.
Marco returned an hour later.
His coat was gone.
There was blood on one cuff of his shirt.
“Whose?”
“Not mine.”
“That is not reassuring.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be.”
He sat heavily in a chair across from me.
“Peter contacted Alessandro.”
“What does he want?”
“The original ledger.”
“David said it was in the storage unit.”
“No.”
Marco looked at me.
“The unit was a decoy.”
I stared.
“Then where is it?”
“He thinks you know.”
I laughed.
“Of course he does.”
Marco leaned forward.
“Catherine, think.”
“I have been thinking since two in the morning.”
“Did David leave anything unusual?”
“He left an entire fake corpse.”
“Before that.”
I glared at him.
He waited.
Something surfaced.
Not dramatic.
May you like
Not hidden in a safe.
A stupid object I had moved three times because I could never decide whether to throw it away.
