Chương 6
He had kissed her cheek and said that was why women were smarter.
The clerk frowned.
“We have a Second Chance.”
Margaret’s pulse quickened.
“Owner?”
“Can’t give you that.”
“Slip?”
“Can’t give you that either.”
Margaret put both hands on the counter.
“My husband has been dead for five years.”
The clerk blinked.
“Okay.”
“He may own that boat.”
“Okay.”
“And he may not be dead.”
The clerk stared.
Margaret sighed.
“I realize how that sounds.”
“Yeah.”
“Call the police.”
“What?”
“Call them. Tell them Margaret Collins is here.”
She gave Hernandez’s number.
The clerk did not move.
Margaret said, “Please.”
He called.
Twenty-three minutes later, Hernandez arrived furious.
Not shouting.
Worse.
“Mrs. Collins, what part of an active investigation suggested to you that visiting an unknown location alone was a good idea?”
Margaret sat on a plastic chair outside the marina office.
“The part where everybody kept telling me nothing.”
“I told you we were investigating.”
“That’s what people say when they want you to sit quietly.”
“Sometimes sitting quietly keeps people alive.”
Margaret looked at her.
“Is Daniel under arrest?”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“I’m not discussing that.”
“Then I’m not discussing the boat.”
Hernandez stared at her.
Margaret stared back.
Finally Hernandez rubbed her forehead.
“I have a twelve-year-old daughter.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It is. I’m beginning to understand her better.”
Margaret almost smiled.
Hernandez sat beside her.
“Cross is cooperating. We have not charged him.”
“Do you believe him?”
“Parts.”
“Which parts?”
“The parts supported by evidence.”
Margaret nodded toward the marina.
“The boat is supported by evidence.”
“Yes.”
“So let’s go.”
The Second Chance was uglier than Margaret remembered.
Time had not improved it.
The hull had been repainted dark gray, but blue showed through scratches near the stern.
Hernandez brought another officer.
The marina manager opened the boat after confirming police authority and making several phone calls.
Inside, they found no Thomas.
They found evidence that someone had been living there recently.
Canned soup.
Coffee.
Men’s clothes.
Prescription reading glasses.
A paperback mystery novel.
Margaret picked it up before Hernandez could stop her.
A receipt served as a bookmark.
Thomas always did that.
He refused proper bookmarks because, according to him, receipts were free.
The receipt was from four days earlier.
Margaret sat down.
“He was here.”
Hernandez photographed the book.
There was a laptop beneath the bunk.
Locked.
A stack of papers sat inside a waterproof bag.
Bank records.
Invoices.
Names.
Companies.
Dates stretching back more than a decade.
Hernandez stopped Margaret from reading further.
“This is evidence now.”
“It’s my husband’s.”
“That doesn’t make it yours.”
Margaret laughed bitterly.
“Apparently nothing about my husband belongs to me.”
A sound came from the dock.
Footsteps.
Hernandez turned.
Daniel Cross stood at the end of the slip.
Margaret’s anger returned instantly.
“How did you find us?”
Daniel held up his phone.
“Thomas told me about the boat too.”
Hernandez stepped onto the dock.
“You were told not to interfere.”
“I’m not interfering.”
“You’re standing at an active search.”
“Fair point.”
“Leave.”
Daniel looked past her at Margaret.
“I know where Thomas is going.”
Margaret stood.
Hernandez did not move.
“Explain.”
Daniel took something from his pocket slowly.
A folded sheet of paper.
“Thomas mailed this to my office. My assistant opened it this morning.”
Hernandez took it.
Margaret watched her read.
“What?”
Hernandez handed it to her.
The handwriting was Thomas’s.
Daniel—
If I disappear before I can finish this, Owens found me.
Do not bring Margaret into it unless there is no other choice.
If there is no other choice, she will understand the boat.
Tell her I’m sorry about Hannah.
She’ll know why.
D.C.
Union Station.
Locker 317.
Margaret read the final line twice.
“Another 317.”
Daniel nodded.
“The hotel room was a pointer.”
Hernandez looked at him. “And the brass key?”
“Train-station locker, maybe.”
“The key is in evidence.”
“I know.”
Hernandez was already making a call.
Margaret stared at Thomas’s apology.
Sorry about Hannah.
She knew why.
Thomas and Hannah’s last serious argument had happened three weeks before his death.
Hannah had discovered irregular transfers from an account Thomas maintained for his business.
She had been studying forensic accounting at the time.
Thomas accused her of snooping.
Hannah accused him of hiding money from Margaret.
The argument became vicious.
Hannah left.
Thomas refused to apologize.
Then he died.
Margaret had spent five years resenting Hannah slightly for making one of Thomas’s final weeks miserable.
Now she understood.
Hannah had seen something.
Thomas had pushed her away because she was getting close.
Margaret sat on the boat.
“He did it on purpose.”
Daniel looked at her.
“He made Hannah hate him.”
No one answered.
Margaret took out her phone.
Hannah answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“At the marina.”
“You promised to send the location.”
“I forgot.”
“You forgot?”
“I’m having a complicated morning.”
“Mom.”
“Hannah, what did you find in your father’s accounts before he died?”
Silence.
“What?”
“The transfers you argued about.”
“How do you know about that?”
“He mentioned it.”
“Dad?”
“In a letter.”
Hannah breathed out slowly.
“I thought he was hiding money from you.”
“Was he?”
“I don’t know. There were payments routed through his company. Same amounts going in and out. Vendor accounts that didn’t make sense.”
“Do you remember the names?”
“One.”
Margaret waited.
“Northstar Mechanical.”
Daniel’s head rose.
Margaret looked at him.
He whispered, “That was Owens’s client.”
Hannah heard.
“Who’s there?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Daniel.”
“Who is Daniel?”
“The man I slapped.”
“You slapped somebody?”
“It’s not important.”
“Mom, in what universe is that not important?”
Despite everything, Margaret smiled.
Hannah was quiet.
Then she said, “I’m coming down.”
“No.”
“Don’t start.”
“I mean it.”
“So do I.”
Margaret almost argued.
Then she stopped.
Hannah had been excluded once already.
By Thomas.
Margaret would not repeat it.
“Take the train,” she said. “Don’t drive tired.”
Hannah arrived in Washington shortly after noon.
May you like
By then federal investigators had become involved.
Margaret sat in a plain conference room inside a government building she was not supposed to describe to anyone. She had signed forms she barely understood and answered the same questions three times.
