Chương 4
Lauren was not supposed to know he had copied anything.
Lauren was supposed to be at work, sitting behind a glass wall somewhere, managing a crisis that apparently included him.
He looked across the street.
Tom’s house was dark except for the kitchen light.
Daniel folded the note and walked over before he could talk himself out of it.
Tom opened the door wearing an old baseball cap and a sweatshirt that had probably been his favorite for ten years.
“You got it,” Tom said.
Daniel stopped.
“You knew?”
Tom looked uncomfortable.
“I put it there because I didn’t want to make a bigger thing out of it.”
“You wrote Lauren’s name.”
“I saw her car.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
Daniel stared at him.
Tom rubbed the back of his neck.
“Look, I know how it sounds.”
“It sounds like you saw my mailbox being opened and decided to leave a mysterious note instead of calling me.”
Tom winced.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because I wasn’t sure what I saw.”
That answer irritated Daniel because it sounded exactly like something he would say.
He had spent his entire career living in the space between certainty and suspicion.
Tom stepped outside and closed the door behind him.
“She parked near your house around midnight.”
“Lauren?”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
Tom sighed.
“I’m sixty-two, Daniel, not a private investigator.”
Daniel looked away.
The street was quiet.
A sprinkler clicked somewhere down the block.
A dog barked twice and then stopped.
Normal things.
Things that made the situation feel even more unreal.
“What exactly did you see?”
Tom looked toward Daniel’s house.
“She walked to your mailbox.”
“And?”
“She opened it.”
“Did she take anything?”
“I couldn’t see.”
“Then why write the note?”
“Because she shouldn’t have been there.”
Daniel did not have an answer for that.
Tom had always been the kind of neighbor who knew everyone’s routines without being intrusive.
He collected packages for people when they were out of town.
He shoveled sidewalks after snowstorms even though nobody asked.
He complained about teenagers leaving trash near the curb but remembered every kid’s birthday on the street.
He was not someone Daniel expected to become part of an investigation.
“Did you tell anyone else?” Daniel asked.
Tom shook his head.
“No.”
“Why tell me now?”
Tom looked at him for a long moment.
“Because yesterday you looked like a man who had been hit by a truck and was still standing because nobody had told him he was allowed to fall.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Almost.
“That’s a strange way to describe someone.”
“I’m an old man.”
“You’re not that old.”
“I own three different containers for screws because I forget where I put them.”
“That’s not age.”
“That’s wisdom.”
Daniel gave a quiet laugh.
It disappeared quickly.
Tom noticed.
“You’re scared.”
Daniel looked at him.
“I’m angry.”
“Those two things usually travel together.”
The sentence stayed with him.
On the drive home, Daniel called Marcus.
Marcus answered immediately.
“Tell me something happened.”
“How did you know?”
“Because you only call twice in one day when something got worse.”
Daniel gripped the steering wheel.
“My manager came to my house.”
There was silence.
“Are you sure?”
“My neighbor saw her.”
“Doing what?”
“Going through my mailbox.”
Marcus did not respond for several seconds.
Then his voice changed.
“Daniel, where are the copies?”
At that moment, Daniel felt something cold move through him.
Not panic.
Recognition.
The copies.
He had forgotten about them.
Not because they were unimportant.
Because he had been focused on the company, the meeting, Rachel’s reaction, and the humiliation of standing outside his workplace like a stranger.
The copies were still where he had left them.
Hidden in the bottom drawer of his home office.
“Daniel?”
“They’re at my house.”
“Are they encrypted?”
“No.”
“Are they locked?”
“No.”
Marcus exhaled.
“That is a problem.”
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”
Daniel pulled into his driveway.
“I’m looking at my house right now.”
“Do not go inside.”
The instruction came so quickly that Daniel stopped moving.
“What?”
“Do not go inside until you know whether anyone else has been there.”
“That’s my house.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
Marcus lowered his voice.
“I understand exactly what you’re feeling.”
Daniel stared through the windshield.
“You’re angry because someone crossed a line.”
“Yes.”
“But if someone is willing to cross that line, you need to stop thinking like a person who believes the rules are protecting him.”
The words bothered Daniel because part of him knew Marcus was right.
That did not make them easier to hear.
Rachel called while he was still sitting in the car.
He almost ignored it.
Then he answered.
“Hey.”
“You’re home?”
“Yes.”
“You sound weird.”
Daniel looked at the front door.
“I need you to do something.”
Rachel became quiet.
“What happened?”
“I need you to come outside.”
“Daniel.”
“Please.”
She did not ask again.
Two minutes later, she walked out carrying her phone and wearing the sweater she always wore when she was cold.
“What’s going on?”
Daniel handed her the note.
She read it.
Her face changed slowly.
Not fear.
Not disbelief.
Calculation.
That was one of the reasons he loved her.
Rachel was not someone who reacted loudly.
She absorbed.
She measured.
She waited.
“Did you go inside?” she asked.
“No.”
“Good.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You too?”
“What?”
“You and Marcus both said the same thing.”
“Because it’s obvious.”
“It wasn’t obvious to me.”
Rachel folded the note.
“That’s because you still think this is about proving you’re right.”
Daniel felt the sentence land harder than he expected.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re still trying to win an argument nobody is having.”
She looked toward the house.
“Someone is trying to find something.”
The street suddenly felt different.
The house that had represented safety for eleven years looked unfamiliar.
Daniel hated that.
He hated that a place could change without moving.
May you like
Rachel stepped closer.
“What else haven’t you told me?”
