Chapter 10 - Someone Was Still Watching Them
The package was small.
Brown paper.
Twine.
No postage.
Someone had placed it directly outside Gabriel's townhouse.
Sarah stared at it from across the room.
Lucy sat beside Adrian eating grilled cheese.
"Mama, you're back."
Sarah hugged her so tightly Lucy complained.
"I can't breathe."
"Sorry."
She didn't loosen her grip immediately.
Gabriel placed the package on the table.
Victor and Antonio had not been brought to the townhouse.
That had been Sarah's decision.
One impossible reunion at a time.
The handwriting on the package looked like Daniel's.
But handwriting could be copied.
Sarah knew that now.
"Open it," she said.
Gabriel cut the twine.
Inside was a children's book.
The Little Prince.
Daniel's favorite.
Sarah's eyes filled.
"He read this to Lucy."
Inside the cover was a handwritten message.
For my little star.
If you're reading this with your mom, then she finally knows enough to be angry with me.
Sarah laughed once through tears.
Lucy climbed onto a chair.
"That's Daddy's writing."
Sarah nodded.
Gabriel turned the page.
A photograph fell out.
A lighthouse.
Same one as Antonio's postcard.
On the back:
Cape Elizabeth. Locker 14.
Sarah stared.
"Maine."
Gabriel nodded.
There was also a date.
Three months ago.
Sarah stopped breathing.
"No."
Gabriel examined it.
"Could be fake."
She grabbed it.
"It's his handwriting."
"So was the package."
"Three months."
Her eyes filled.
"If Daniel wrote this three months ago—"
Lucy looked confused.
"Mama?"
Sarah stopped.
How did you tell a seven-year-old that her dead father might not be dead?
You didn't.
Not until you knew.
Gabriel understood.
"Lucy, your dad left your mom a puzzle."
She brightened.
"Daddy liked puzzles."
"So I've heard."
Sarah looked at him gratefully.
Adrian entered.
"Security footage."
They watched a figure approach the townhouse.
Baseball cap.
Dark jacket.
Face never visible.
He left the package and walked away.
"Can we track him?" Gabriel asked.
"Already trying."
Sarah turned the lighthouse photograph over again.
"Locker 14."
Gabriel shook his head.
"We're not going."
She laughed.
"We both know I'm going."
"Then we're not going yet."
"Why?"
"Because somebody wants us to."
Sarah stared.
"And someone wanted us at Laurel & Vine."
"Exactly."
"Which led us to the truth."
"Part of it."
Gabriel took the photograph.
"Daniel spent years creating layers."
"Maybe because he knew people like you would overthink everything."
Gabriel almost smiled.
"Daniel used to tell me that."
Sarah froze.
"What?"
"He said, 'Gabe, someday you'll overthink yourself into an early grave.'"
Sarah laughed unexpectedly.
It was the first time Gabriel had heard her laugh without bitterness.
Lucy smiled.
"Daddy said Mama thinks too much too."
Sarah wiped her eyes.
"Your father was apparently very opinionated."
For one brief minute, Daniel was not a mystery.
He was simply Daniel.
A husband.
A friend.
A father.
Then Adrian's laptop chimed.
"Got him."
Gabriel moved closer.
"The package courier?"
"Maybe."
Traffic camera footage.
The figure walked six blocks.
Entered a subway station.
Removed the cap.
Sarah gasped.
She knew that face.
Mr. Keller.
Her landlord.
"No."
Adrian enlarged the image.
"That's your landlord?"
Sarah nodded.
"Why would he have Daniel's package?"
Gabriel picked up his coat.
"We ask him."
They found Keller at Sarah's apartment building.
He didn't run.
Didn't deny it.
In fact, when Gabriel entered the laundromat downstairs, Keller looked relieved.
"Finally."
Sarah stepped in behind him.
"What did you do?"
Keller stared.
"Mrs. Mercer."
"Why did you deliver that package?"
He looked toward Gabriel.
"Because Daniel paid me."
Sarah's world shifted again.
"When?"
"Five years ago."
"What?"
Keller sat heavily.
"He came to me before you moved into the building."
Sarah stared.
"We moved here after he died."
"I know."
"Daniel chose this apartment?"
"Yes."
Sarah's knees weakened.
Keller continued.
"He gave me cash for five years of reduced rent."
Sarah thought of all the times Keller had ignored late payments.
All the repairs done despite her inability to pay.
"You told me the building had rent-control assistance."
"I lied."
Tears filled his eyes.
"Your husband asked me to."
Sarah sat.
"Why the package now?"
"He gave me instructions."
"What instructions?"
"If anyone named Gabriel Vale ever visited your apartment, I was supposed to wait twenty-four hours and deliver it."
Gabriel looked at Sarah.
Daniel had planned this years ago.
The heating failure?
"Did you break my heat?"
Keller looked offended.
"No."
"Management company?"
"I sold the building six months ago."
"To Kestrel."
He nodded.
"I didn't know who they were."
Gabriel's expression darkened.
So someone else had pushed Sarah out into the rain.
But Daniel had independently arranged for Gabriel's appearance to trigger the Maine clue.
Two plans had collided.
"Did Daniel tell you where he was going?" Sarah asked.
"No."
"Did you ever hear from him again?"
Keller hesitated.
Sarah noticed.
"What?"
"Once."
"When?"
"About a year after his death."
Sarah gripped the chair.
"What did he say?"
"Nothing."
"What do you mean?"
"I received cash."
"From where?"
"No return address."
"How do you know it was Daniel?"
Keller stood and retrieved an old envelope.
Inside was a note.
Keep them warm.
D.
Sarah closed her eyes.
A year after Daniel supposedly died.
Another sign of life.
Gabriel asked, "Anything since?"
Keller shook his head.
Then paused.
"Except..."
Sarah stared.
"Stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Saying 'except' five seconds after telling me nothing happened."
Keller looked embarrassed.
"Someone called me last week."
"Who?"
"A man."
"Name?"
"Didn't give one."
"What did he want?"
"He asked if Lucy still had the rabbit."
Gabriel and Sarah looked at each other.
The USB.
"Description?"
"Just a voice."
"What did you tell him?"
"Nothing."
Keller swallowed.
"Then yesterday the building heat system failed."
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"Someone forced Sarah toward Laurel & Vine."
Keller looked confused.
"Why?"
Gabriel didn't answer.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Adrian.
They had traced the company that recently bought the apartment building.
Kestrel Property Services was owned by another shell corporation.
That corporation had one registered representative.
Thomas Reynolds.
Sarah stared at the screen.
"It was him."
Gabriel nodded.
"Reynolds wanted you in the restaurant."
"Why?"
"Maybe he wanted us to find locker 311."
"Then why hide?"
"Because Victor found him."
Sarah shook her head.
"Or because he's manipulating everyone."
Gabriel couldn't argue.
Lucy, who had been drawing at a small table, suddenly spoke.
"Mr. Restaurant isn't bad."
Everyone looked at her.
Sarah crouched.
"How do you know?"
Lucy shrugged.
"Daddy said."
Sarah's breath caught.
"When?"
"In my dream."
Sarah's shoulders dropped.
Children dreamed.
That wasn't evidence.
Lucy continued.
"Daddy said if the restaurant man looks scared, give him the blue button."
Sarah froze.
"What blue button?"
Lucy pointed to her yellow raincoat hanging near the door.
One button was blue.
Sarah stared.
She'd bought the coat secondhand two years ago.
"That wasn't Daddy's."
Lucy shook her head.
"Mr. Keller gave it to me."
Keller looked startled.
"I found that coat in storage."
Gabriel approached.
The blue button was larger than the others.
He twisted it.
The plastic separated.
Inside sat a microSD card.
Everyone went silent.
Sarah looked at Keller.
"Did you know?"
"No."
Gabriel placed the card into Adrian's reader.
One file.
Video.
Date-stamped six days earlier.
Sarah stopped breathing.
Gabriel clicked play.
Daniel Mercer appeared on screen.
Older.
Bearded.
Alive.
Sarah made a sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh.
Lucy stared.
"Daddy."
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
"Sarah."
She covered her mouth.
"If you're watching this, I'm sorry it took so long."
Gabriel sat down.
Daniel continued.
"I can't come home yet."
Sarah began crying.
"But I'm close."
Lucy whispered, "Daddy."
Daniel looked tired.
"I need you to trust one person."
Sarah turned toward Gabriel.
But Daniel didn't say his name.
"Thomas Reynolds."
Gabriel froze.
Sarah stared at the screen.
Daniel continued:
"If Thomas looks like he's running, he's doing exactly what I asked."
Gabriel whispered, "What the hell, Daniel?"
The video continued.
"Do not follow him."
Too late.
"Do not go to Maine."
Sarah looked at the lighthouse photograph.
"And whatever Gabriel tells you..."
A pause.
"...make sure he hears the whole story before he decides which man deserves his anger."
The screen went black.
Sarah sat in stunned silence.
Then a second file appeared automatically.
Audio only.
Daniel's voice.
"Gabriel, if you're there, I need you to know something about your father."
Gabriel stopped breathing.
"Antonio didn't abandon you."
A pause.
"You abandoned him."
The file ended.
Gabriel stared at the blank screen.
Sarah looked toward him.
"What does that mean?"
Gabriel had no answer.
But somewhere in Philadelphia, Thomas Reynolds was still executing Daniel Mercer's plan.
May you like
And Daniel himself had been alive six days ago.
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