Chapter 15 - The Safe With Two Keys
Nathan's office occupied the top floor of a renovated brick mill across town. Owen had a master access card. The safe itself required Nathan's key and a numerical code Owen had helped him choose.
"He knows both," Nathan said when Moreno asked. "I changed the key months ago, but he might have copied it."
Moreno sent officers to secure the building and asked Nathan to come identify the contents. She wouldn't let me join them. For once, I was relieved.
From my hospital bed, I watched the minutes crawl by. Mia slept in the chair beside me. Dad sat across from us with a paper cup of coffee he never drank.
"You should go home," I told him.
"I will. Eventually."
"That's not an answer."
"You got that from your mother."
A little silence settled between us. Then Dad leaned forward.
"I met Rosa Alvarez's daughter last month," he said. "Her name is Daniela. She asked me why I hadn't questioned the relocation paperwork. I couldn't give her a decent answer."
"Did you apologize?"
"Yes. She told me an apology doesn't bring back her mother."
"She was right."
"I know."
His acceptance didn't erase what he'd done. But for the first time I thought he might be learning how to carry it without hiding.
Nathan called at 3:26 p.m. The office had been searched. The safe was open, and the files inside were gone. A laptop had been smashed. A drawer stood empty where Nathan kept old insurance reports.
"Owen got there first?" I asked.
"It looks like it. But there's something he missed."
Nathan told me that when we'd first moved into our apartment, I'd teased him for keeping every receipt. He still had paper copies of the safe inventory, signed on the day the records were deposited. One page listed an external audit drive with a serial number. The drive was absent from the safe.
That meant whoever took it knew exactly what to remove.
"Did the cameras catch anyone?" I asked.
"A person used Celeste's access pass at 2:11. The pass had been reported missing earlier today."
May you like
Then Nathan lowered his voice.
"Evie, there's a note in the safe. It's addressed to you."
