Chapter 16 - The Letter He Left for Me

The note was written in blue ink on the back of a Mercer Foundation invitation. Owen's handwriting leaned hard to the right, just as it had on every birthday card he'd ever sent me.

YOU WANTED THE TRUTH. COME TO THE OLD FERRY OFFICE AT SIX, ALONE. THE AUDIT GOES WITH ME IF YOU DON'T.

Moreno called it bait. I called it what it was: a man with no good options trying to make a wounded woman do something foolish.

"I'm not going," I said.

Nathan looked relieved. Then I added, "But I am giving you everything I remember about that building."

At the clinic I'd been studying the original service contracts. Northline had performed more than fake inspections. It had billed for transporting fire-door hardware that never arrived. A second company, Harbor Capital Services, had purchased an option on the damaged property days before the fire.

"Who owns Harbor Capital?" Nathan asked.

"A trust Owen controls. He stood to profit if the building was declared uninhabitable."

I heard Nathan swear softly. "He told me the purchase would help residents recover."

"He lied to everyone he needed," I said.

Moreno sought a warrant to search the ferry office and recover the audit. She warned us that a location alone did not prove Owen had the drive, but the note and other evidence gave investigators a reason to act quickly.

Celeste's statement changed that afternoon. Confronted with Mia's picture, she admitted handing Owen a bottle of industrial cleaning solvent from a locked supply cabinet. He'd told her he needed it to remove paint from a stone fixture before the ceremony. She claimed she had no idea he intended to hurt me.

"Do you believe her?" Nathan asked.

"I believe she had a chance to ask why her son needed that bottle at night," I said. "And she chose not to."

Moreno called back from the ferry office. The building was empty, but a freshly broken lock hung from a door leading to a lower loading area. Someone had dragged a heavy storage box toward the river.

An officer found the box split open, its contents scattered in mud.

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Inside were the original Lark Street inspection files, still dry in a sealed pouch.

The audit drive was missing, and a motorboat had just pulled away from the dock.