Chapter 11 - The House with Two Locks
Maya sent the lilies to the evidence room. The florist had received cash from a courier wearing a ball cap, and the security camera outside the shop had conveniently failed.
"You're not going home tonight," the deputy told Evelyn.
"Our lives are in that box," Evelyn replied. "And whatever Grant wants, he wants before Monday."
After midnight, Maya drove them to the Mercer property with two marked units behind her. Daniel stayed at the hospital. Evelyn had fought to come, and he'd finally let go of her hand with a look that said he trusted her more than he trusted the police.
The workshop stood behind their old white farmhouse. Daniel had built it in the seventies, a crooked structure with green trim and a stubborn door. Evelyn knew each scratch in the paint, each spot where rain got through.
Maya checked the windows. No broken glass. A patrol officer tested the lock. Still intact.
Inside, they found the wooden clock above Daniel's workbench. Evelyn reached behind it and felt a recessed panel. The brass key opened one lock. A second lock required a code.
"Typical Daniel," she muttered. "He'd put a padlock on a padlock."
A handwritten card was taped underneath: THE DAY YOU SAID YES.
Evelyn smiled despite everything. June 14. Their wedding date. The combination clicked open.
The red box held thick folders, a flash drive sealed in plastic, and a stack of photographs bound with twine. The top photograph showed Daniel's father beside a much younger Simon Vale. Behind them stood a man Evelyn recognized instantly.
"That's Judge Arthur Bell," she said. "He officiated our wedding."
Maya turned the picture over. A date was written on the back: October 1987, three years after Bell had supposedly retired from public life.
Under the photographs lay a handwritten note from Daniel: IF I AM DEAD, DON'T TRUST BELL'S SON.
May you like
Maya's face went rigid. "Sheriff Bell is Arthur Bell's son."
At that moment, headlights swept across the workshop windows, and the patrol radio crackled: "All units, stand down. Sheriff orders immediate withdrawal."
