Chapter 6 - SCOUT
We searched every room Rhea had used.
The closets.
The garage.
The guesthouse.
The pool storage room.
Nothing.
Perrin became increasingly frustrated.
"She took Scout."
I sat beside him.
"When did you last see him?"
"The day she locked me in the wall."
"Think carefully."
He closed his eyes.
"She was yelling."
"What did she say?"
"She said Mommy made me a thief."
My pulse quickened.
"What happened next?"
"She grabbed Scout."
"Then where did she go?"
Perrin thought.
"The garden."
Our estate had a glass conservatory built behind the original carriage house.
Rhea loved it.
I hated gardening, so I almost never entered.
Police searched it again.
The main room contained flowers, tools and storage boxes.
Nothing unusual appeared until Perrin walked toward an old potting bench.
He pointed beneath it.
"She went down there."
There was no door.
Ortiz examined the floor.
One stone tile showed fresh scratches.
Two officers lifted it.
A metal hatch appeared underneath.
Inside was a waterproof storage container.
Ortiz opened it.
Passports.
Cash.
Jewelry.
Three prepaid phones.
A handgun registered to Rhea.
And Scout.
Perrin made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob.
I wanted to hand the stuffed dog to him immediately.
Ortiz stopped me.
"We need to process it."
Perrin's face fell.
She softened.
"We'll be careful."
A forensic technician examined Scout on a clean table.
The dog was faded brown with one floppy ear.
Mara had bought it from a hospital gift shop the week Perrin was born.
The technician ran her fingers around the collar.
There was a tiny stitched opening.
Inside was a brass key no longer than my thumb.
A number had been stamped into it.
Perrin smiled for the first time since I returned.
"I told you."
"You did."
Ortiz photographed the key.
Then I remembered something.
"Mara used Union Central Station when she worked downtown."
Ortiz looked at me.
"They have old storage lockers."
Forty minutes later, we were driving there.
Locker 214 stood in the lowest row near the east entrance.
The brass key fit.
Inside was a single envelope.
My name was written across it.
CALEB.
My hands shook as I opened it.
There was a flash drive.
A photograph.
And a letter.
The photograph showed Rhea meeting Simon outside a restaurant.
It had been taken three weeks before Mara disappeared.
I unfolded the letter.
Caleb,
If you are reading this, then something happened before I could explain.
Rhea has been moving money through Mercer accounts.
Simon knows.
I don't know how much he knows, but I saw them together after Simon swore he had never met her outside the office.
They are using companies I cannot identify.
I copied everything I could.
The blue ledger contains the original account numbers and names.
I hid it separately.
Do not trust anyone who says my concerns were paranoia.
Most importantly, protect Perrin.
I love you.
Mara.
I read the final line three times.
Ortiz removed the flash drive carefully.
"We'll examine this offline."
I stared at the photograph of my brother and the woman I had planned to marry.
"Why keep Mara alive?"
Ortiz leaned against the locker.
"Maybe because they never found the ledger."
That explanation made terrible sense.
Rhea had spent two years searching.
She had gotten close to me.
Moved into my house.
Gained access to my finances.
Raised my son.
All while looking for something Mara had hidden.
I thought about the hollow walls.
The conservatory.
The storage box.
Then I remembered something from the night Mara disappeared.
We had argued.
She wanted me to cancel my London trip.
She said she had discovered something involving my family.
I had told her we would talk when I returned.
Those had been the last words I believed I ever said to her.
Wait until I get back.
Now she had been waiting for two years.
Ortiz's phone rang.
She answered.
Her face hardened.
"What?"
She listened.
May you like
Then looked at me.
"Simon just turned himself in."
