Chapter 13 - THE MAN FROM MY PASTI couldn't process the words.
“No.”
Mercer nodded weakly.
“He funded the first operation.”
Michael looked at him.
“That's impossible.”
“Check the accounts.”
Reyes stared.
“Name.”
Mercer said it.
My former husband's name.
The man I had once trusted.
The man who had helped me through my hardest years.
The man who had told me the world was safest when you planned for every possibility.
He had never once mentioned Michael.
Never mentioned Hale.
Never mentioned the school contracts.
I felt physically sick.
Mercer continued.
“He wasn't supposed to be involved with children.”
“Then why?”
“Because he discovered Michael had the ledger.”
Michael shook his head.
“The ledger contained the financial records.”
“And the names of the people paying.”
Mercer looked at me.
“Your husband wanted it.”
Reyes suddenly stepped away.
His phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What happened?”
A pause.
“Say that again.”
Everyone watched him.
He lowered the phone.
“Your ex-husband is missing.”
My stomach dropped.
“Since when?”
“Three days.”
The same day Lily disappeared.
Mercer smiled bitterly.
“He knew we were coming for him.”
Reyes looked at Michael.
“Could he be Hale's real target?”
Michael thought for several seconds.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Hale hates him.”
“Then who does he want?”
Michael looked at Bear.
“He wants Atlas.”
I stared.
“Why does Atlas matter that much?”
Michael answered softly.
“Because Atlas witnessed the murder.”
“Whose?”
Michael looked at me.
“Your husband's partner.”
A wave of confusion hit me.
Mercer spoke.
“Six years ago, a meeting went wrong.”
He described a warehouse.
Money.
Files.
A fight.
A murder.
Atlas had been there.
He had been trained to retain scent memory.
Faces.
Patterns.
The dog couldn't speak.
But he could lead investigators to the truth.
That was why they had tried to kill him.
That was why Michael had hidden him.
That was why Hale wanted him alive.
Then Bear walked to Mercer.
Sniffed him.
Sniffed the yellow fabric.
Then suddenly ran toward the tunnel entrance.
He stopped at a concrete wall.
And scratched.
Reyes's team dug.
There was a hidden compartment.
Inside was a bundle of documents.
One page bore my name.
Another bore Lily's.
The final page had a map.
An address.
My old house.
The house where my former husband and I had lived.
Reyes looked at me.
“When were you last there?”
“Two years ago.”
Michael stared at the map.
“That's where he hid the original ledger.”
My hands went cold.
The police moved immediately.
We reached the house at dawn.
It looked abandoned.
The windows were covered.
The front door stood open.
Inside, everything was exactly as I remembered.
The same staircase.
Same kitchen.
Same fireplace.
Same family photographs.
Then Bear stopped in the hallway.
He looked at the wall.
A memory.
I felt it too.
The old clock.
The one my husband had insisted could never be moved.
Reyes opened it.
Behind the mechanism was a metal compartment.
Inside was the ledger.
But the ledger wasn't alone.
There was a phone.
A recording.
My former husband's voice.
“Sarah, if you're hearing this, then they reached you.”
I froze.
His message continued.
“I never wanted you involved.”
Michael whispered:
“That's a lie.”
The recording continued.
“Hale thinks Atlas witnessed a murder.”
Pause.
“He did.”
I stared at Bear.
“But the person Atlas saw wasn't Hale.”
The phone clicked.
“And it wasn't Michael.”
A final sentence played.
“The person Atlas saw was the man you trusted most.”
Then the recording ended.
Behind us, the front door slammed.
Someone had entered the house.
And a familiar voice said:
“Hello, Sarah.”
I turned.
My former husband stood in the doorway.
May you like
His hands were empty.
And he was smiling.
