Chapter 3 - The PhotographEmma was at school.
Daniel found her ten minutes later in the principal’s office.
She had been called there because her teacher said Daniel had requested an early pickup.
He had not.
The teacher had noticed the man at the front desk was wearing a dark jacket and a baseball cap.
Daniel knew then.
Whoever had called him had been warning him.
They could have taken Emma.
They chose not to.
Not yet.
Daniel brought Emma home.
He locked every door.
Then he called his friend Marcus Reed, a former police detective who now ran a private security company.
Marcus arrived twenty minutes later.
Daniel showed him the envelope.
The photograph from the security camera.
The threatening phone call.
Marcus studied everything without speaking.
Finally, he looked up.
“You sure that’s Michael Voss?”
“No.”
“But you think it is.”
Daniel nodded.
Marcus leaned back.
“Then we need to talk about Rachel.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“I’ve spent three years trying not to talk about Rachel.”
“Maybe that’s the problem.”
Marcus pulled an old folder from his bag.
Daniel stared at it.
“You kept that?”
“I kept everything.”
Marcus opened the folder.
Inside were photographs from the accident that had killed Rachel.
Daniel had seen them once.
He never wanted to again.
But Marcus pointed to one photograph.
“Look.”
Daniel stared.
The crashed car.
The twisted frame.
The shattered windshield.
Then he noticed something near the rear passenger door.
A small metal object.
“What is that?”
Marcus zoomed in.
“A second phone.”
Daniel frowned.
“Rachel only had one phone.”
“According to the police report.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying the evidence report lists two phones recovered from that car.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Marcus looked at him.
“Because the second phone disappeared.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Disappeared?”
“After the scene was processed.”
“Who had access?”
Marcus gave him a look.
“Three officers. One paramedic. One tow operator.”
Daniel stood.
“Which tow operator?”
Marcus slid another page toward him.
“Michael Voss.”
Silence filled the room.
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
Rachel’s car.
The hidden phone.
Michael.
Maya.
The envelope.
Everything had begun to connect.
But the biggest question remained.
Why had Maya come into his life?
Marcus read his expression.
“She isn’t random.”
“I know.”
“You need to find her.”
“I will.”
“Before someone else does.”
Daniel nodded.
That night, he returned to the grocery store.
He searched the parking lot.
The snow had melted.
The brick wall where Maya had sat looked ordinary.
Almost insultingly ordinary.
Then Daniel noticed something wedged behind a drainage pipe.
A tiny silver key.
He picked it up.
There was a number engraved on it.
Marcus called him.
“We found something.”
“What?”
“An old storage facility on Route 9. Unit 217.”
Daniel’s pulse quickened.
“Whose?”
“Paid cash. No name.”
Daniel looked at the key.
He knew where this was going.
He drove to the storage facility.
Marcus waited outside.
Unit 217 was at the far end of the building.
Daniel inserted the key.
The lock opened.
Inside was almost nothing.
A baby stroller.
Three cardboard boxes.
An old crib.
And a framed photograph.
Daniel lifted the photograph.
It showed Maya.
She was younger.
Much younger.
She was standing beside Rachel.
Daniel’s breathing stopped.
“Marcus.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“What?”
Daniel turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
RACHEL AND MAYA, 2017.
Marcus looked stunned.
“Daniel…”
“Rachel knew her.”
Before they could examine anything else, a car screeched into the parking lot.
Headlights flooded the unit.
Marcus reached for his weapon.
Daniel grabbed the photograph.
A man stepped out.
Tall.
Dark jacket.
Baseball cap.
He walked toward them.
Daniel raised his voice.
“Michael?”
The man stopped.
Slowly removed his cap.
It wasn’t Michael.
Daniel recognized him instantly.
The man from the grocery store.
He smiled.
May you like
Then he said the one sentence Daniel least expected.
“Rachel asked me to find you.”
