Chapter 3 - The Man in the Black SUV
By sunrise, I had convinced myself of three possibilities.
Teresa was betraying me.
Teresa was being threatened.
Or both.
None of them made me feel better.
I sent Luis to the school.
I didn't tell Teresa.
At 7:40, Chloe came downstairs.
She looked exhausted.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Are we in trouble?”
I put down my coffee.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Mom was crying last night.”
That stopped me.
“When?”
“After you went outside.”
“What did she say?”
“She said, ‘Please let this be over before he finds out.’”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Chloe sat beside me.
Then she whispered something else.
“Dad, Mom has a second phone.”
I stared at her.
“Where?”
“She keeps it in the laundry basket under the towels.”
I hadn't known about it.
Teresa and I had shared everything for twenty years.
Or so I thought.
I drove Chloe to school myself.
When I returned home, Teresa was gone.
I checked the laundry room.
Nothing.
Then I heard my phone vibrate.
Luis.
“Boss, pull over somewhere private.”
“I'm home.”
“Don't stay there.”
My grip tightened around the steering wheel.
“Why?”
“We found the SUV.”
“Where?”
“Across from the school.”
My stomach dropped.
“Is Chloe safe?”
“She is.”
“Then tell me what's happening.”
“We pulled the plate.”
“And?”
Luis went silent.
I waited.
“The plate belongs to a vehicle registered to a company that doesn't exist.”
“Who owns it?”
“That's the problem.”
“Luis.”
“The registration traces back to one of our shell vendors.”
I stared through the windshield.
“One of ours?”
“On paper.”
“What vendor?”
“Red Mesa Freight Solutions.”
I knew the name.
I'd never used them.
But I'd seen their invoices.
Three million dollars had passed through that company in the last fourteen months.
Payments approved by the accounting department.
Payments I hadn't personally authorized.
“Who approved them?”
Luis said, “Teresa.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
The betrayal I'd been trying not to see.
When I got home, Teresa was sitting at the kitchen table.
She didn't ask where I'd been.
She simply said, “You went to the office.”
“Yes.”
“You spoke to Luis.”
“Yes.”
Her shoulders sank.
“What did he tell you?”
“That you approved payments to Red Mesa.”
She stared at the table.
“Teresa, who is Daniel Crane?”
She didn't answer.
“Who is Red Mesa?”
Still nothing.
I slammed my palm against the table.
“Who are these people?”
She jumped.
Then she whispered,
“They don't want your company.”
I froze.
“What do they want?”
“You.”
“Why?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because you know something you were never supposed to know.”
“What?”
She shook her head.
“Not yet.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you have one day.”
“One day for what?”
She looked toward the window.
The black SUV was parked across the street.
Then she whispered,
“Tomorrow night, they're coming for you.”
I turned toward the window.
The SUV started moving.
It drove past our house once.
Then again.
Then stopped at the corner.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man's voice said,
“Mr. Bennett, you should ask your wife what happened to the driver named Marcus Bell.”
The line went dead.
I looked at Teresa.
Her face had gone white.
“Who is Marcus Bell?”
May you like
She whispered,
“He was the first man they killed.”
