Chapter 6 - THE MAN I TRUSTED
I stared at Laura’s unconscious body while sirens screamed toward us.
Captain Harris.
The man who had trained me.
The man who had sat with my mother after Daniel disappeared.
The man who had pushed me toward detective work.
No.
It didn’t make sense.
Or maybe that was exactly why it made sense.
I didn’t confront him.
Not yet.
I called Ramirez directly.
“Get Evan somewhere secure.”
“What’s going on?”
“Don’t use department radio.”
Silence.
Then, “Understood.”
I returned to the station.
Harris was waiting.
“How’s Bennett?”
“Alive.”
“What did she say?”
I looked at him.
“Not much.”
His eyes stayed on mine a second too long.
“Mark, you look like hell.”
“It’s been a long day.”
He stepped closer.
“Go home.”
“I’m fine.”
“That wasn’t a suggestion.”
Something cold moved through me.
Had he always spoken like that?
I left.
Then circled back in my personal car.
At 11:15 p.m., Harris walked out of the station carrying a duffel bag.
I followed him.
He drove forty minutes outside town to an old hunting cabin.
I parked down the road and approached through the trees.
Light glowed through the window.
Harris entered.
Five minutes later, another car arrived.
Ryan’s attorney.
That was enough.
I photographed everything.
Then the attorney opened his trunk.
Harris pulled out a cardboard box.
I moved closer.
A branch cracked under my boot.
Both men turned.
“Who’s there?”
I ran.
A gunshot ripped through the trees.
Bark exploded beside my face.
Another shot.
I dove behind a fallen log.
“Harris!” I shouted. “Put the weapon down!”
Silence.
Then his voice.
“Mark?”
He sounded shocked.
“Walk out with your hands up.”
“Jesus Christ, Mark. You have this wrong.”
“Then explain the gunfire.”
“That wasn’t me!”
A third shot cracked from the cabin.
Harris yelled.
I heard someone running.
Then an engine roared.
Ryan’s lawyer fled in his car.
I rushed toward Harris.
He was on the ground.
Blood soaked his shoulder.
“Don’t shoot,” he gasped.
I kicked his gun away.
“Did you kill Daniel?”
His face twisted.
“No.”
“Laura named you.”
“Because she thinks I betrayed Daniel.”
“Did you?”
He looked away.
That was enough.
I grabbed his jacket.
“What did you do?”
“Daniel came to me nine years ago.”
My blood went cold.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“He asked me not to.”
I nearly hit him.
“You let my family think he was dead!”
“He was trying to protect you!”
“From who?”
Harris looked toward the road.
“Grady. Ryan. Bennett. Half a dozen others.”
I stepped back.
“Laura too?”
“She was scared, not dirty. She took money because Grady blackmailed her.”
“And you?”
Harris shut his eyes.
“I helped Daniel disappear.”
I stopped breathing.
“Where?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“Bullshit.”
“He stopped contacting me five years ago.”
“When Evan was around three?”
Harris looked at me.
“You know he saw him?”
“Yes.”
“Then Daniel broke the agreement.”
“What agreement?”
Harris swallowed.
“He was never supposed to come back.”
A cellphone started ringing inside the cabin.
Not mine.
Not Harris’s.
I entered carefully.
The phone sat on a table beside the cardboard box.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A distorted voice said:
“Detective Morgan?”
“Who is this?”
“You want your brother?”
My heart slammed.
“Yes.”
The voice laughed softly.
“Then stop looking for Grady.”
May you like
A pause.
“Because Daniel is still alive.”
