Chapter 5 - CAPTAIN BEAR
I stared at the memory card in my hand.
Two years.
For two years, Logan had slept with Captain Bear every night.
He had taken that stuffed animal to preschool.
To the grocery store.
To David’s grave.
And hidden inside it had been something people were willing to kill for.
Matteo reached toward it.
I pulled back.
“Don’t.”
“I need to see it.”
“No.”
“Catherine—”
“My husband just told me not to trust you.”
“He’s been missing for two years.”
“He also just proved he knows exactly what’s happening.”
Matteo hit the steering wheel.
“Think. If I wanted the card, I could’ve taken it upstairs.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“It means I’ve spent the last twenty minutes getting shot at while protecting your kid.”
Logan hugged the torn bear.
“You broke Captain.”
My heart cracked.
“I’m sorry, baby.”
“He needs a Band-Aid.”
“I’ll fix him.”
“When?”
“When we’re safe.”
“Are we safe now?”
I couldn’t answer.
Matteo drove into an industrial district near the harbor.
I leaned forward.
“Where are you taking us?”
“Not the safe house.”
“Good.”
“I’m taking you somewhere David once used.”
I laughed without humor.
“You know a lot about my husband.”
“More than you do.”
The words hit like a slap.
Matteo immediately looked regretful.
“Sorry.”
But he was right.
I had shared a bed with David for six years.
I had known how he took his coffee.
How he snored when he had a cold.
How he squeezed my hand twice before falling asleep.
I had not known what he did for a living.
I had not known who he worked with.
I had not known he was alive.
Maybe I had never known him at all.
We stopped outside a twenty-four-hour self-storage facility.
Matteo entered a code.
The gate opened.
“Unit 314.”
“How do you know?”
“David gave me the number.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
My anger returned.
“You helped him.”
“Yes.”
“With the fake death?”
Matteo looked away.
“Yes.”
I opened the car door.
“Then don’t speak to me unless somebody’s shooting.”
Inside unit 314 was an old desk, a folding chair, and a locked metal cabinet.
The key from the hospital box fit.
Inside, I found clothes.
Cash.
A passport.
David’s passport.
The photo was his.
The name was not.
MICHAEL GRANT.
My stomach turned.
There was also a laptop.
Matteo powered it on.
Password.
I stared at the screen.
David always used complicated passwords.
Then I remembered our anniversary.
No.
Too obvious.
Logan’s birthday?
No.
Then a hint appeared.
FIRST THING SHE SAID.
I froze.
The first words I ever said to David.
We had met after he spilled coffee on me outside a bookstore.
I typed:
YOU OWE ME A SHIRT
Unlocked.
A video file sat on the desktop.
FOR CATHERINE.
I clicked.
David appeared on-screen.
Alive.
Unshaven.
Exhausted.
My breath caught.
“Cat,” he said. “If you’re watching this, everything went wrong.”
I covered my mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
The words made me angry.
Sorry felt too small.
David continued.
“I need you to understand something before you decide whether you hate me.”
“I already hate you,” I whispered.
Matteo looked away.
“I didn’t leave because I stopped loving you.”
David swallowed.
“I left because the people hunting me knew about Logan.”
My hand tightened around the chair.
“One of them ordered the crash.”
Images flashed on-screen.
Police photographs.
A burned car.
Then another photograph.
A man standing beside the wreckage.
Suit.
Badge.
Silver hair.
David said, “His name is Daniel Mercer. He ran the federal task force I worked for.”
Matteo leaned closer.
“Jesus.”
“I discovered Mercer had been selling protected information to organized crime for years. Witness addresses. Raid schedules. Names of informants.”
David’s face hardened.
“He knew I copied the records.”
The video skipped.
“Alessandro helped stage my death because Mercer believed I had the only copy.”
I looked at the memory card.
Captain Bear.
David continued.
“I thought if I disappeared, you and Logan would be safe.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You thought wrong.”
Then David leaned toward the camera.
“But three weeks ago, Mercer learned about the backup.”
My skin went cold.
“He knows it was hidden with someone I trusted completely.”
David paused.
“I never told anyone it was inside Logan’s bear.”
I turned toward Matteo.
He looked just as confused as I felt.
“If Mercer knows now,” David said, “there’s only one person who could have told him.”
The video ended.
A new file appeared automatically.
One photograph.
May you like
David standing beside Alessandro and a third man.
The third man was Matteo.
