Chapter 10 - THE MAN SHE REMEMBERED
Naomi sat on the floor with the phone in both hands.
The photograph was real. Daniel's crooked tie. His hand on the driver's door. The paper folder tucked beneath his arm.
He had been carrying something she had never seen.
For one terrible minute, grief made room for doubt.
Then she called Ortiz.
“Someone wants me to think Daniel helped them.”
“Forward it. Don't answer.”
“What if he did?”
Ortiz didn't offer comfort she couldn't support.
“Then we follow the evidence. But a picture with a caption isn't evidence of what he knew.”
Naomi looked again.
The folder was blue. Daniel had marked its corner with a white strip of tape because their equipment cases all looked alike in the dark.
She knew that tape.
She had packed the folder herself.
It held Helen's emergency contacts and a map to the hospital nearest their destination.
She called Daniel's wife, Mara, for the first time in weeks.
“I'm sorry I stopped calling.”
“I thought you were angry with me.”
“Why would I be?”
“Because I kept asking if he suffered.”
Naomi closed her eyes.
“You were allowed to ask.”
They cried without trying to make it useful.
Then Mara said, “He sent me a message that afternoon. About your route. I gave the police his phone, but maybe you should hear it.”
The message was a complaint about a last-minute change pushed through operations. Daniel had called it reckless. He had said he was documenting his objection.
Naomi sent the message details to Ortiz, who confirmed it was already in the file.
“Now we have a reason to compare that objection with this new authorization,” the detective said. “Especially the approval time.”
Downstairs, Ethan waited by Naomi's suitcase.
“My mother doesn't get to dismiss you.”
“I know. I'm leaving because I need somewhere I can sleep.”
He nodded, though it hurt him.
“Where?”
“Ruth has a sister. You'll have my number.”
At the door, his phone rang.
May you like
The independent accountant had traced the Aster payment through another company.
Its owner was Vanessa Sterling.
