Chapter 6 - Nothing Missing
“Our neighbor uses that gate,” Anton said.
He sounded like he wanted the sentence to become true by saying it.
Reyes asked him for the neighbor’s number.
While they spoke, I changed in the adjoining room.
The borrowed dress hung loose at my waist. I folded the torn blue gown carefully, keeping my fingers away from the ripped seam.
Evidence.
Three hours earlier, it had been a dress.
When I came out, Anton stood with his phone against his ear.
“No, don’t go over there. Just stay inside.”
He ended the call.
“Our neighbor didn’t open it.”
Reyes spoke with the responding officers.
No broken windows. No forced entry visible. The back door was locked.
They would document the open gate and check the surrounding area.
It wasn’t proof of a break-in.
It was still enough to keep us from going home.
“I can get us a hotel,” Anton said.
“Not here,” I answered.
“Agreed.”
Nina looked toward the door again.
“Valerie has my apartment key.”
“Why?” Anton asked.
“She made us leave a spare with her office in case we didn’t answer our phones.”
He stared at her.
“That isn’t normal.”
“I needed the job.”
Nobody had anything useful to say to that.
Reyes called the detective again and added Nina’s concern.
Then he turned to me.
“The old task force should know your cover identity has been exposed.”
“I left.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want to go back.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
That almost undid me.
For years, I had assumed any call from my old life would come with a duty attached.
A request.
One more thing only I could do.
Reyes sat across from me.
“You’re the person we’re protecting tonight.”
A sharp knock interrupted us.
The resort’s security supervisor entered carrying a tablet.
“Chief. You should see this.”
He played the terrace footage.
Valerie approached us.
The wine spilled.
Her right hand caught my dress.
The angle was clear.
There was no stumble.
Anton’s face hardened.
Then the supervisor switched cameras.
Valerie stood beside Shaw near the service entrance, twenty minutes before the assault.
He handed her the brown envelope.
She opened it.
Pointed to something.
Laughed.
The supervisor paused.
“There’s audio on this camera. It covers the cash-handling station.”
He turned up the sound.
Valerie’s voice came through first.
“So the scar will match?”
Shaw answered.
“Exactly where the report says.”
Anton’s hand closed around the back of my chair.
May you like
Valerie hadn’t discovered the scar.
She had known where to look.
