Chapter 11 - My Passport
“My passport is in my safe.”
Or it was supposed to be.
I drove home with Martin.
The safe was still locked.
No damage.
I opened it.
My passport was gone.
Nothing else looked disturbed.
Martin looked around.
“Who knows the code?”
“Only me.”
“Then how?”
I stared at the safe.
Then at my workbench.
Then I remembered.
Three months earlier, Sabrina had visited while I was working.
I opened the safe to get a property document.
She had stood behind me.
Talking.
Laughing.
Asking about the wedding venue.
I hadn’t covered the dial.
Maybe she saw.
Maybe she filmed it.
Maybe I had been so happy to have my daughter beside me that I never imagined she was watching my hands.
The thought made me sick.
I called her.
She answered immediately.
“Dad?”
“Did you take my passport?”
Silence.
“Sabrina.”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why?”
“Raymond said he needed copies.”
“So you broke into my safe?”
“I knew the code.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
She cried.
“I’m sorry.”
“What else did you take?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me the truth.”
“That’s the truth!”
Martin held out his hand for the phone.
I switched to speaker.
He said, “Sabrina, listen carefully. This is no longer just a family argument. Federal identification documents are involved. You need to stop protecting anyone.”
“I’m not.”
“Then tell us why Raymond needed Frank’s passport.”
“He said something about verifying the property transfer.”
Martin looked at me.
“That makes no sense.”
“I know that now!”
“Did he ever mention leaving the country under someone else’s identity?”
“No.”
“Did he have copies of Frank’s driver’s license?”
“Yes.”
“Birth certificate?”
A pause.
“I think so.”
Martin went pale.
I didn’t like that.
“What?”
He ended the call.
Then said, “We need to assume identity theft beyond the loans.”
“For what?”
“Banking. Travel. Companies. Maybe taxes.”
I sat on the workbench.
“Can they really do that?”
“With enough data? They can try.”
Martin called the detective.
Within an hour, everything widened.
Raymond wasn’t just a deadbeat father.
He had two prior fraud investigations in another state.
No conviction.
No jail time.
Just settlements.
Dropped charges.
Victims who backed out.
Men and women he got close to.
Then drained.
Romance.
Business.
Family.
Whatever door opened.
He walked through.
Denise wasn’t his first target.
Probably wouldn’t have been his last.
But Sabrina?
That part still didn’t make sense.
Why use his own daughter?
Unless he never saw her as a daughter.
Only an access point.
At 11:20 p.m., the detective called.
“We found a storage unit rented under your name.”
“Where?”
“Northside Storage.”
“I never rented one.”
“We know.”
“What’s inside?”
“We’re waiting on a warrant.”
I looked at Martin.
“Can I go there?”
“No.”
The detective answered before Martin could.
“Absolutely not.”
I laughed.
“Popular answer today.”
“We’ll call you.”
I hung up.
Then Sabrina texted.
DAD PLEASE COME TO THE VENUE.
I called.
No answer.
Another text.
PLEASE.
I drove there.
Ethan was gone.
Denise was gone.
Only Sabrina stood beneath the wooden wedding arch.
Alone.
She still wore jeans and a sweatshirt.
Tomorrow that spot was supposed to hold a bride.
Tonight she looked like a lost kid.
“I called Ethan off,” she said.
I stopped.
“The wedding?”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“He needs time.”
“What about you?”
“I need a lawyer.”
That was probably true.
She looked at me.
“I don’t deserve you to help me.”
“No.”
She flinched.
I stepped closer.
“You don’t deserve me to pretend this didn’t happen.”
Her eyes filled.
“But that doesn’t mean I stop being your father.”
She covered her face.
For the first time all week, I hugged her.
She collapsed against me.
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
“I was so stupid.”
“Yes.”
She laughed through tears.
“You could lie.”
“I raised you better than that.”
That made her cry harder.
Then she pulled back.
“There’s something else.”
Of course.
“There’s always something else.”
She wiped her eyes.
“I think Raymond planned to frame you.”
My body went still.
“For what?”
May you like
She looked terrified.
“For stealing the wedding money.”
