Chapter 13 - THE WALL OF FAMILIES
The greenhouse contained the most complete record of Jason’s operation investigators had found.
Inside a locked office were files on dozens of people.
Bank employees.
Divorced parents.
Widows.
Business owners.
People with property.
People with trusts.
People whose lives could be entered slowly and exploited.
Jason had researched them for months.
Sometimes years.
There were photographs taken from social media.
Printed property records.
Schedules.
Family trees.
Workplaces.
Children’s schools.
It was terrifying because everything looked ordinary.
No dramatic secret codes.
No hidden criminal empire.
Just patient research into ordinary families.
Jason had survived because he understood trust.
He knew how to appear useful.
He knew when to smile.
He knew how long to wait.
Sarah had simply been one name on a wall.
Until she fought back.
Then Alvarez found my photograph.
Beside it was a note.
FATHER - POSSIBLE OBSTACLE.
I stared at the picture.
Jason had studied me too.
My work schedule.
My apartment.
My car.
Even the gym I used.
That knowledge made me feel sick.
Emily had not been imagining the way Jason watched her.
Sarah had not been overreacting.
We had all been inside his plan without knowing it.
Another folder contained information about Mrs. Harris.
Jason had written one word beside her photograph.
NOSY.
That explained the privacy panels.
The chained gate.
The sudden effort to keep Emily away from the yard.
Jason had been isolating the house.
But the largest file belonged to Sarah.
Pages and pages of notes.
Her habits.
Her passwords.
Her friendships.
Her arguments with me.
Even details about our divorce.
He had studied the weakest points in Sarah’s life.
Then he stepped directly into one of them.
That realization changed how Sarah viewed everything.
“I thought he understood me.”
She said.
“He didn’t understand you.”
I replied.
“He researched you.”
There was a difference.
A painful one.
Among the files, investigators found airline tickets for Jason under another identity.
Departure was scheduled for the following night.
But the destination did not matter.
Alvarez believed Jason would never use tickets investigators could find.
They were another distraction.
Then forensic technicians recovered deleted messages from Cole’s phone.
One message had been sent to Jason three weeks earlier.
THE EAST ROUTE IS CLEAN.
Jason answered.
ONLY IF THE BRIDGE CAMERA IS STILL DOWN.
Police searched for bridges east of Briar County with broken or inactive traffic cameras.
There were four.
One crossed the state line near a tiny town called Haven Ridge.
Another message mentioned a motel called The Lantern.
Alvarez checked.
There was a Lantern Inn eleven miles from the bridge.
Police contacted the owner.
A man matching Jason’s description had rented a room thirty minutes earlier.
May you like
This time Jason was not ahead by hours.
He was ahead by minutes.
