Chapter 8 - UNIT 214
Stonebridge Storage had more than four hundred units.
Jason rented three of them under different names.
Unit 214 was the first police opened.
Inside were boxes of documents.
Fake identification cards.
Old license plates.
Photographs.
Credit cards.
Stacks of unopened mail addressed to people none of us knew.
The second unit contained furniture and personal belongings connected to at least two women from Sarah’s investigation.
The third unit was empty.
Almost empty.
A folding chair sat in the center.
A jacket lay on the floor.
Sarah’s jacket.
When Alvarez sent me that information, I had to sit down.
“She was there.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“We believe within the last day.”
“Where is she now?”
“We don’t know.”
The storage facility’s security system should have answered that question.
But someone had disabled the cameras covering Jason’s units.
One camera near the main exit remained active.
It showed a dark sedan leaving at 7:12 that morning.
Jason was driving.
Cole sat in the passenger seat.
A third figure was visible in the back.
Investigators could not clearly identify the person.
I did not need them to.
I knew.
Sarah.
The sedan traveled west.
Police issued a regional alert.
Emily and I were moved to a secure location that afternoon.
Mrs. Harris was taken somewhere else because investigators worried Jason might return to question or threaten her.
For the first time, Emily asked directly.
“Did Jason hurt Mom?”
I sat beside her.
“We know your mom was alive after Friday.”
“That’s good.”
“Yes.”
“She’s smart.”
“She is.”
Emily gave a tiny smile.
“She always knows where everything is.”
I smiled too.
“That drove me crazy when we were married.”
Emily laughed quietly.
The sound almost broke my heart.
Then she said something unexpected.
“Mom leaves clues.”
“What?”
“When we play treasure hunt.”
I stared at her.
“She always leaves clues.”
“Emily.”
She looked at me.
“Did your mom leave you any clues before Friday?”
Emily thought carefully.
“She gave me something.”
My pulse accelerated.
“What?”
“A necklace.”
“Where is it?”
Emily reached beneath her shirt.
Around her neck was a thin chain.
I had noticed it before but assumed it was ordinary jewelry.
At the end hung a small silver heart.
“That was your mother’s.”
Emily nodded.
“She told me never to take it off.”
I examined the pendant.
It looked normal.
Then I noticed a tiny seam along the edge.
I pressed it.
The heart opened.
Inside was something no larger than my fingernail.
A memory card.
Sarah had given Emily evidence without telling her what it was.
Within an hour, Alvarez had the card.
It contained photographs of Jason’s documents.
Recordings of conversations.
And one video Sarah made herself.
In the video she looked directly into the camera.
“If you’re watching this, Daniel Cross knows I found out who he is.”
May you like
She paused.
“And I think he knows about the women before me.”
