Chapter 14 - The Garage Note
Rachel refused to let Michael treat the message as proof.
“Words require context.”
“Brake problem handled?”
“Yes.”
“Laura complained about her brakes twelve minutes before dying.”
“I understand.”
“So what context saves Daniel?”
“I didn’t say it saves him.”
Rachel leaned forward.
“I said prosecutors need the actual message, metadata, sender, recipient, and device.”
Vanessa had only seen a screenshot months earlier.
Daniel had shown it while drunk.
The message had been sent to a mechanic named Travis Cole.
Priya searched vendor records.
Travis Cole had performed contract maintenance for Reed Aeronautics.
He had also received eighty-three thousand dollars from Blue Alder.
That changed things.
Rachel contacted federal investigators.
They handled the rest.
Michael was explicitly told not to approach Travis.
For once, he listened.
Instead he returned to Laura’s storage unit.
Sophie had mentioned a red file.
Nothing in the unit was red.
Then Eleanor found a note tucked inside Laura’s planner.
RED FILE — GARAGE / T.C. / CAMERA?
Michael stared.
“Camera.”
Reed Aeronautics hangars had security cameras.
Daniel claimed archived footage older than ninety days was automatically deleted.
But Laura had apparently believed a copy existed.
The former security supervisor, Jack Delaney, had retired the year after Laura died.
Michael called him.
Jack answered from Arizona.
When Michael mentioned December 16, silence followed.
“I remember.”
“Why?”
“Ms. Bennett asked me for video.”
“Laura?”
“Yeah. She said somebody was messing with her car.”
Michael stopped breathing.
“Did you give it to her?”
“I pulled the footage.”
“What did it show?”
“Daniel Mercer entered the executive garage around midnight.”
Michael gripped the phone.
“Did he go near Laura’s SUV?”
“I couldn’t tell. Camera angle was bad.”
“What happened to the copy?”
“I gave it to Ms. Bennett.”
“Digital?”
“SD card.”
“What color?”
Jack paused.
“Red.”
Michael closed his eyes.
The red file had not been a file.
It had been a red memory card.
“Did Laura say what she did with it?”
“No.”
“Was there another copy?”
“Company server, but it was wiped.”
“By whom?”
“Administrative request.”
Michael already knew.
“Daniel?”
“No.”
Jack’s answer surprised him.
“Vanessa Reed.”
Michael sat in silence.
Vanessa had told the security department to delete the archived footage two days after Laura’s funeral.
When confronted, Vanessa admitted it.
“Daniel told me the police had everything.”
“You believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
“You deleted evidence.”
“I know.”
“Why would Laura hide the card?”
“I don’t know.”
Michael remembered Sophie.
Her backpack.
The red thing.
Vanessa searching.
“Did you ever see Laura give something to Sophie?”
Vanessa went silent.
“Answer me.”
“The night before she died.”
Michael’s pulse accelerated.
“What?”
“Laura came to the house.”
“When?”
“About nine.”
“She was with Sophie?”
“For five minutes.”
“What happened?”
Vanessa breathed unevenly.
“I was upstairs. When I came down, Laura was kneeling beside Sophie’s backpack.”
Michael closed his eyes.
“What backpack?”
“The pink one.”
Of course.
Sophie had owned it since kindergarten because Laura bought it for her.
Vanessa had not searched it randomly.
She had remembered.
Michael ran upstairs.
The backpack sat in Sophie’s closet.
He emptied it again.
Nothing.
He checked the seams.
The lining.
The pockets.
The stuffed rabbit.
No red SD card.
Sophie appeared.
“What are you doing?”
Michael stopped.
Nina’s warning returned.
Do not treat Sophie like evidence.
He sat down.
“I’m looking for something your mom might have left.”
Sophie frowned.
“Vanessa looked too.”
“I know.”
“She cut this.”
Sophie pointed to the inner lining near the front pocket.
A two-inch slit.
Michael felt his stomach drop.
Vanessa had reached the card first.
Or someone had.
He touched the torn fabric.
Then Sophie said, “Mom didn’t put it there.”
Michael turned.
“What?”
She picked up the stuffed rabbit.
“She put it inside Mr. Buttons.”
Michael stared at the rabbit.
One seam along its back had been restitched by hand.
The thread was red.
Michael carefully opened it.
Inside was nothing.
Only stuffing.
May you like
Then Sophie whispered:
“Vanessa took it out a long time ago.”
