Chapter 17 - THE LAST TRAIN NORTH
Federal agents wanted Leo to remain in the city.
Leo refused.
Naomi argued until Agent Sloan interrupted both of them.
“If this is a contact attempt by Mrs. Mercer, Mr. Mercer may be the only person she will approach.”
Leo looked at Naomi.
Naomi looked furious that the federal agent had made his argument for him.
They compromised.
Leo would take the train.
Agents would travel separately.
No Mercer security system would be notified.
Celeste stayed with Mia and Rosa.
Before Leo left, Mia called him on video.
She held the new white shirt against herself like a dress.
“Daddy, this one is too clean.”
Leo smiled despite the knot in his chest.
“Don't get ideas.”
She held up the pink marker.
Leo stared.
“Where did you get another one?”
“The package.”
Of course.
Mia grinned.
“Can I draw the heart?”
Leo remembered the note.
Make the heart big enough for the camera.
He understood then.
The camera was not necessarily Grant's camera.
It could be Elena's verification method.
Someone watching remotely needed to know Leo had received the package and was cooperating.
“Okay,” he said.
“Big one.”
Mia uncapped the marker and drew a huge crossed heart across the front of the shirt.
Celeste held the phone so Leo could see.
Mia lifted the shirt proudly.
“Perfect?”
Leo swallowed.
“Perfect.”
Ten minutes later, a message arrived from an unknown number.
BOARD THE 6:10.
CAR THREE.
WINDOW SEAT.
Leo followed the instructions.
The train pulled north through gray evening light.
He sat alone in car three with the ruined shirt folded on his lap.
At the first stop, no one approached.
At the second, an elderly couple boarded and sat behind him.
At the third, a woman in a dark coat entered the car.
Leo's heart stopped.
She had Elena's height.
She had Elena's way of tucking hair behind one ear.
But when she turned, she was a stranger.
Leo looked away before she noticed him staring.
The train continued north.
At seven twenty-three, Leo's phone buzzed.
GET OFF AT RIVERGLEN.
LEAVE THE SHIRT ON THE SEAT.
Leo frowned.
The shirt was the signal.
He placed it beside the window and stepped off at Riverglen.
Only six people left the train.
No one approached him.
The platform emptied.
A cold wind moved off the river.
Leo waited.
His phone buzzed again.
WALK TO THE OLD INN.
NO CAR.
The inn sat three blocks from the station.
Leo knew it before he saw the sign.
He and Elena had stayed there twelve years earlier because they could not afford the expensive hotel by the river.
They had eaten takeout on the floor and promised they would come back when they were rich.
They never had.
The lobby clerk handed Leo a room key without asking his name.
“Room fourteen.”
“Who left this?”
“A woman.”
“When?”
“About an hour ago.”
“What did she look like?”
The clerk hesitated.
“Hat.”
“Scarf.”
“Didn't see much.”
Leo climbed the stairs.
Room fourteen was empty.
On the bed lay an old photograph from his first anniversary with Elena.
They were twenty-something, broke, laughing, and holding convenience-store champagne.
Beside it was a handwritten note.
I NEEDED TO KNOW YOU WOULD COME WITHOUT BRINGING THE MAN YOU USED TO BE.
Leo read it twice.
Below that was another line.
GO HOME.
He almost tore the paper in half.
After everything, she was sending him home without seeing him.
Then he noticed the final words on the back.
I WILL COME TO YOU WHEN THE DOOR IS SAFE.
His phone rang.
Agent Sloan.
“Leo, we arrested Grant Hale.”
He closed his eyes.
“On what?”
“Financial conspiracy, obstruction, fabrication of evidence, and witness intimidation.”
“Michael Crane surrendered twenty minutes ago.”
“He gave us the location Grant used to coordinate surveillance.”
“Did he know where Elena was?”
“He says Elena contacted him first.”
Leo frowned.
“What?”
“Michael claims he switched sides months ago.”
“He was the person who helped Elena send Celeste the photograph.”
Leo looked at the note again.
“So he wasn't working for Grant?”
“He was pretending to.”
“Apparently Elena needed someone inside Grant's circle.”
Leo laughed softly in disbelief.
Everyone had been lying to everyone.
“What about Thomas?”
“Cooperating.”
“Daniel?”
“Cooperating.”
“Grant?”
“Not talking.”
Leo looked out the window at the dark river.
“And Elena?”
Sloan paused.
“We still cannot officially confirm her location.”
Leo understood the wording.
Officially.
He returned home after midnight.
Mia was asleep.
Celeste sat in the study with the lights low.
Leo entered and looked at the place on the marble floor where Mia had ruined his first shirt.
Celeste held out a sealed laboratory envelope.
“It arrived tonight.”
Leo took it.
“The DNA test?”
“Yes.”
He opened it.
The woman from the red-door cottage was a 99.99 percent maternal match to Mia.
Leo sat down on the same marble floor.
For the first time, proof existed on paper.
Elena was alive.
May you like
But the chair across from him remained empty.
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