\u201cAnd I wasn\u2019t,\u201d I snapped, heat flaring. \u201cI was wiping my wife\u2019s mouth while my sister was drugging her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chen\u2019s eyes stayed steady. \u201cThen help us prove that.\u201d<\/p>\n
I forced myself to breathe. Goal: clear my name. Conflict: the paper says otherwise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you need?\u201d I asked, the words coming out like swallowing nails.<\/p>\n
Chen nodded once, approving. \u201cWe need whatever they\u2019re asking you to bring.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe \u2018book,\u2019\u201d Harper murmured, glancing at the Polaroid I\u2019d handed over.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I don\u2019t have another book,\u201d I said, frustration rising. \u201cUnless\u2014\u201d My mind flashed to Bree\u2019s work folder in my safe. The pages with Alyssa\u2019s name circled. The initials K.M.<\/p>\n
Chen leaned in slightly. \u201cBree had more than one set of records. Work records. Personal notes. A whistleblower packet. Anything that could bring down multiple people. If she hid something else, you\u2019re the most likely person she hid it near.\u201d<\/p>\n
I shook my head slowly. \u201cI sold the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harper\u2019s brows knit. \u201cWhen did you close?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA few weeks ago,\u201d I said. \u201cBut the new owners haven\u2019t moved in yet. Renovations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chen\u2019s gaze sharpened. \u201cThen the property may still hold evidence. And someone else may be trying to retrieve it before we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened as the threat clicked into place. Those messages weren\u2019t just intimidation. They were instructions. A test. They thought I had something. They were trying to pull it out of hiding by scaring me into handing it over.<\/p>\n
Chen pushed a card toward me. \u201cCall me if anything else happens. And Mr. Rourke\u2014don\u2019t go back there alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed, sharp and humorless. \u201cSeems like I\u2019m not allowed to do anything alone anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harper walked me out. The hallway smelled like disinfectant and wet boots. At the front door, she stopped me with a hand on my arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatt,\u201d she said quietly, \u201cif this turns out to be bigger than Kellan\u2014if there are more people\u2026 promise me you won\u2019t try to play hero.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her hand, then up at her face. \u201cI\u2019m not a hero,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m just tired of being someone\u2019s tool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back at my apartment, the bait shop downstairs was open. A bell jingled every time someone came in, and the scent of cut bait drifted up through the floorboards like a warning.<\/p>\n
I checked my mailbox out of habit, even though the Polaroid hadn\u2019t been mailed.<\/p>\n
Inside was a small brass key taped to a plain white envelope.<\/p>\n
No stamp. No address.<\/p>\n
Just four words, printed from a label maker:<\/p>\n
UNIT 12. DON\u2019T WAIT.<\/p>\n
My throat tightened as my hand closed around the cold metal.<\/p>\n
If they wanted me at Unit 12, did that mean the \u201cbook\u201d was already there\u2014and if so, what would I find first: the truth that clears me, or a trap that buries me?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Part2: Despite my wife\u2019s six-year coma, I saw that she was getting dressed every night. I felt that something wasn\u2019t quite right, so I pretended to be traveling for work. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reddit-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2369,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368\/revisions\/2369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}