Sean squinted at his phone’s screen. Most of the e-mails from work had nothing to do with Sean. He’d learned quickly that for a firm with more than one thousand lawyers in nine offices, Harrington & Caine had lax e-mail policies. Daily he received firmwide e-mails from colleagues seeking contacts with different companies, or information about particular judges, or selling opera tickets, or even lost-and-founds. If Sean ever lost a paperback in the firm’s bathroom, he decided, he’d take the ten-buck loss rather than subject colleagues to the mental image of him reading while on the toilet.
He scrolled down until he saw two e-mails from Abani Gupta, which he presumed included the Senate questionnaire and other vetting materials on Senator James. The first e-mail included password-protected files, the second contained the password for the files. Half-assed security, all things considered. Gupta asked Sean to attend a meeting with Senator James the next morning. Short notice, she apologized, but they were on a tight schedule. It would be a quick meet-and-greet with the senator to set a schedule for Sean to help him prepare for his confirmation hearing. Sean replied that he would attend. The files were too large to open on his phone, so he spun the laptop around to log on to his e-mail account. The CNN website was still on the screen. He noticed that the site had loaded more photos of Sean and Malik’s showdown at dinner, including new shots of the Serrats leaving the restaurant. If only he’d pulled open the umbrella sooner to shield them from the aggressive photographer. The editor at the website had carefully cropped out Ryan and Jack from the photos, as if that made up for the indecent spectacle of it all.
Sean’s eye focused on one of the shots. They were just outside the restaurant, Sean looking away as Emily stalked forward, head up, her expression trancelike. A male figure was in the background. Sean leaned in closer to the screen. He blinked several times to make sure he was seeing clearly. But there he was, faded into the backdrop of the shot. Same scraggly hair, same flannel shirt.
His thoughts were interrupted by Emily’s scream.
CHAPTER 50
Sean stumbled off the kitchen stool and raced to the family room. If it had been Before, he would have expected to find a big spider or the appearance of the killer in a horror movie (the only two things that ever seemed to scare Emily). But life was different now, and fear heaved in his chest. Emily was backing away from the window, the curtains still fluttering from where she’d whooshed them shut.
“Are you okay? What’s going on? What is it?”
“Somebody’s out there.”
Sean instinctively pushed in front of Emily, shielding her from the window.
Ryan was now on the stairs. “Everything okay?”
Sean opened the curtains covering the French doors to a slit and looked outside onto their back patio. He could see the outline of someone, probably just a reporter skulking around, but there was a glare from the family room light. He gestured for Emily to turn it off. When the room went dark, his heart tripped at the sight of the man. His hair was soaked and strings of it fell across his face. He glared into the window, a menacing tilt of the head. The wet flannel shirt stuck to his thin frame.
It was him. A drenched rat emerging from the sewer. What did he want? Why was he outside the restaurant earlier that night? And why was he here at the house? Sean thought of his gun, but it was locked upstairs. And the gun had already caused enough trouble. Sean took in a deep breath and moved toward the door.
“You’re not going out there?” Emily said. It was both a question and a command.
“I’ll be okay, lock the door behind me. And have the phone ready to call 9-1-1 if needed.”
Before Em could protest more, Sean was on his back patio, facing his boyhood friend, Kenny Baldwin. Kenny moved into the shadows and was looking around, nervous, the rain still coming down hard. Kenny’s eyes met Sean’s. They stared at one another, not saying anything until Sean finally began with a single word: “Why?”
“We can’t talk here,” Kenny said. “He may be watching.”
“Who? What are you—”
“Let’s take a ride and I’ll tell you everything.”
Sean gave a you’ve got to be fucking kidding me expression. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” He looked back at the house. Two dark masses were in the window.
“You will if you wanna know what happened to your daughter.”
CHAPTER 51
“You’re doing what? No, Sean. Who is this man?” Emily’s face was wrinkled with worry and disbelief.
Ryan paced the family room, a caged animal. Mercifully Jack, who could sleep with a jackhammer outside his window, was still in bed.
“He has information about Abby.” Sean made long eye contact with Emily, realizing that Ryan was watching them. “I know him. I’ll be fine.”
Ryan said, “Is this about what happened with the man from Chipotle? Is this one of his friends? I don’t think you should go, Dad.” Ryan peered out the window. Rain drops bounced off the flagstone. Kenny sat inside the darkened SUV in the driveway. Sean knew he was there by the flash of a lighter through the tinted glass.
“You need to trust me on this.” He looked at Emily. There was a long silence. But he could see retreat in her face.
“Mom, seriously?” Ryan said.
Emily stepped away from the door. “We need to trust your father.”