I pause at what would’ve been Claire’s room and rest my hand on the doorknob, but don’t enter. I’m not sure I can bring myself to go in there yet. Instead I go into the bathroom where the remnants from last night’s rendezvous are still present. This guy’s a fucking douche for cheating on his wife.
Getting down on my knees, I open the cabinet doors under the sink. Much to my surprise there’s only towels under there, making it easy for me to pull them out.
In the back corner there’s a small hole. Using the tip of a hairbrush I found on the counter, I lift up the piece of plywood and take a deep breath. When I look, I can’t contain my excitement and let out a, “Yeehaw.”
Sitting there nice and pretty, covered in a layer of dust is my Glock 19, along with the ammo that I need. I pick her up and use the towel that’s on the floor to clean her off. She hasn’t been fired in so long, I’ll have to take her to the gun range and if Cara lets me keep my new identification, I’ll be able to do just that.
Putting everything back the way I found it, I shake off the clump of dust and put that in the garbage. No one will check there for anything suspicious anyway.
Next, I go into what would’ve been mine and Penny’s bedroom and head right to the closet. My side was always the left, so I look on the right, where Penny kept her shoe rack. The rack in here looks like it’s the same, but it probably isn’t. I move the two boxes that are in the way of where I need to be and get back down on my knees. I pull at the carpet, but it doesn’t budge.
“Fuck,” I say. I continue to run my hands along the edge where the wall meets the carpet, but nothing comes lose.
“Does this look familiar?” Cara says from behind me. I turn to see a red box with a red ribbon. I gave this box to Penny for our first Christmas and she used it to put things she wanted to keep in there.
“Penny had a box like that,” I say as I reach for it. It’s not heavy, but there’s definitely stuff in there.
Taking a deep breath, I lift the lid and immediately fight back the onslaught of tears. Inside, staring back at me is a picture of Penny, Claire, and me days before I deployed. The next picture is just Claire along with most of the pile. When I get to the last one, there’s a face and it’s circled in red marker or crayon. When I flip it over, I almost lose the contents of my stomach at what I’m reading.
‘If you’re finding this and I’m not here, this man is responsible. His name is Ted Lawson.’
Cara must see my turmoil because she takes the picture from me. “Lawson,” she says, and I nod. “Where’s this taken?”
“I took it. I remember the day. We were outside playing and this car pulled up. He got out and looked around. He watched us for a few minutes until I said something. He never answered and I snapped the picture. I took it to security to find out who he was, but no one remembered seeing him. I meant to follow up—”
“But you deployed?”
“Within twenty-four hours.”
“We need to find your wife.”
I look at Cara, a mixture of confusion and frustration running through my mind. “Lawson has people on the outside. They’re probably searching for her,” she says, increasing my anxiety.
The thought tears at my insides and I pray Penny has armed herself or is out of the country.
“Anything else in the box?”
I dig through some of the mementos she kept until my fingers touch a key ring. Smiling, I hold it up.
“It’s the key to my storage unit and motorcycle. I doubt it’s still there, but maybe the owner forwarded mail to her or something.”
“Most likely not, but let’s go find out.”
I put everything back in the box, including my gun, and take it with me. It’s a not clear sign of her whereabouts, but at least I know why Lawson came after me … us.
CARA SPEEDS DOWN THE road heading toward the storage unit where I kept my bike. It’s crazy that after being gone for so long, I remember everything. Nothing seems out of place or new as we traverse the city streets.
I’m hoping Penny continued storing my bike after I left, but considering how everything happened so fast my gut is telling me she didn’t have time. Now, more than ever, I want to get my hands on Frannie. I want to shake the truth out of her, torture her until she tells me everything. Where’s my family and our belongings, and more importantly, why? Why the fuck did she target the four of us, or was it just me and the others were part of the casualties?
“Is Lawson really that fucked up to go after my kid because I asked around?”
Cara shakes her head. “Remember Renato?”
“Unfortunately.”
“He had a list of buyers looking for specific children. Some blonde, some brunette, some with green eyes, and one of the most sought after feature was virginity.”