The photograph showed Thomas Bell standing beside a woman in a red scarf. Her face was turned toward the camera. She looked frightened, but determined. On the back, in Thomas's handwriting, were the words: If anything happens, find Mara.
Walter closed his eyes.
“Who is Mara?” Eli asked.
Walter shook his head. “I don't know.”
Cho looked toward the tree line. “Then that's our next question.”
• • •
By evening, the name Mara had led the investigators to a former Vale Industrial bookkeeper living in a small apartment above a pharmacy in the state capital. Her full name was Mara Voss. She was sixty-one, had worked for the company for nine years, and had disappeared from its records in 2005.
When Cho called, she hung up.
When he called again, she answered but said nothing.
“This is Daniel Cho with the State Bureau of Investigation,” he told her. “We're looking into the disappearance of Thomas Bell.”
A long silence followed.
Then she whispered, “Is the car safe?”
“Yes.”
“Did you find the tape?”
“Yes.”
Another silence.
“Then they know.”
“Who?”
“Everyone who should have been afraid.”
Cho arranged a meeting at a secure location. Mara refused to come to the county station. She agreed only after Cho offered a state vehicle and two agents to escort her.
She arrived after dark, wearing the same red scarf shown in the photograph. Her hair was silver now, and her face had the drawn look of someone who had spent too long listening for footsteps outside a door.
Walter Bell stood when she entered.
Mara stopped.
“You're his father,” she said.
“Yes.”
“I am sorry.”
Walter studied her. “Did you know my boy?”
“I did.”
“Did you help him?”
Mara lowered her eyes. “I tried.”
“Did he die?”
She looked at Cho before answering. “I don't know.”
Walter's hand tightened around the back of his chair.
Mara explained that she had kept duplicate ledgers for Vale Industrial. She had discovered payments to contractors who were never hired, repair orders for vehicles that had never been serviced, and settlement records that appeared before accidents occurred. Thomas had approached her after finding one of the altered work orders.
“He was young,” she said. “He believed if he showed the truth to the right person, the right person would do something.”
“Who did he show?” Eli asked.
“His supervisor first. Then a state auditor. The auditor vanished from the case. Two weeks later, Thomas came to me and said he had to leave town.”
“Did he say where?”
“No. He said he had a way out.”
“Was that Martin Rusk?”
Mara's expression changed. “Martin?”
“He says he drove Thomas to the quarry.”
She shook her head. “Martin didn't take him there to help him escape.”
“Then why?”
“Because Martin was being paid to keep track of him.”
The room fell silent.
Mara opened her handbag and removed a small envelope. Inside was a photograph of a man standing outside a roadside motel. He wore a dark jacket and held a newspaper. His face was partly obscured, but the profile was unmistakable.
Eleanor Vale's father.
“His name was Arthur Vale,” Mara said. “He came to the quarry that night. I saw him.”
Walter's voice was barely audible. “What happened to my son?”
Mara pressed her fingers together.
“Thomas was taken away in the white truck. I saw him alive when they left. I never saw him again.”
“Who was driving?”
She looked at Eli.
“Martin Rusk.”
• • •
The next morning, investigators returned to the sheriff's office with a warrant for Rusk's records and a request to locate him. His phone was off. His sister said he had left before dawn, claiming he needed to visit an old friend.
The lockbox he had promised to show them was empty.
On the kitchen table, investigators found a note written in block letters:
I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO. DON'T LOOK FOR ME.
Naomi read it twice. “He knew we were coming.”
“Or someone warned him,” Eli said.
Cho stood by the window, watching the street. “Either way, he has the original records or knows where they went.”
Walter sat in the corner, his hands folded. He had not spoken since Mara's statement.
Eli approached him. “Mr. Bell, we need to ask you something.”
Walter looked up.
“Did Thomas have anyone else he trusted? Anyone who might know where he went after the quarry?”
Walter thought for a long moment. “His mother had a sister. June. She lived in Ohio. Thomas wrote to her when he was away at training.”
“Is she still alive?”
“I think so.”
“Do you have an address?”
Walter nodded slowly. “I have her last Christmas card.”