Chapter 36 - The Message Hidden in the Backpack
Marcus made his decision.
"I'm going."
Dana shook her head.
"Not alone."
Within moments, Marcus and two plainclothes officers moved through the terminal while the operations room tracked Samuel's position across the camera network.
Passengers hurried around them, unaware that one ordinary traveler had become the center of an investigation stretching back more than a decade.
Samuel finally stopped beside a quiet seating area overlooking the runway.
He placed the gray backpack on the floor.
Instead of opening it...
...he waited.
Marcus approached carefully.
"Samuel Whitmore?"
The young man looked up.
His expression held neither surprise nor fear.
"I wondered how long it would take."
Marcus stopped three feet away.
"You know who I am?"
"I know you're Officer Marcus Hale."
Marcus's heartbeat quickened.
"We've never met."
"No."
Samuel smiled faintly.
"But my grandfather described you."
Marcus remained silent.
"Daniel died twelve years ago."
"So everyone keeps telling me."
Samuel knelt beside the backpack and unzipped the largest compartment.
The officers instinctively moved closer.
Samuel slowly removed...
...a sealed manila envelope.
Across the front, written in Daniel Whitmore's unmistakable handwriting, appeared six words.
Deliver Only After the Suitcase Opens.
Marcus stared at the envelope.
"Where did you get this?"
Samuel answered honestly.
"It arrived at my apartment three days ago."
"No return address?"
He shook his head.
"No postage."
"Did you open it?"
Samuel smiled.
"It wasn't addressed to me."
Marcus accepted the envelope.
The paper felt old.
Much older than three days.
May you like
As though it had been waiting years for exactly this moment.
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