Chapter 13 - The Dead Messenger
The body was discovered less than three miles from the Collins house.
He lay inside an abandoned service tunnel beneath an overpass.
No wallet.
No identification.
No fingerprints in any government database.
Professional.
Too professional.
Detective Morris carefully examined the victim's clothing.
"There are no labels."
Rebecca noticed a small burn mark inside the jacket.
"It looks intentional."
Michael crouched beside the body.
"This wasn't a robbery."
"It was an execution."
The medical examiner agreed.
"The victim died less than an hour after leaving the Collins residence."
Margaret quietly stood several feet away.
She had never seen the man before.
At least...
she didn't think she had.
The examiner carefully removed a thin metal capsule hidden inside the man's belt.
"What is this?"
Michael immediately recognized it.
"A dead drop."
The capsule contained only one folded sheet of waterproof paper.
Rebecca carefully unfolded it.
Instead of words...
there were numbers.
Coordinates.
Edward frowned.
"They're not GPS coordinates."
Michael suddenly understood.
"They're archive references."
"Archive references?"
He nodded.
"They point to Richard's original corporate storage system."
Rebecca quickly checked Richard's journal.
The numbering matched perfectly.
Someone had been searching Richard's archives piece by piece.
Margaret looked at the victim's face one final time.
Then something caught her attention.
A faded scar beneath his left ear.
Her breathing slowed.
She had seen that scar before.
Years ago.
At Richard's funeral.
The man had stood far away among the mourners.
Watching.
Never speaking.
Richard had noticed him.
Margaret suddenly remembered her husband's final whisper before the ceremony ended.
"If you ever see that man again..."
He never finished the sentence.
She had forgotten those words for twenty-three years.
Now...
May you like
the memory returned.
Too late.
