Chapter 16 - The Door Behind the Books
The search required a fresh legal basis.
Our attorneys worked from the new affidavits, the archived property records, and Rowan's account.
The authorization came shortly before Richard's commendation ceremony.
He was onstage when the team arrived at his house.
For once, his confidence in ceremony helped us.
The library was exactly as I remembered, except the walls had been repainted cream.
The floorboards creaked beneath the same shelves.
I found the brass ornament my mother used to call the blue bird.
It was still fixed to the end of a bookcase.
When I pressed its wing, I felt a latch move.
The shelf opened a fraction.
Behind it was a shallow storage space.
The cabinet inside was not filled with money or jewels.
It held index cards, backup tapes, original ledger pages, and a small envelope bearing my name.
Investigators photographed everything in place before touching it.
I stood in the doorway, hearing my mother's voice in an echo of memory.
The second door is for telling the truth.
The evidence included copies of approvals altered to show my initials years before I had authority to sign anything.
But the final ledger page had something more important.
A payment authorization bore Yates's handwriting and the notation R.B. ADVISED.
That phrase alone was not proof of an order.
Beside it was a numbered telephone record that could be checked against independent billing data.
The investigators requested those records immediately.
My mother's envelope was shorter than I'd hoped.
CLAIRE, YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CHOICES THE ADULTS AROUND YOU MAKE.
DON'T LET THEM TURN YOUR GOODNESS INTO THEIR EXCUSE.
At the bottom, she had written a location and a name.
A safe address used by a retired military chaplain.
Vance checked the address through security channels.
The chaplain reported that two frightened people had arrived there the previous evening.
A young man.
And a young woman with a bruised wrist.
Tyler and Ana.
May you like
Both alive.
