“Cole started watching him after that.”
Cole nodded.
“Daniel changed.”
“New house.”
“Money.”
“Company.”
Sarah frowned.
“His consulting business.”
“He said it took off after Michael died.”
Cole’s jaw tightened.
“Exactly.”
Sarah’s hand closed around Noah’s.
“I need to call him.”
Cole said:
“Don’t.”
“Why?”
“If he knows Noah found the bell—”
“How could he?”
Sarah stopped.
Her phone was already in her hand.
She had taken it out without realizing.
Daniel’s number sat near the top of favorites.
Family.
Birthdays.
Christmas.
Noah called him Uncle Daniel.
Daniel came to Noah’s school play last spring.
Bought him a telescope.
Sarah suddenly felt sick.
She pressed call.
Cole reached toward her.
Then stopped himself.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
No answer.
Sarah tried again.
This time the line connected immediately.
No greeting.
Only breathing.
“Daniel?”
Silence.
“Daniel, it’s Sarah.”
Then his voice.
“Where are you?”
Sarah felt Cole watching.
“At a motorcycle garage.”
The line went completely silent.
“Daniel?”
His voice returned.
Different.
Lower.
“Sarah.”
“What?”
“Listen carefully.”
Something inside her twisted.
“Take Noah and leave.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
“What happened to Michael?”
Silence.
Sarah’s voice rose.
“What happened to my husband?”
Daniel did not answer.
Sarah shouted.
“WHAT HAPPENED TO MICHAEL?”
Noah flinched.
Sarah immediately lowered her volume.
The call filled with faint static.
Then Daniel whispered:
“You found the bell, didn’t you?”
Sarah stopped breathing.
Cole’s face hardened.
“How do you know about the bell?”
The phone disconnected.
Sarah stared at the screen.
Cole turned toward the bald biker.
“Lock the gate.”
The man moved immediately.
Sarah looked up.
“What are you doing?”
“Keeping Daniel outside until we know what we’re dealing with.”
“Cole—”
“He knew.”
Sarah looked toward the steel locker.
Cole closed his hand around the key.
“Whatever Michael left in 214, Daniel is terrified we’re about to find it.”
Noah tugged gently on Cole’s vest.
“Mr. Cole?”
Cole looked down.
The boy pointed toward the front windows.
A black SUV had turned into the parking lot.
Daniel got out.
Sarah’s heart nearly stopped.
He looked almost exactly as he always did.
Forty-four.
Clean haircut.
Navy polo.
Jeans.
A little heavier than six years earlier.
Familiar.
Family.
Then two men stepped out behind him.
Neither looked familiar.
Both wore dark jackets despite the afternoon warmth.
Cole’s expression hardened.
The bald biker dropped the sliding gate lock into place.
Daniel walked toward it.
He did not look at Cole.
He looked at Noah.
That frightened Sarah more than anything.
“Daniel.”