Harold Hale lived outside Beaumont in a narrow brick house behind a line of pine trees.<\/p>\n
I did not go there.<\/p>\n
Detective Bell made that clear before I even suggested it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are not tracking down a witness connected to an active fraud investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t planning to knock on his door.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Rebecca.<\/p>\n
She tried not to smile.<\/p>\n
Bell continued, \u201cWe\u2019ve contacted him properly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he agree to talk?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToday.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hated waiting.<\/p>\n
Waiting had defined too much of my marriage.<\/p>\n
Wait for Travis to come home.<\/p>\n
Wait for repairs.<\/p>\n
Wait before spending.<\/p>\n
Wait before asking questions.<\/p>\n
Now, at least, waiting served evidence rather than obedience.<\/p>\n
Rebecca and Daniel spent the morning reviewing documents recovered from Carol\u2019s storage unit.<\/p>\n
Warren\u2019s ledger had been photographed page by page.<\/p>\n
The handwriting matched known samples.<\/p>\n
Dates aligned with bank transfers.<\/p>\n
The numbers were ugly.<\/p>\n
Daddy\u2019s trust had not disappeared in one theft.<\/p>\n
It had been dismantled in pieces.<\/p>\n
Seventeen thousand eventually benefited Carol.<\/p>\n
Eleven thousand went to Warren.<\/p>\n
Fifty-eight thousand passed through entities connected to Travis.<\/p>\n
Additional funds covered fees, transfers, and something labeled RESERVE A.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is Reserve A?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Daniel shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cStill tracing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThirty-six thousand initially.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt received later deposits from another source.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaddy\u2019s money?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPartly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there could be more than the original trust amount.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose additional money?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to identify.\u201d<\/p>\n
The missing folder seven likely addressed Reserve A.<\/p>\n
Travis had taken the one folder that might explain the account he had never disclosed.<\/p>\n
By noon, Bell called.<\/p>\n
Harold Hale had agreed to a recorded interview.<\/p>\n
Bell could not share everything immediately, but Harold had confirmed three important facts.<\/p>\n
He had been Raymond\u2019s business partner.<\/p>\n
He had been married to Carol.<\/p>\n
And he had not died.<\/p>\n
I pressed the phone harder to my ear.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did Travis tell me he was dead?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t answer that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Harold?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says Carol told Travis he had died.\u201d<\/p>\n
That stopped me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell repeated it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to Harold, Carol wanted him out of Travis\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe marriage ended badly.\u201d<\/p>\n
That phrase could cover almost anything.<\/p>\n
Bell continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold says he attempted contact for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Travis know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot initially.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually?\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Travis was twenty-four.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three years before Daddy died.<\/p>\n
Three years before the photograph at Carol\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Travis knew his father was alive before he started dating me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he still told me he was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lie was not something Carol had forced on him after childhood.<\/p>\n
Adult Travis had chosen to continue it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold has a theory.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat theory?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe believes Travis did not want anyone comparing their financial histories.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeaning?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRaymond and Harold\u2019s failed business venture.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaddy settled that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what was there to hide?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold says the default happened because Carol withdrew money from the company without authorization.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat back.<\/p>\n
There it was again.<\/p>\n
Carol.<\/p>\n
Money.<\/p>\n
Unauthorized access.<\/p>\n
Long before Daddy\u2019s trust.<\/p>\n
Long before me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cApproximately thirty thousand dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Daddy know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he blame Harold?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd later?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold provided records.\u201d<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
Daddy had once done what I was doing now.<\/p>\n
Followed documents.<\/p>\n
Discovered money missing.<\/p>\n
Realized Carol was involved.<\/p>\n
No wonder he distrusted Travis\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
No wonder his warning had been specific.<\/p>\n
Bell added, \u201cHarold says Raymond agreed not to pursue Carol criminally if she repaid part of the loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot fully.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Daddy later loaned her twenty-four thousand dollars for her house?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat appears to be what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at my notebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would he help her after she stole from their business?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold couldn\u2019t answer that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daddy could be hard.<\/p>\n
But he was not cruel.<\/p>\n
If Carol had been facing foreclosure with a young son, he might have helped despite everything.<\/p>\n
And perhaps that kindness convinced her he could be pushed again.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Harold know Warren Pike?\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell said yes.<\/p>\n
Warren had arranged the original commercial loan.<\/p>\n
Of course he had.<\/p>\n
The same banker stood behind every stage.<\/p>\n
Harold and Daddy.<\/p>\n
Carol.<\/p>\n
The trust.<\/p>\n
The fraudulent signer.<\/p>\n
Maybe Warren had not created the pattern.<\/p>\n
Maybe he had simply learned that the Hales were willing to exploit it.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes Harold know Reserve A?\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe recognized the phrase.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heartbeat quickened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe believes Warren used reserve accounts during distressed commercial workouts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn English.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney held outside the normal payment sequence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor legitimate reasons?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd illegitimate ones?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re investigating.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Folder seven.<\/p>\n
Reserve A.<\/p>\n
Travis\u2019s missing fifty-eight thousand plus whatever followed.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Harold ever have money in one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThirty-six thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
The exact amount Daniel had just mentioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cBell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReserve A wasn\u2019t created for Daddy\u2019s trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt already existed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold\u2019s money was in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then Daddy\u2019s money was added.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is one working possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father\u2019s trust might not have started the hidden account.<\/p>\n
It might have inherited one.<\/p>\n
A secret financial structure built years before I ever met Travis.<\/p>\n
After the call, Daniel checked the old business settlement.<\/p>\n
A thirty-six-thousand-dollar reserve had indeed been established during final negotiations.<\/p>\n
It should eventually have been distributed between creditors and partners.<\/p>\n
The closing documents claimed it had been exhausted.<\/p>\n
Harold said he never received his share.<\/p>\n
Neither had Daddy.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould Warren have kept it?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cPotentially.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Carol?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Travis later?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everything still returned to uncertainty.<\/p>\n
But now the timeline was clearer.<\/p>\n
Warren had access to a hidden reserve mechanism.<\/p>\n
Carol knew him through the failed business.<\/p>\n
Daddy knew both of them.<\/p>\n
Years later, Daddy\u2019s trust money passed through Warren and Carol.<\/p>\n
Travis benefited.<\/p>\n
Then thirteen years after that, Travis constructed another scheme around my property using the same habits.<\/p>\n
Altered access.<\/p>\n
Controlled communications.<\/p>\n
Paperwork designed to appear complete.<\/p>\n
A person absent when supposedly signing.<\/p>\n
History was not repeating accidentally.<\/p>\n
Someone had preserved the method.<\/p>\n
My phone rang.<\/p>\n
Unknown Texas number.<\/p>\n
Rebecca nodded before I answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cJune Parker Hale?\u201d<\/p>\n
A man\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
Older.<\/p>\n
Rough.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is Harold Hale.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Rebecca.<\/p>\n
Bell had apparently given him permission to contact me, or perhaps Harold had found my number another way.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words came so quickly that I did not know what they covered.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor not finding you sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t owe me that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI owed Raymond.\u201d<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew Daddy well?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the business failed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd after?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLess.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of Carol?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly.\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice carried exhaustion rather than bitterness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard you found Warren\u2019s papers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDetective told me enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo tell you something I should have told Raymond before he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat.<\/p>\n
Rebecca moved closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold breathed heavily.<\/p>\n
\u201cTravis contacted me six months before Raymond passed.\u201d<\/p>\n
My fingers tightened around the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted to know about the old business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat exactly?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere the missing reserve went.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse hammered.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him Warren handled it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Carol?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him she knew more than she admitted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked whether Raymond had money.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room blurred around me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaddy\u2019s trust?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot by name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him Raymond had always been careful. Probably had plenty put away.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Six months before Daddy died.<\/p>\n
Before the hospice room.<\/p>\n
Before Carol claimed Travis was merely a young man she tried to help.<\/p>\n
Travis had already been asking about Daddy\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else did he ask?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether Raymond ever used Warren personally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I lowered my head.<\/p>\n
Harold\u2019s voice softened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know what he was planning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you talk again?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA month after Raymond died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Travis say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe thanked me.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said I had helped him find money that should have belonged to the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Hale family?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you assumed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he mention me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
That hurt more than I expected.<\/p>\n
Not because I wanted to be included.<\/p>\n
Because Daddy\u2019s trust existed for me, yet Travis had described it as money belonging to some broader family claim.<\/p>\n
Like my inheritance had been sitting there waiting for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell anyone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t understand what he meant until later.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much later?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he bought the boat.\u201d<\/p>\n
The boat Daddy\u2019s money apparently funded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me Carol had settled old debts with Raymond\u2019s estate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe hadn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you confront Carol?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat I had abandoned Travis and had no right to question how she protected him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Rebecca.<\/p>\n
The language mattered.<\/p>\n
Protected him.<\/p>\n
That word had appeared around financial theft for years.<\/p>\n
Carol protecting Travis.<\/p>\n
Travis protecting our future.<\/p>\n
Every theft disguised as care.<\/p>\n
Harold continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told her Warren was dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he kept evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Folder seven.<\/p>\n
The ledger.<\/p>\n
Copies.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe kept leverage,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Travis know that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse jumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring that first conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Six months before Daddy died.<\/p>\n
Travis had known Warren kept evidence.<\/p>\n
Which meant when he went to Carol\u2019s storage unit now, he knew exactly what kind of material might exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold, what was in Reserve A?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Then:<\/p>\n
\u201cNot just money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca leaned toward the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRecords.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPayments Warren didn\u2019t want on bank books.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBribes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKickbacks?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never saw the full ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you saw part.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas Carol on it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWarren?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaddy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTravis?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold went quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would have been a child when Reserve A started.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat wasn\u2019t my question.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw his name years later.\u201d<\/p>\n
My breath stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Raymond died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t remember exactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOver a hundred thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s impossible. Daddy\u2019s trust was only one-eighty-six, and we already traced other payments.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t only Raymond\u2019s money.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat other money?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m telling you what I saw.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did you see the ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEight years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWarren showed me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlackmail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold did not use the word.<\/p>\n
He did not need to.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI refused.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said if I wouldn\u2019t pay, maybe Travis would.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warren died six years ago.<\/p>\n
Two years after showing Harold a ledger connecting Travis to more than one hundred thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
I asked, \u201cHow did Warren die?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca\u2019s eyes sharpened.<\/p>\n
Harold answered carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeart attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNatural?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as I know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped myself from building theories where facts did not exist.<\/p>\n
Bell\u2019s discipline had begun rubbing off on me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened to Warren\u2019s records after he died?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI assumed Carol had them.\u201d<\/p>\n
She did.<\/p>\n
At least some.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would Warren give them to her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how did she get them?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold was quiet for several seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk Travis.\u201d<\/p>\n
The line went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWarren called me three weeks before he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said Travis had been inside his house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking for the reserve files.\u201d<\/p>\n
The missing folder seven suddenly felt even heavier.<\/p>\n
Travis had been hunting those records for years.<\/p>\n
Not since Gulf Horizon began failing.<\/p>\n
Not since my property became useful.<\/p>\n
For years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat stopped him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWarren threatened to go to the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold paused.<\/p>\n
Then added quickly, \u201cI am not saying Travis had anything to do with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
And I did.<\/p>\n
A heart attack was a heart attack unless evidence said otherwise.<\/p>\n
But the timeline still mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Warren tell you where he kept the ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything about copies?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said one set was somewhere Travis would never willingly look.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
After we hung up, Rebecca called Bell.<\/p>\n
I returned to my notebook.<\/p>\n
Warren\u2019s records.<\/p>\n
Carol\u2019s unit.<\/p>\n
Folder seven.<\/p>\n
Reserve A.<\/p>\n
Another copy hidden somewhere Travis would never willingly look.<\/p>\n
I underlined the phrase.<\/p>\n
Beth called while Rebecca was still speaking with Bell.<\/p>\n
She sounded breathless.<\/p>\n
\u201cJune, are you at the office?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStay there.\u201d<\/p>\n
My body tensed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone broke into your house.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe neighbor called me because she saw police cars.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Travis there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas anything taken?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe deputy told me the workshop door was forced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daddy\u2019s workshop.<\/p>\n
The radio.<\/p>\n
The hidden recorder.<\/p>\n
My blood went cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything else?\u201d<\/p>\n
Beth paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe attic.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Daddy\u2019s letter on the table.<\/p>\n
Someone had searched both places where Raymond Parker had hidden records.<\/p>\n
And the first person I thought of was the man who had spent years hunting Warren\u2019s reserve files.<\/p>\n
Harold Hale lived outside Beaumont in a narrow brick house behind a line of pine trees. I did not go there. Detective Bell made that clear before I even suggested … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-every-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6703,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607\/revisions\/6703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}