Chapter 2 - What the Seam Concealed
The agents photographed the garment, recorded Mei's account of how she found the sleeve, and collected it under documented procedures. She was told not to wash, repair, or discuss the suit until they had examined it. Mei gave them the shop's security footage and the original cleaning ticket. It was humiliating to explain that she had opened the lining while trying to treat a stain, then accused the customer before knowing what the object contained.
Special Agent Dana Brooks listened carefully. "You can be worried about your husband and still be precise," she said. "Tell me what you saw. Let us decide what questions it raises."
Mei described the stain, the sleeve, and Marco's comments. Brooks asked whether Marco was a regular customer. He wasn't. His order had been placed under a corporate account two days earlier, with a request for urgent stain removal. The delivery driver said the garment came from an office where Marco sometimes worked, not directly from his home.
That detail complicated Mei's certainty. Marco might have known about the object, or he might have been sent to collect something planted without his consent. His fear could be genuine and still conceal his involvement. Mei resisted calling either possibility a fact.
At home Lily heard the story and went pale. "You confronted him alone?"
"He walked into the shop."
"You knew he was connected to Dad. You could have called somebody first."
"I had already called the FBI."
"That's not the same as keeping yourself safe."
Mei looked at her daughter, hearing the adult voice she sometimes forgot Lily possessed. She apologized for taking the risk and promised to share decisions that affected them both rather than treating Lily as a child who needed protection from every difficult detail.
Lily sat at the kitchen table with Henry's old wallet. She kept it because the photo inside showed the three of them at a county fair, all laughing at something outside the frame. She asked whether the agents had found a body. Mei said no. The FBI was examining financial records and an object from a suit, not announcing that Henry had been located.
The next day Mei received a formal request for old business correspondence. Years earlier Henry used the dry-cleaning shop's back office to scan audit documents after his employer's network became unreliable. Mei had preserved his files without opening many of them. She provided copies through proper channels and retained a list of what she gave investigators.
Henry had worked as an internal auditor for a shipping company that leased warehouse space along the harbor. Shortly before vanishing, he found invoices for cargo handling that didn't match actual deliveries. He told Mei there were people getting paid for work no one performed. She had assumed it was another frustrating accounting dispute. He had disappeared after saying he would meet an attorney about it.
Brooks called with an update on the sleeve. It contained a memory card and a folded strip of paper carrying handwritten account codes. The card was readable, but specialists were verifying its content and history. Some files appeared to be backups of transactions from Henry's employer. Others were recordings made by a device whose identity had not been established.
Mei wanted to know whether Henry's voice was among them. Brooks said they were checking. The agent didn't offer hope she couldn't support. Mei found herself grateful for the plainness, even while she wanted to shake the phone until an answer fell out.
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Marco's company issued a statement saying he had no knowledge of illegal activities and was cooperating with investigators. Mei looked at the words and remembered his warning about Lily. She wondered whether he had been trying to frighten her or protect her from something he knew. Both were possible, and the uncertainty made her angry.
That evening an envelope arrived at the shop with no return address. Inside was a photocopy of Henry's last expense report. The signature at the bottom was his, but the date was three weeks after he disappeared.
