Chapter 6 - Darren’s Rule
“Where are you?”
Darren laughed.
“Twelve years and that’s your first question?”
“My first question is whether you’ve gone near June.”
Silence.
Then: “Not my kid.”
“Good. Stay away from her.”
“You always did talk like you were bigger than the room.”
“You always needed rooms where people were afraid.”
His breathing changed.
I had hit something.
Good.
Collins motioned for me to keep him talking.
Darren said, “Emily turned her against me.”
“She’s seven.”
“She knows my name?”
“No.”
A lie.
“Heard you’re spending time with them.”
“You’ve been watching.”
“Maybe.”
“What do you want?”
Another laugh.
“Not from you.”
“Then why steal my statement?”
“To remember how brave you sounded.”
I looked at Collins.
She was tracing.
Darren continued.
“Tell Emily I want the box.”
“What box?”
“She’ll know.”
The call ended.
Trace failed.
Burner phone.
Of course.
I called Emily.
Collins told me not to mention details in front of June.
Emily went silent when I said “the box.”
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s not true.”
“It’s nothing Darren can use.”
“Then why does he want it?”
Emily looked toward the motel bathroom where June was brushing her teeth.
“It belongs to June.”
My chest tightened.
“What belongs to June?”
“Her real father’s things.”
There it was.
Another secret.
“Who was her father?”
Emily sat down.
“His name was Caleb Ross.”
I knew the name.
Everybody in Springfield who read local news ten years ago knew it.
Caleb Ross had been a deputy sheriff.
Killed in a roadside crash eight months before June was born.
Except the crash had always been strange.
Single vehicle.
No skid marks.
Brake line damage blamed on corrosion.
I stared at Emily.
“You were with a deputy while married to Darren?”
“We were separated.”
“Did Darren know?”
“Yes.”
“And Caleb died before June was born.”
Emily nodded.
I felt something ugly settle into place.
“What’s in the box?”
“Caleb’s badge. Letters. A flash drive. Copies of things he was investigating.”
“What things?”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“Darren.”
The bathroom door opened.
June came out holding a toothbrush.
“Mom?”
Emily forced a smile.
“Bed, baby.”
June looked at her.
Then at me on video call.
May you like
Then she said something that froze us both.
“The man in the blue hat said Caleb too.”
