For several seconds, none of us spoke.<\/p>\n
The photograph remained on my phone.<\/p>\n
The old rehearsal building.<\/p>\n
The empty windows.<\/p>\n
The cracked brick.<\/p>\n
The place where a year earlier, Travis had played bass with a band that no longer existed.<\/p>\n
And beneath the photograph, the message.<\/p>\n
YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME.<\/p>\n
Ryan looked at Travis.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said the records were with Derek.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought they were.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don't know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen where could they be?\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis rubbed his forehead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to think.\u201d<\/p>\n
I watched him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're remembering something.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night I moved here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that have to do with anything?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the band broke apart, Derek and I argued about the records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind of records?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCopies of payments. Contracts. Deposits. Everything Mark had handled.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Derek took them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he told me he had them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis looked at the street.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo days later, Derek disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDisappeared?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe left town.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout telling anyone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did you think the records were with him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he called me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThree nights after he left.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he had hidden the documents somewhere safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wouldn't tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said Mark was looking for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt my stomach tighten.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Mark knew Derek had them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now Mark thinks you have them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you don't.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan frowned.<\/p>\n
Travis stood and walked toward the garage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to check something.\u201d<\/p>\n
He opened a storage cabinet.<\/p>\n
Inside were old boxes, guitar strings, cables, photographs, and equipment cases.<\/p>\n
He moved several things aside.<\/p>\n
Then he stopped.<\/p>\n
There was a black metal case beneath a stack of amplifier covers.<\/p>\n
He pulled it out.<\/p>\n
I recognized it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat's that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy old bass case.\u201d<\/p>\n
He opened it.<\/p>\n
Inside was the bass guitar.<\/p>\n
Underneath the lining was a thin envelope.<\/p>\n
Travis stared at it.<\/p>\n
Ryan moved closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew that was there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis lifted the envelope.<\/p>\n
It was sealed.<\/p>\n
There was writing on the front.<\/p>\n
DEREK.<\/p>\n
His hands shook slightly.<\/p>\n
I looked at Ryan.<\/p>\n
Neither of us spoke.<\/p>\n
Travis opened it.<\/p>\n
Inside were photocopies.<\/p>\n
Bank transfers.<\/p>\n
Venue contracts.<\/p>\n
Invoices.<\/p>\n
Payment confirmations.<\/p>\n
And one handwritten page.<\/p>\n
Travis read it silently.<\/p>\n
Then he sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
He handed it to me.<\/p>\n
The note was from Derek.<\/p>\n
He had written that Mark had been taking money from the band through false booking fees.<\/p>\n
But there was more.<\/p>\n
Mark had also been using the band's rehearsal schedule to identify where members lived and when they would be away.<\/p>\n
I looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn't about the money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Travis said.<\/p>\n
Ryan read the page.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would he track where you lived?\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The police were called again.<\/p>\n
They arrived quickly.<\/p>\n
The documents were photographed and collected.<\/p>\n
The officer read Derek's note.<\/p>\n
Then his expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed to a line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere's a date here.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked.<\/p>\n
It was the date Emma started school.<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would that matter?\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer didn't answer immediately.<\/p>\n
He looked at Travis.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Mark know this date?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer looked at Ryan.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid anyone besides family know Emma's school schedule?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTeachers. School staff. Approved pickup adults.\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we need to establish whether the person watching the school had access to this information.\u201d<\/p>\n
I suddenly remembered something.<\/p>\n
\u201cMelissa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe's the only person who knew the original pickup arrangement before Travis was added.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew because you told her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you think she did this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I said it immediately.<\/p>\n
But the officer didn't dismiss the possibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon't accuse anyone without evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next morning, Melissa came to our house.<\/p>\n
She looked frightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got your message.\u201d<\/p>\n
I showed her the photograph.<\/p>\n
She covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's the school.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at Ryan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat's happening?\u201d<\/p>\n
We explained everything.<\/p>\n
When we mentioned Mark, her expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
Melissa hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI've seen him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the grocery store.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA few weeks ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he speak to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he approach Emma?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he look like?\u201d<\/p>\n
She described him.<\/p>\n
It matched.<\/p>\n
The officer was called again.<\/p>\n
Melissa provided the details.<\/p>\n
Then she remembered something.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was standing near the parking lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich parking lot?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe grocery store.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he have a car?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA white SUV.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis looked at Ryan.<\/p>\n
The same vehicle.<\/p>\n
The officer wrote everything down.<\/p>\n
Melissa sat quietly.<\/p>\n
Then she said something unexpected.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn't alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone turned toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was with him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMan or woman?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDescription?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTall.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything else?\u201d<\/p>\n
She frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlack jacket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy former manager.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark.<\/p>\n
Two men.<\/p>\n
The same two men we had been trying to separate in our minds.<\/p>\n
Perhaps they weren't separate at all.<\/p>\n
Perhaps Mark had been using someone else to move around unnoticed.<\/p>\n
The officer asked Melissa whether she could identify the second man.<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot his face.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything distinctive?\u201d<\/p>\n
She thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe walked with a limp.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis looked up sharply.<\/p>\n
\u201cDerek.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're saying Derek and Mark are together?\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to establish that before assuming anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
That afternoon, the police contacted Derek's former employer.<\/p>\n
They discovered something none of us expected.<\/p>\n
Derek had never left the state.<\/p>\n
He had been living under a different address.<\/p>\n
The officer called us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere's a development.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDerek has been located.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty minutes from your home.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs he dangerous?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy was he hiding?\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says he's been afraid of Mark.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why didn't he contact you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says he didn't trust anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sounded familiar.<\/p>\n
Too familiar.<\/p>\n
I looked at Travis.<\/p>\n
He was staring at the floor.<\/p>\n
The officer continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cDerek wants to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA public location.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis immediately said, \u201cI'll go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don't know what he knows.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer agreed that Travis shouldn't meet Derek alone.<\/p>\n
So we went together.<\/p>\n
Derek was waiting in a diner at the edge of town.<\/p>\n
He looked older than Travis remembered.<\/p>\n
Thinner.<\/p>\n
Exhausted.<\/p>\n
When he saw Travis, he stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou found them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe records?\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew you'd eventually find them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you hide them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Mark was looking for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn't you tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night I left.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never got your message.\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek looked confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI answered.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek's face changed.<\/p>\n
Then he understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone intercepted it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
Derek sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark had someone watching all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how did he know about Emma?\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek looked at Travis.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he wasn't watching you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis frowned.<\/p>\n
Derek lowered his voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was watching the people around you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek looked directly at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour husband.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan stiffened.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark saw you arguing with Travis.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOutside the rehearsal building.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan looked at Travis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe thought you were involved in the missing money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Mark didn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everything suddenly shifted.<\/p>\n
The man watching our family hadn't started because of Emma.<\/p>\n
He had started because he believed Ryan knew something.<\/p>\n
And when Travis began walking Emma home, Mark realized Ryan was connected to Travis.<\/p>\n
The school.<\/p>\n
The house.<\/p>\n
The pickup schedule.<\/p>\n
The photographs.<\/p>\n
They were all part of the same attempt to locate the records.<\/p>\n
Then Derek said the one thing none of us expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark doesn't have the records.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what does he have?\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek's answer was quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has someone inside the school.\u201d<\/p>\n
My blood ran cold.<\/p>\n
The police officer immediately stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know the name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the person has been giving Mark the pickup information.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan looked at me.<\/p>\n
The school.<\/p>\n
The teachers.<\/p>\n
The approved list.<\/p>\n
Someone had known every change we made.<\/p>\n
Every person who collected Emma.<\/p>\n
Every day Travis walked her home.<\/p>\n
Every time Ryan came instead.<\/p>\n
And suddenly, the frightening question wasn't who had been watching our daughter.<\/p>\n
It was who had been helping them see her.<\/p>\n
For several seconds, none of us spoke. The photograph remained on my phone. The old rehearsal building. The empty windows. The cracked brick. The place where a year earlier, Travis … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sharestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3454,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3442\/revisions\/3454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}