30. Erik #3
That is a reason, not an obsession, so I let him continue.
The photographs show the car, the paperwork removed from the passenger floor, and an evidence bag containing Jeremy's wallet and keys.
No second mystery appears in the images because there isn't one.
The useful detail comes from the intake sheet attached to his papers.
A printed reimbursement form bears the same recovery abbreviation Aaron later used.
Harper reaches across the table. "There."
Serena checks it against the notebook. "Same category."
Peter closes the photographs after we capture the form. "Jeremy knew the route too."
Three hours later, Peter's maritime contacts find a charter reservation departing before dawn from a private dock in Stonington. The booking name belongs to a shell company we already tied to Orell.
Makari puts the charter record on the main screen. "This is too easy."
"Yes." I read the booking trail twice. It has just enough concealment to look hidden and just enough exposure to be found by people searching Zaitsev companies. "The boat is bait."
Peter comes around the table. "He expects you to take the obvious approach."
"Orell wants me arriving where he can see me. The charter gives me a route built for that."
Peter's expression changes before he reaches for the dock map. "Then we let him think you took it."
His people can shadow the charter and control the eastern dock while Orell watches the water. Makari starts building a second approach before Peter finishes marking positions.
Liya pulls up tomorrow morning's marine restrictions. "There's a Coast Guard exercise north of the island. Civilian traffic will already be diverted."
"That gives us noise."
"It can give us more." She takes out her phone. "I know the coordinator handling the traffic boundary."
Makari enlarges the island's western side. "A helicopter can approach from here. I can disable exterior cameras before the aircraft comes within visual range."
Peter marks the eastern dock. "My people keep the water route alive long enough to hold their attention."
We spend the next hour building failure points instead of pretending the plan can't fail.
If Orell sees through the charter, Peter withdraws.
If Makari can't disable the cameras, the helicopter aborts before landing.
If the air route fails, the island remains contained from the water while we reset.
I don't need the plan to be perfect. I need enough options that Orell can't force me into one.
Near midnight, the penthouse begins emptying. Peter leaves for the docks. Liya takes the foundation records into the office so she can work while making calls. Serena finally accepts coffee from Harper, though she drinks half of it while standing.
I go upstairs alone.
The bedroom looks wrong without Rowan in it. Her book remains on the chair near the window, while one of her sweaters is still over the end of the bench. I open the safe and take out the ring box, then remove the sealed laboratory envelope from my coat.
I put them beside each other on the dresser.
The ring existed before I knew about the babies. The envelope contains something Rowan intended us to learn together.
I don't open either one.
Instead, I take out my phone and start a recording. I get as far as her name before stopping, because the message sounds like a man preparing to die. I delete it, try again, and make the second version worse.
On the third attempt, I stop trying to say it correctly.
"Rowan, I should've answered you when you asked whether our future could be safe. I gave you documents because documents are easier for me than promises."
I look at the ring box before continuing.
"I'm closing the last routes whether you come back to me or not. Liya keeps the foundation, and Makari keeps the legitimate companies. I won't rebuild the rest after Orell is gone."
The last part is harder, which is reason enough to say it.
"You won't have to wonder whether I chose you and our children over this life. I already did. I should've told you before you had to ask."
I stop the recording and send it to Makari with instructions he won't like. He gives it to Rowan only if I don't bring her home myself.
Then I put the ring and unopened envelope inside my coat.
Makari calls before I reach the office. "We have footage."
I'm already moving when the elevator opens.
The video fills the wall screen downstairs.
Rowan comes through a service corridor holding a steel support in one hand, wearing socks instead of shoes.
Blood marks one sleeve. A guard reaches the doorway behind her, and she drives the metal backward hard enough to send him into the wall before she runs again.
The camera changes. Rowan reaches a lower corridor and disappears toward a service stairwell.
The file ends.
I look at the timestamp. "When?"
"Yesterday." Makari brings up the transmission data beside the frozen image.
"Why are we receiving it now?"
"Orell sent it through a dead account twenty minutes ago. The estate was evacuated before the file reached us."
I look at Rowan frozen mid-stride on the screen, bruised, pregnant, and running anyway.
Orell didn't send proof that he still had her.
He sent proof that she almost got away.