Chapter 7: Room 412, Nine O'Clock
Agent Reyes was younger than I expected.
Mid-forties, dark jacket, a notepad he didn't open until Lily told him to.
He shook my hand and said he was glad she hadn't come alone.
The hospital had given us a small conference room on the fourth floor.
Reyes had arrived ten minutes early and swept the room in a way that looked casual and wasn't.
"Warren came to the hospital yesterday," Lily said, before Reyes had fully sat down.
Reyes looked up.
"He came to Room 4B.
The doctor was present.
He made a statement that could be characterized as a threat." She glanced at me.
"My mother witnessed it."
"I'll need a written account from both of you," Reyes said.
He looked at me.
"Everything he said, in order, as close to exact wording as you can manage."
"He said we should be careful," I said.
"Both of us.
He said it after Lily told him about this meeting."
Reyes wrote something down.
"He knows about the meeting?" he said.
"I told him," Lily said.
"Deliberately."
Reyes set his pen down.
"Walk me through your thinking."
"He's been careful for twenty years because he's never been certain what anyone had on him.
I needed him frightened enough to move — to contact someone, to access something, to make a call he wouldn't normally make." She folded her hands on the table.
"If he believes the meeting is today, he spent last night doing something he shouldn't have."
Reyes looked at her for a long moment.
"His phone activity spiked at eleven-fourteen last night," he said.
"Four calls to a number registered to a dissolved LLC in Delaware.
Two calls to Philip Garrett."
Lily didn't smile.
But something settled in her expression.
"Garrett," I said.
"The records clerk," Lily said.
"Warren called him twice last night to make sure the falsified records were still buried." She looked at Reyes.
"Are they?"
"We pulled everything from that office six weeks ago under a separate warrant," Reyes said.
"Garrett doesn't know that yet."
The room was quiet for a moment.
"What happens now?" I asked.
"We execute the primary warrant this morning," Reyes said.
"Warren's financial accounts, his server access, his secondary office in Bridgeport." He looked at Lily.
"We'll need you available by phone.
You won't be present for the arrest."
"I know."
"It may take several days before formal charges are filed.
His attorney will move fast."
"I know that too."
Reyes picked up his pen again.
"There's one more thing," he said.
He opened the notepad and turned it to face Lily.
A name was written there, with an address below it.
"Cara's sister.
She's been looking for answers for thirteen years.
When this becomes public, she'll find out through the news." He paused.
"I thought you might want the option to reach her first."
Lily looked at the name on the notepad for a long time.
"Yes," she said quietly.
"I would."
Reyes closed the notepad and stood.
"I'll be in contact by early afternoon," he said.
He looked at me once more.
"Mrs.
— take care of her."
He left.
The conference room door clicked shut.
Lily stared at the table.
"It's really happening," I said.
"Yes." Her voice was barely above a whisper.
I put my hand over hers on the table.
Her phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen.
May you like
A single text from a number with no name attached.
*You made a mistake.*
