The Note Beneath the Money
Chapter 02 - The Note Beneath the Money
Caleb stared at Officer Reyes.
"You can't know my dad."
Daniel didn't move.
"Why not?"
"My mom said he was gone."
The answer landed differently than Elena expected.
Not dead.
Gone.
Daniel reached toward the folded paper, but Elena caught his wrist.
"Don't."
He looked at her.
"We treat everything in that bag as evidence."
Daniel nodded slowly.
He called airport police headquarters and requested that the area be secured.
Within minutes, the counter was closed. The duffel remained exactly where Caleb had placed it.
Elena crouched beside the boy.
"Caleb, what's your mother's name?"
"Sarah Carter."
"And when did you see her last?"
"Yesterday."
Sarah had made him dinner. She had acted nervous all evening, checking the windows twice and locking the back door three times.
Before Caleb went to bed, she had taken the black duffel from a hidden space beneath the kitchen floor.
Then she had given Caleb instructions.
If she wasn't home by seven in the morning, he was to take the number 14 bus to the airport.
Find a police officer.
Ask for Daniel Reyes.
Trust nobody who came asking about the bag.
Caleb had waited until 7:12.
Then he had done exactly what his mother told him.
Daniel finally opened the note while wearing evidence gloves.
There were only two lines.
Daniel read them silently.
His expression hardened.
"What does it say?" Elena asked.
Daniel looked at Caleb before answering.
"Sarah says the money is proof."
"Proof of what?"
Daniel folded the note again.
"That Caleb's father was innocent."
The terminal seemed to disappear around them.
Caleb stared at Daniel.
"Innocent of what?"
Daniel hesitated.
That hesitation frightened Elena more than the money.
Six years earlier, Daniel explained, a large amount of cash had disappeared from a secured cargo transfer at Mason Ridge Airport.
The man accused of taking it was an airport cargo supervisor.
His name was Owen Carter.
Caleb's father.
And according to every official record Elena remembered reading...
Owen Carter had died while running from the police.
Caleb's eyes filled with confusion.
"My mom never told me that."
Daniel looked toward the terminal entrance.
May you like
"No," he whispered.
"Because I don't think that's what really happened."
