Right now, she only needed his expenses. Dani tried the first two truck-bay doors with no success. Finally, on the third one, she caught a break. The huge roller door was cracked open. She’d have to army crawl to get in, but she didn’t want to wait any longer. Hopefully, she wouldn’t get oil stains on her jeans.
She lay on the freezing asphalt and shimmied under the door, then stood up inside and dusted off the dirt.
Now, Campos, where did you leave those expenses?
She waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness permeating the building. It was a completely different vibe, being here alone in the pitch black except for the red Exit signs. She should’ve brought her phone for the flashlight, but she was already here now. She kept her arms in front of her and slowly walked into the middle, where she wouldn’t trip over equipment. An air compressor engine roared from the opposite side of the shop.
Dani jumped.
Come on, Kim. Get the numbers and get out.
She finally found Campos’s desk, but she couldn’t see which stack of papers she needed. Guess she could take all of them and return what she didn’t need. She reached down for them but stopped at the sound of quiet echoes.
Voices? Who would be here now? And what were they doing in the dark?
Of course, if it was Campos, he could get her the papers right now.
“Hello?” she called out. Like talking in a cave, her own voice bounced back to her.
Whatever she was hearing stopped. Maybe it hadn’t been voices. It could’ve been a radio or a machine. But there had been something.
She quietly wound her way around the standing toolboxes and shop equipment, toward the other end of the shop. The sound of metal hitting the concrete floor clanged loudly.
Okay, somebody was here.
Dani felt her way around a hydraulic lift and finally saw a faint glow from a semitrailer’s back door all the way at the other end of the shop. It was only a sliver of light, but it was enough. More sounds came from inside it. One of the workers could be in there and not able to hear her. She crept faster now. “Hello?”
She reached the cracked-open door of the trailer and swung it wider.
It was empty.
Suddenly, a shove from behind lifted her body and propelled her in.
“Should’ve stayed out of this, sweetheart.” The low grumble she barely caught came right before the doors closed—too late to warn her. She picked herself off the icy metal floor and pounded on the door. “Wait! Let me out!”
The air inside was even colder than the mountain wind. She pounded again and looked around. Ice crystals caked the corners of the insulated walls. She was in the reefer.
She kicked at the door and waited.
Nothing.
Whoever was out there had left her here to die.
Thirteen
Michael couldn’t give up, but he was so tired of hitting wall after wall with his mom’s case. Another dead end that had looked so promising. He’d found some of her notes at Donner’s house. The two of them had been investigating something off the books, and it was looking like Donner had known more than he’d said.
Which burned inside, especially after all Michael had done to reach out to him.
Why hadn’t he said anything?
It was possible he’d been trying to protect himself. But there were unexplained payouts from Contra Corp, a security company. Maybe Donner had been doing side work, but Michael couldn’t find any local office, and the phone number listed online was a bust. Now, without names or contacts in Mom’s notes, he was dead in the water.
Michael dropped the file on the desk and scrubbed his face.
He picked up the small silver medal lying by the lamp and ran his thumb over the engraving of a cross and shield. Then he flipped it over and read the inscription.
To my beloved son, Michael.
