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“Ready?” my father asked.
My brother and I embraced, but neither of us spoke. He was out the door and almost in the car when I hurried after him. “Beau? Wait.”
He rested his arm on the open car door.
“I love you, Beau.”
He half smiled. “I love you as well, Lavery.”
I returnedto the kitchen to find Luisa making much better progress than I had on breakfast.
“Sit down and relax,” she said when I joined her.
“I can help.”
She leaned up and kissed me. “Press, please let me take care you, for a change.” It was the second time she’d said it. The first was the morning after my mother died. It wasn’t easy for me to accept help or even care from others, but with her, I could.
“Thank you, Luisa.”
After we’d finishedour breakfast and I’d cleaned up while she relaxed, I asked her if she’d like to take a walk with me.
“Would you mind taking me to your mother’s grave?” she asked.
“Not at all. If you’d like to visit it.”
“Very much so.”
We walked hand in hand, and when we arrived, Luisa held me as I cried. It was the comfort I’d yearned for on the day of the burial. “Thank you,” I said again, wiping my tears. “I can’t tell you what it means to me that you’re here.”
“It’s where I want to be, Press. With you. Anywhere with you.”
We spentthe rest of the afternoon setting up “our” office in the veranda room, as Luisa called it. I reviewed several of the reports I required on a weekly basis and gave her access to the accounts I needed her to pull numbers from.
“We’ll also set up a secure email.”
Her eyes opened wide.
“What?” I asked, taking her hand in mine.
“I haven’t checked mine. What if…”
“You have no need to worry.” I took her hand and led her to the daybed, bringing my laptop with me. I opened a browser and did a search for her name. There were no results.
“I don’t understand.”
“All of your information has been eradicated both from the internet and the dark web. There are no means for the man who sent the message to find you again.”
“I’ve just disappeared? Like I never existed?”
I searched my name and got the same results.
“You don’t exist either?” she asked.
“The software, for lack of a better word, was developed by Laird Butler. It is used extensively in the intelligence world. As far as any email that is set up or your new phone, for example, all incoming and outgoing communication is being monitored. Not the communication itself, but where it’s coming from or going to. You will not receive calls or messages from anyone who is not granted specific access.”
“How did he find my number before?”
“I can’t answer that, pet, but he won’t be able to do it again. Ever.”
