Climbing behind the wheel, I started up my car and quickly backed out. Then I headed for the exit to the property. I paused as the automatic gate began to open, watching my rearview mirror the entire time, and slowly eased through the gate and up to the street. Just as I pulled into slight traffic, I noticed the headlights of the Explorer pop on behind me in the parking lot.
TWENTY-THREE
I kept my eyes on my rearview mirror. I couldn’t tell if the black Ford Explorer was following me. There were too many headlights behind me to make out anything. I sighed, shook my head, tried to convince myself I was being silly. Still, I kept my eyes on my mirrors. A couple of minutes later, I parked in my in-laws’ driveway. I wasn’t completely lying to Taylor about tonight. I still had intentions of going by my in-laws’—just not to look for framed photos. Instead, I planned to search every nook and cranny of Joe’s home office to see if I could find anything related to what I’d uncovered over the past twenty-four hours. Entering through the garage, I felt relieved when I heard the alarm beeping and waiting to be disarmed. I didn’t want to run into another intruder tonight. From a front window, I peeked out at the street. I didn’t spot the Explorer anywhere.
I headed straight to Joe’s home office and flipped on the lights. I started with a small closet that held a few legal boxes and a couple of plastic tubs. I pulled out the boxes. Like those in the storage unit, these were also labeled on the outside with black marker for certain clients. Joe still took on a case here and there when he felt like it. I pulled out each and every file and carefully reviewed the paperwork inside to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Nothing from the three boxes captured my attention. The plastic tubs held only miscellaneous office supplies like copy paper, pens, notepads, paper clips, and such. The tubs were probably what my father-in-law used when he’d cleaned out his work office for the last time a few years ago. I had already looked through the three drawers of files that were built into the wall of wood shelves behind Joe’s desk. But I wanted to check them again to see if I’d missed anything. I pulled out every file and spread them on the hardwood floor. Nothing peculiar jumped out at me.
Shifting my attention to Joe’s desk, I began pulling out drawers and sifting through the contents. The center drawer contained pens, pencils, markers, and various business cards that Joe had collected over the years. I reviewed each of the business cards and then put them back. The next drawer only housed mailing envelopes and labels. A third drawer contained a pile of old bills. The fourth drawer was stuffed full with probably every single handwritten card my daughters had ever given to my father-in-law. This made me pause a moment. I felt a catch in my throat and a sudden flood of grief for my daughters. There would be no more cards made for Papa. My girls had found such joy in creating them. Especially because Joe would go over the top in showing his appreciation for each and every one. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
I found something interesting in the bottom left drawer. A small black safe about the size of a shoebox with a small silver logo on it that said TurboVault. I pulled the safe out of the drawer and set it on the desk. There was a silver keypad on the front of the box along with a round silver handle. I tried to turn the handle, but it was locked. I had no clue what Joe might have used for the code. I typed in the code for the garage and a light next to the keypad blinked red. Then I typed in the original code for the house alarm. The light again blinked red. Damn. My eyes drifted back over to the name of the TurboVault logo, which looked familiar to me. Did Joe have a TurboVault app on his phone?
Leaving the office, I made my way back out to the driveway and retrieved Joe’s cell phone from the center console. I’d been keeping it with me in case anything turned up where I might need something from it. I typed in the security code to access the phone, began scrolling through several pages of apps. Bingo. I found an app for TurboVault on the third page. I returned to the office, opened the app for the safe, and then found an “Unlock” option. I pressed the button on the app, and a green light blinked on the safe.
Inside, I discovered passports for Joe and Carol, official birth certificates for both of them, some jewelry—a diamond necklace, two diamond rings. I knew one of the rings was Taylor’s grandmother’s wedding ring because I’d used several of the diamonds from it for Taylor’s ring. There was also a white envelope with about a thousand dollars’ worth of cash inside of it. The final item in the safe was a small black banker’s bag.