Chapter 5: The Man Who Knew How to Wait
I drove straight to the station.
Collins met me in the hallway outside his office and pulled the door shut behind us before I could say anything.
"His attorney got a judge on the phone at seven this morning," he said.
"Argued the domestic charge was circumstantial pending full review of the recording.
Bail was set at fifteen thousand.
Someone posted it within the hour."
"Who?"
Collins handed me a printed sheet.
"A man named Paul Whitfield.
Listed as a business associate."
I looked at the name.
It didn't mean anything to me yet.
"Do we have an address for Travis?"
"His registered address is your sister's house."
"He can't go back there.
There's a protective order."
"Which his attorney is already filing a motion to contest." Collins crossed his arms.
"Emily, I need you to hear me on this.
You are not assigned to this case.
You cannot work it directly.
If you do anything that gives his lawyer a procedural angle, we lose the recording as evidence.
Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"I understand."
"Do you?"
"Yes." I met his eyes.
"I understand completely."
He held my gaze for a moment, then nodded once.
"Detective Reyes has the case.
She's good.
Talk to her."
Detective Sandra Reyes had an office at the end of the hall that smelled like old coffee and printer paper.
She was on the phone when I knocked but waved me in and pointed at the chair across from her desk.
She finished the call and set the phone down.
"You're the aunt," she said.
"I'm the aunt."
"And you want to tell me everything you found out this morning that you technically shouldn't have been finding out."
I put Donna's envelope on her desk.
Reyes looked at it without touching it.
"Where did this come from?"
"A woman named Donna Marsh.
Former partner of Travis's — romantically.
She's been building a file on him for two years.
The documents inside connect Travis to a man named Gerald Watts.
Watts d*ed fourteen months ago from injuries sustained in an assault Travis committed four years ago on Mercer Street."
Reyes picked up the envelope then.
Opened it carefully.
She read in silence for almost three minutes.
"Your sister witnessed the assault," she said.
It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
"And Travis began a relationship with her shortly after."
"Within two weeks of the incident."
Reyes set the papers down and looked at me steadily.
"If this holds up, we're not looking at a domestic charge anymore."
"No," I said.
"We're not."
"I'll need to speak with Donna Marsh directly.
And with your sister, when she's able."
"Rachel is ready.
She asked me to come back this afternoon.
I'll bring you."
Reyes nodded.
She tapped the edge of the envelope against her desk once, twice.
"Travis is out.
You know that."
"Collins told me."
"He's going to make contact.
Not directly — he's too careful for that.
But he'll find a way to apply pressure.
On your sister, on the boy, possibly on you." She looked at me.
"Is there somewhere Rachel and Mason can go that Travis doesn't know about?"
I thought of our aunt's house in Millbrook.
Three hours away.
Travis had never once heard Rachel mention her name.
"Yes," I said.
"Then move them today.
Don't wait until this afternoon."
I was already standing when Reyes said, "One more thing."
I stopped.
"Paul Whitfield — the man who posted bail." She turned her monitor so I could see the screen.
A business registration.
Two names listed as directors.
"Travis Mercer and Paul Whitfield.
Equal partners in a property management company registered eighteen months ago."
I looked at the second name on the screen.
Travis's last name was Mercer.
I had never known that.
Rachel had only ever called him Travis.
"Whitfield isn't just a business associate," I said.
"No," Reyes said.
"And the company has three active properties.
One of them is the building your sister lives in." She let that land.
"Travis owns her lease, Emily.
He's been her landlord the entire time."
I stood very still.
"She had nowhere to go," I said quietly.
"Even if she'd tried to leave."
May you like
Reyes didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
