Chapter 10 : Michael Reed
890 Words
That afternoon, Ethan returned to the police station and continued working on the cases assigned to him.
But for some reason, he couldn't concentrate.
The events at South Station kept running through his mind.
Why had Whitmore kept renewing that locker for so many years?
If Claire had only wanted to give something to Whitmore, then once she'd handed it over, why keep the locker?
Was that place somehow connected to Claire?
And who had opened the locker?
What had actually been left inside?
Had someone already taken something?
Then there were the two things in the notebook—
MR-17.
215957.
What did they mean?
Ethan couldn't figure out how any of the clues fit together.
It was getting to him.
“Stop thinking about it.”
Ethan rubbed his eyes.
“Go get some coffee.”
He got up from his desk and headed toward the coffee machine in the hallway.
He had barely taken a few steps when he ran into Maya.
“Ethan.”
Maya stopped and looked at him.
“Hey, Ethan. Good to see you again.”
“Yeah. Just came back to finish some work.”
Ethan glanced at her.
“How's the Daniel Reed case going?”
“Still working on it.”
Maya said,
“We're taking statements from some people who were close to Daniel.”
Just then, a police officer came down the other end of the hallway.
A tall Black man was walking beside him.
They stopped in front of Maya.
“Detective, we're done with the statement.”
The officer glanced at the man beside him.
“This is Michael Reed. He's related to Daniel Reed.”
Maya nodded.
She turned to Michael and held out her hand.
“I'm sorry this happened. We'll do everything we can to find whoever did this.”
Michael shook her hand.
“Thank you.”
Maya let go, then looked at Ethan.
“Oh, right. Let me introduce you.”
She pointed toward Ethan.
“This is Ethan. He found some important details at the crime scene. His work helped us move the investigation forward.”
Michael looked at Ethan, then held out his hand.
“Hi. Thanks for your help.”
Ethan reached out and shook his hand.
The moment their hands touched—
Everything in front of him disappeared.
Ethan found himself standing behind a van.
His hands were holding someone.
A woman.
Her body was limp, as if she had already lost consciousness.
Ethan tried to look down and see who she was.
But his body didn't respond to him.
Those hands kept carrying the woman toward the van, one step at a time.
Ethan could only watch.
He couldn't control the body.
The woman's hair hung across her face.
It wasn't until he reached the back of the van and lowered his head slightly that her face finally came into view.
Ethan's breath caught.
Claire Morgan.
It was her.
She appeared to be unconscious.
And he was carrying Claire into the van.
Suddenly—
A voice came from behind him.
“Michael.”
Ethan saw a man standing behind the van.
He looked at Claire inside the van, then at Ethan.
“Michael, what's with the cargo this time?”
Ethan froze.
It finally dawned on him.
This was Michael’s memory.
The man paused for a moment.
“This one's alive.”
Michael looked at him.
“James, you know the rule. Don't ask questions about things you shouldn't know.”
“We just do the company's job.”
He paused.
“The rest of it, we don't know, and we don't want to know.”
The man frowned but said nothing.
“Okay. I'm heading out.”
He turned and climbed into the driver's seat.
The engine roared to life.
The van slowly pulled away.
Michael stood there, watching it leave.
Ethan's vision followed the van.
Just before it disappeared around the corner, he caught sight of the license plate.
4MZ-7281.
Ethan burned the number into his memory.
The next second—
Everything vanished.
“Ethan?”
Maya's voice reached him.
“Ethan, what's wrong?”
Ethan suddenly came back to himself.
His hand was still holding Michael's.
He immediately let go.
“Sorry.”
Ethan glanced at Maya.
“I was thinking about something. I spaced out.”
“It's okay.”
Maya said.
Ethan didn't say anything else. He turned and walked away.
His steps were quick.
And his mind was a mess.
Michael Reed.
He had actually been in contact with Claire.
Was he involved in Claire's disappearance?
What did that line mean?
“They'll know what to do there.”
And the driver.
James.
And what the hell was this company?
One question after another raced through Ethan's mind.
He stopped walking.
He wanted to tell the police everything.
But how could he explain it?
He couldn't exactly tell them that he'd simply shaken Michael's hand and suddenly seen all of this.
He had no evidence.
They wouldn't believe him.
Ethan looked down at his hand.
No.
He had to find evidence.
And now, at least, he had one thing to work with.
The license plate.
4MZ-7281.
Ethan locked the number into his mind.
He had to find out who owned that van.
And—
where it had taken Claire.
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