Chapter 5 — Mark Walks Back Into Harrison’s Bakery
Mark Dalton arrived twenty minutes later.
He was sixty-four.
Broad shoulders.
Gray beard.
And a face Harrison had not seen inside the bakery for over a year.
The second Mark entered, Ryan stared.
“That’s him.”
“Who?”
Ryan pointed toward the security footage.
“The fake delivery worker.”
Mark stopped.
Harrison looked toward him.
“Did you move the case?”
Mark didn’t deny it.
“Yes.”
Lena’s face hardened.
“Why?”
Mark looked at the silver case.
“Because I didn’t know you two were finally coming.”
He had driven past Harrison’s that morning.
Through the window, he saw the silver case sitting unattended on the counter.
He panicked.
Mark knew Carol had left instructions about Evan and Lena.
He also knew something inside the case concerned him.
“So you disguised yourself and took it?” Maya asked.
Mark shook his head.
“I moved it outside.”
“That isn’t better.”
“I know.”
He intended to call Harrison from the parking lot.
Then Evan and Lena arrived unexpectedly.
Mark saw them.
He did not want to confront them before understanding what Carol had left.
So he drove around the block.
Then returned after Evan called him.
Harrison looked furious.
“You could have walked through the front door.”
Mark nodded.
“I should have.”
“Instead, Maya got accused.”
Mark looked toward her.
“I’m sorry.”
Maya answered:
“Ryan accused me.”
Then:
“But you created the missing-object situation.”
Mark nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Evan looked toward the case.
“Can we open it now?”
Harrison asked:
“Do you have the key?”
Evan shook his head.
Lena did too.
Then Mark reached into his wallet.
He removed a tiny brass key.
Everyone stared at him.
“Mom gave you the key?” Lena asked.
Mark shook his head.
“She mailed it to me two weeks before she died.”
Attached to the key had been a note:
YOU DON’T GET TO OPEN IT ALONE.