"Sir, why are you in this photograph?"
Harris didn't answer.
David slowly placed the photograph on top of the case.
Then he said:
"Because he wasn't just the officer who signed the destruction report."
He looked at Jessica.
"He was the last person who saw those three men alive."
THE WARNING
Jessica took a step backward.
"Lieutenant, is that true?"
Harris stared at David.
"You don't know what happened that night."
David nodded.
"You're right."
He picked up the digital recorder.
"I only know what I heard."
Harris's face turned pale.
"Put that down."
David pressed a button.
A burst of static filled the parking lot.
Then a man's voice emerged.
It was unmistakably younger Harris.
"Move them to the second location. Nobody can know they were here."
A second voice responded.
"What about Morgan?"
Harris's recorded voice answered:
"He'll never find them."
The recording stopped.
Jessica stared at her lieutenant.
Her hand slowly moved toward her radio.
Harris noticed.
"Don't."
She looked at him.
"Sir..."
"I said don't."
David stepped between them.
"Jessica, don't touch your radio."
Jessica turned toward him.
"Why?"
David looked at the dark SUV.
"Because the person who sent me that message knew exactly where I would be tonight."
A distant engine suddenly started.
The black SUV's headlights illuminated the parking lot.
Jessica turned sharply.
The vehicle began moving.
Harris immediately reached toward his belt.
"Get down!"
David grabbed the metal case.
Jessica ducked behind the patrol car.
The SUV accelerated toward the exit.
Harris ran toward his sedan.
But David remained standing.
He was watching the vehicle's rear window.
For a fraction of a second, he saw someone sitting in the back seat.
Someone holding a phone.
The screen briefly illuminated the person's face.
David recognized him.
His expression changed completely.
"No..."
Jessica looked up.
"What?"
David whispered:
"That's not possible."
The SUV disappeared through the exit.
Jessica rose slowly.
"Who was in that car?"
David didn't answer.
He looked at the lieutenant.
Then at the photograph.
Then back toward the road.
Finally, he said:
"The man who officially declared those three people dead."
Jessica frowned.
"But you said they disappeared."
David's eyes filled with a mixture of anger and disbelief.
"Because I was wrong about one thing."
He picked up the photograph again.
"One of them never disappeared."
He turned it around.
On the back was a handwritten message:
DAVID MORGAN — SUBJECT FOUR.
Below it was a date.
Tomorrow's date.
And beneath that, four words:
DO NOT LET HIM REMEMBER.
END OF PART 1
The parking lot suddenly felt much smaller.
Jessica stared at the message.
"Subject Four?"
David folded the photograph and slipped it into his pocket.
"Lieutenant, how many people know I'm back?"
Harris didn't respond.
David stepped closer.
"How many?"
Harris looked at him.
Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, he said:
"David... you need to leave Baltimore."
David shook his head.
"Not this time."
"You're making a mistake."
David looked at the black SUV's empty parking space.
"No."
His voice became firm.
"I made that mistake eleven years ago."
He turned toward Jessica.
"Officer, if you want to understand why your lieutenant is afraid, there's something you need to know."
Jessica stared at him.
"What?"
David looked directly into her eyes.
"The three men in those photographs weren't the only ones who disappeared."
He paused.
"One of them was your father."
Jessica's face went completely still.
And for the first time that night, the woman who had demanded to search David's trash bag had no idea what to say.