Chapter 6 - Unit 308 Held Michael’s Records
Police located Daniel at a county shelter the next morning.
He was alive.
Exhausted.
Sick with pneumonia.
Laura found him in a hospital bed.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Daniel looked older than forty-two.
His beard was gray at the edges.
His hands shook.
“I told Evan not to tell you.”
Laura’s anger surfaced.
“He is thirteen.”
“I know.”
“No, Daniel. You don’t.”
He looked away.
“You let a child spend every paycheck keeping you alive.”
“I tried to stop him.”
“Not hard enough.”
Daniel cried silently.
Laura softened, but not completely.
Compassion did not require pretending his choices were acceptable.
She placed Michael’s envelope beside him.
“You kept this.”
Daniel stared.
“I couldn’t open it.”
“Why?”
“Because if Mike forgave me, I didn’t deserve it.”
Laura sat down.
“That isn’t your decision to make for a dead man.”
Daniel looked at her.
The sentence landed.
He opened the envelope.
Michael had written it after learning Daniel had relapsed into drinking.
The letter did not mention the car crash.
It had been written weeks before Michael died.
Mike told Daniel he loved him.
He also wrote:
Victor is moving company money where I can’t follow it. I copied
everything. If something happens before I fix this, make sure Laura gets
the blue folder.
Daniel covered his face.
Laura felt the room tilt.
“What blue folder?”
May you like
Daniel whispered:
“Storage unit 308.”
