Page 55 of Once Hidden
The room fell silent.Through the thin walls, Riley could hear the muted sounds of the station—a phone ringing, the hum of conversation, the ordinary business of law enforcement carrying on as usual.
“Jay fell that afternoon,” Rich finally said.“Harness failure, they determined.Might have caught it if he’d been double-checking with a partner.”
The sheriff’s eyes clouded with regret over what might have been.Riley recognized that look—she’d worn it herself too many times to count, in the aftermath of cases where small changes might have meant a life saved.
“When Tony came to claim the body, I’d never seen rage like that.”Rich’s voice had grown hoarse.“He wasn’t just grieving.He was...bursting with it.Shaking.Could barely speak.”
“What happened?”Ann Marie asked softly.
“He showed up at my office with this envelope in his hand.A SwiftUnified envelope that had been returned to him.”Rich traced an invisible shape on his desk.“Marked ‘UNDELIVERABLE’ in big red letters.Inside was the compass.Kept saying over and over that his brother would still be alive if the delivery had been made.”
Riley and Ann Marie exchanged a glance, the significance obvious to both of them.The envelopes left behind in the abandoned vehicles.The word “UNDELIVERABLE” like an accusation, a marker of failure with deadly consequences.
“Tony demanded to know who the driver was,” Rich continued, “who’d failed to deliver his package to the Trailside Motel where Jay was staying.I didn’t tell him, though I knew it wouldn’t be hard for him to find out that it was Dana Beaufort who drove that route.”
Riley’s breath caught.A name.A target.
“I tried explaining it wasn’t the driver’s fault,” Rich shook his head.“It looked like the envelope got routed wrong before it ever reached the driver’s hands.But Tony wasn’t hearing it.Just kept raging against the whole delivery system, everyone involved with it.Even so, I didn’t anticipate any kind of violence.The twins had never even been in a fist fight as far as I knew.”
“You weren’t wrong at the time,” Ann Marie told him.“Tony didn’t attack anybody back then.But his anger must have festered over the years.He started targeting drivers currently working near locations significant to him and Jay.”
Riley guessed something else.The other murders might just be preludes to one climactic murder that would avenge his brother once and for all.
Riley rose to her feet, “Does Dana Beaufort still live in Hartsfield?Still deliver for SwiftUnified?”
His expression growing grave as he caught her meaning.“Yes, to both.”
“We need to talk to her.Immediately.”
“I’ll drive you there myself,” Rich said, reaching for his keys.“It’s not far.”
As they moved toward the door, Riley’s mind raced ahead.Five years of festering grief.Five years for Tony’s magical thinking to twist into something murderous.
*
The morning sunlight grew harsher as Sheriff Rich’s cruiser pulled away from the station, cutting through Hartsfield’s quiet streets.Riley sat rigid in the passenger seat, her mind mapping possible scenarios, calculating risks.Beside her, the sheriff drove with the focus of a man who knew every pothole and bend in the road.In the back seat, Ann Marie maintained an uncharacteristic silence, her usual cheerfulness tempered by the gravity of what they’d learned.
“Dana lives on Ashwood Lane,” Rich said, breaking the tense silence.“Nice neighborhood.Quiet.Keeps to herself mostly, from what I hear.”
Riley watched the town slide past the windows.Hartsfield was small enough that a stranger would stand out, especially one with Tony’s intensity.But she knew even a man consumed by grief and revenge could learn to wear normalcy like a mask.
The cruiser turned onto a tree-lined street where homes sat back from the road, each with its own carefully tended yard.Rich pulled into the driveway of a blue single-story with white trim and a small covered porch.Three hanging baskets of purple flowers swayed gently in the breeze.
“This is it,” Rich said, putting the car in park.“She won’t have left for work yet.She doesn’t start till noon.”
As they approached the front door, Riley scanned for signs of disturbance, checking windows for movement, noting the position of neighboring houses.Nothing seemed amiss.The porch was swept clean, a welcome mat declaring “Home Is Where the Packages Are” sitting squarely in front of the door.
Sheriff Rich knocked, and Riley heard footsteps approaching from inside.The door opened to reveal a woman approximately Riley’s age, her dark hair streaked with early gray.
“Walter,” Dana said.“This is unexpected.”
“Morning, Dana.Sorry to drop in like this, but it’s important.”Rich gestured to his companions.“These are FBI Agents Paige and Esmer.They need to ask you a few questions.”
“May we come in?”Riley asked.
Dana hesitated, then stepped back.“Of course.”
The living room was neat and sparsely decorated—a sofa, a coffee table stacked with magazines, a small television in the corner.A SwiftUnified Parcels uniform hung on a coat rack near the door, pressed and ready for this afternoon’s shift.
