…”this, Megan. My name is Ray. I’m the private investigator Daniel hired. I’m in the gray car by the gate. Daniel’s messages are on the old iPad he gave me so we could talk without you seeing. Please don’t be scared.”
I was scared. I sat on the cold concrete floor of that unit with the folder in my lap and called the police non-emergency line, and asked them to send an officer. Then I texted him back: “Stay in your car.”
He did. When the officer arrived, Ray walked over slowly with his hands visible, holding his PI license. The officer checked it. It was real. Then Ray asked if he could explain, with the officer standing right there. I said yes.
Eighteen months ago, Daniel started noticing things. My ex-boyfriend from college, Brandon, showing up at the same grocery store. At my gym. A comment on an old photo of mine, from an account with no picture. Daniel didn’t want to scare me, because I’d had a hard time getting over Brandon the first time. So he hired Ray, and they rented the unit to keep the evidence somewhere I’d never stumble on it.
The photos in the folder weren’t Daniel’s. They were Brandon’s. Ray had pulled them off an account Brandon thought was private. My mother’s address. My bank statements, from a password Brandon still had from years ago.
The camping chair was Daniel’s. He’d come here on his lunch breaks, Ray told me, to go through it all. He was going to tell me the week he died. His car accident had nothing to do with any of it. It was just a wet road and bad luck.
Then I read the last page anyway. It was a photo, taken by Ray, at the back of the church. Brandon, at Daniel’s funeral, eleven days ago, three rows behind me.
I gave the whole folder to the police that night. Brandon was arrested for stalking two weeks later, with a laptop full of photos of me. I have a protective order now.
At the very bottom of the drawer, under everything, there was an envelope in Daniel’s handwriting, addressed to me. Inside was one line. “If you’re reading this, I didn’t get to finish it. I’m sorry. Finish it for us.” I did.
