Page 77 of Hidden Tide

Relief crosses Mom’s face.

“But the wooden box had been opened,” Marquez continues. “Someone removed the watch’s rear plate and replaced it.”

“Is the glass inside?” Ben asks.

“We haven’t dismantled it yet. We’re transporting the entire watch to Fort Baker.”

“Anything else?”

“The office security system was disabled at two fourteen this morning. The camera footage from that hour is missing.”

“Someone knew where to look,” Willow whispers.

“Yes,” Marquez says. “We also found a partial shoe print outside the office window and a fiber caught on the latch. We may be able to identify the material.”

“Send everything here,” Keating orders.

The call ends.

I picture someone moving through Willow’s dark restaurant while the kitchen stood silent.

Someone opened her desk.

Someone held Grandpa’s watch.

Why did they leave it behind?

“Maybe the glass wasn’t there,” I say.

Thomas looks at me. “James wouldn’t have given Willow an empty watch.”

“Then why didn’t they take it?”

“Maybe they were interrupted,” Ward suggests.

Ben shakes his head. “They disabled the security system and erased the recording. That doesn’t sound rushed.”

“They wanted us to find it,” I say.

Keating studies me. “Why?”

“To see what we would do next.”

His expression darkens.

The tracker beneath the evidence vehicle wasn’t only meant to reveal where we were going.

It was meant to follow the lens pieces.

“We need to separate the family from the evidence,” Ben says. “The glass shouldn’t be kept anywhere near the secured housing.”

“I agree,” Keating replies. “The pieces will be transferred to the federal evidence facility in San Francisco after they’re examined.”

Storm turns from the window. “What if that’s what they want?”

“What do you mean?” Mom asks.

“What if the person behind this knows we’ll collect the pieces for them?”