Jace identified two federal contact points through professional directories and old correspondence in Caleb's file. One was a regional task force office; the other was the office of an investigator named Alderman Cross, whose name appeared in a note Caleb had marked with his authentication symbol. Cross was then working on a separate financial investigation outside the county, beyond the reach of the district attorney whose name was beginning to appear in their evidence. Rhett had no way to know whether the investigator was still active, but the connection was too specific to ignore.
"Why didn't Caleb send everything to Cross immediately?" Eli asked. Jace opened the old note. "He sent a warning, but he didn't have the entire picture yet. It looks like he arranged a contact he trusted and expected to follow with the complete package. Then he died before he could finish."
Rhett looked at the boy's notebook, at the careful dates and observations that filled the gaps in Caleb's work. "And your mother kept building the other half," he said. "She kept the chain from ending." Eli's gaze moved to the watch and back. "And I found you," he said, as if speaking the final step of a calculation aloud.
Outside, the rain stopped. A cold dawn spread across the motorcycles, revealing droplets on the seats and a pale mist rising from the gravel. Rhett stood at the workshop window and felt the old anger that had accompanied Caleb's death return in a different form. This time it had direction, witnesses, and a boy whose future could still be protected.
He turned back to his people. "Nobody acts alone," he said. "Nobody goes looking for a fight. We verify the contacts, preserve the evidence, and get those people help before Hale moves them." Then he looked at Eli, who had finally put his father's watch on his wrist, the oversized strap fastened as securely as it could be. "And somebody helps me make sure this kid gets breakfast and a few hours of sleep."
"I'm not tired," Eli said. A yawn escaped him immediately afterward, betraying him to the entire room. Mara almost smiled for the first time that night and went toward the kitchen. Rhett let the ordinary sound of a pan on the stove settle against the terrible knowledge they had just uncovered. For a few minutes, the boy could be hungry and exhausted without also being responsible for saving the world.
Eli slept for three hours in a small room above the workshop, fully dressed except for his shoes. Mara checked on him once and found him lying on his side with the red notebook beneath one arm, his father's watch visible above the cuff of the borrowed sweatshirt. She left the door open a few inches, as he had asked, and placed a fresh glass of water where he could reach it. When she came downstairs, Rhett was standing at the workbench with an old photograph in his hands.