He calls a friend with the Metropolitan Police Department. Sutton owes him a favor. And, even better, she works in the MDP’s Third District, which serves Cleveland Park.
Sasha stands by the window, looking down at the street below as he explains this.
“Don’t you want to know why she owes me?”
His wife turns toward him and shrugs. She’s almost as listless as the woman on the couch. That’s not good.
“Remember the Girl Scout Troop that wanted to go to the forensic science camp?”
A spark of interest lights in Sasha’s green eyes. “The troop you bought fifty-two boxes of thin mints from?”
“That’s the one. Sutton’s their troop leader.”
Sasha’s mouth curves into a smile. “You know we still have at least a half-dozen boxes in the freezer?”
“That’s called disaster preparedness.”
She snorts.
He breathes. She’ll be okay.
Somewhere in the apartment a clock chimes the hour. Midnight. His phone buzzes with an email notification.
From: Linda Morrison
Subject: If you’re reading this, I’m dead
His chest tightens. “Sasha.”
She turns.
He opens the email. A manuscript attachment. And a cover letter. He reads it aloud.
Dear Leo,
If you’re reading this, Ruth has killed me. I’ve known for weeks that she might. I hoped I was wrong. I hoped our thirty years together meant something. I hoped the woman I loved was still the woman I thought I knew.
I was wrong.
Attached is my manuscript—False Flags: The Aftermath of the End of the Cold War. It documents every operation the Lighthouse tried to bury. Every attack we covered up. Every lie we told to protect institutional secrecy.
Ruth is using my archives to recreate these operations. She believes the old ways still work. That terrorism in the name of national security is justified. That the ends justify the means.
She’s wrong. But I don’t think she’ll ever realize. She won’t stop until someone stops her.
The manuscript also names her as the person behind the current attacks. It details every operation she has access to. It gives you the evidence you need to prove her guilt.
I’m sorry I couldn’t stop her while I was alive. I hope this helps you stop her now.
Preserve the truth. That’s all I ever wanted.
Linda
Leo turns to the woman on the couch. “I guess that makes you Ruth.”
She doesn’t react. But she knows. It’s in posture, the way she breathes. It’s over. She’s done.
After an eternity, Ruth smiles thinly. “Linda put a dead man’s switch in place, after all. I didn’t think she had it in her.”
