Chapter 24 - An Unexpected Warning
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The following afternoon, I returned from a quick lunch meeting to find a black envelope slid beneath the reinforced heavy oak door of my office. There was no stamp, no address, and no name written on the front.
I put on a pair of latex gloves, picked up the envelope, and slid a letter opener through the top fold. Inside was a single, high-gloss photograph.
It was a picture of me taken earlier that very morning. I was standing near my office window, holding a coffee mug, looking out over the Chicago skyline. Written across the back of the photograph in dark blue ink were five simple words:
Curiosity killed the ambitious girl.
My hand remained perfectly steady. A year ago, a photograph like this would have caused my throat to tighten and my knees to tremble. I would have locked the doors, drawn the blinds, and prayed for Owen to come home and tell me everything was going to be alright.
I walked over to the desk, pulled out my phone, and dialed a direct number.
"Frank," I said when the call connected. "I need you at my office."
Frank Miller was a retired homicide detective turned private security specialist whom I had hired three months ago to audit my firm's physical security. Within twenty minutes, he was standing in my office, examining the photograph under a magnifying glass.
"It was taken from the parking garage across the street," Frank noted, pointing to the angle of the lens.
"Long-range telephoto lens. They wanted you to know they were watching."
"Should I be scared, Frank?" I asked, looking him dead in the eye.
"You should be cautious, Clara," Frank replied gruffly.
"Julian Vance doesn't send warnings unless he feels a blade at his throat. This photograph proves one thing."
"What’s that?"
"It proves you’re looking in the exact right place."
I took the photograph back from him, walked over to my industrial shredder, and dropped it into the slot. The steel blades chewed the threat into confetti within seconds.
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"Let’s upgrade the window glass to ballistic laminate," I said calmly.
"And keep digging."
