I searched Daniel’s notebook again.
Inside the back cover, beneath the cardboard lining, I found an address.
No message.
No explanation.
Just an address in the industrial part of town.
The repair shop looked nearly abandoned, but lights were on inside.
A bell rang when I opened the door.
A man standing over a dismantled lawn mower looked up.
The moment he saw me, I knew he recognized me.
“So,” I said, “do I call the police before or after you explain why my dead husband’s watch was delivered to my porch frozen inside a block of ice?”
Owen slowly put down his screwdriver.
He looked older than Daniel had ever gotten the chance to become.
“I hoped you’d find me before they did.”
“That isn’t an explanation.”
“No.”
He sighed.
“But it’s true.”
“Start talking.”
Owen told me Daniel had given him the watch during the final week of his life.
