Page 180 of Stolen Voices

“Him who, Callie? The guy in the picture?”

She nods. “He … he was the man that night.”

My brain scrambles to make sense of what she’s saying. “I’m sorry, Cal. I don’t understand.”

“My dad, Eli. It was him. The man in the picture, he was the one who robbed us. He killed my dad.” My strong girl breaks down sobbing.

I cocoon her in my arms and hoist her up to carry her to our bedroom.

My brain goes haywire, drawing connections between everything that has happened in the last few weeks. I lie in bed with Callie on my chest, holding her tight until she cries herself to sleep.

The reason Bryan Novak seemed so familiar is that it was his side profile in the grainy security camera pictures. I should have recognized him sooner. I spent days staring at those photos.

When Callie reaches deep sleep and her body relaxes, I slide out of bed. A lingering sense of unease, like I’m missing something, settles over me. I watch Callie sleep from the foot of the bed before I retrieve my phone from the kitchen and head to my office.

Opening my laptop, I pull up the suspect photos from Andrew’s murder and pictures of the guy I suspect tampered with the equipment at Ricochet Lounge, and place them side by side. I lift my phone and compare the three photos.

No huge similarities between the three pictures stand out. As I stare, scrutinizing every detail, an idea hits me and I reach for my phone to dial Mason.

“What did Callie say?” he asks, getting straight to the point. Mason is never one to dick around, and right now, I love that about him.

“She identified him,” I answer.

I can hear muffled shuffling. “What do you mean?”

“Callie took one look at the picture and turned white as a sheet. It was fucking scary, Mase. But when I finally got her talking, she said he was the man who robbed and killed her father.”

“What the fuck? That’s…”

“No coincidence,” I finish for him, rubbing my aching jaw. I’ve been grinding my teeth for the last hour, staring at these pictures.

“No, it’s not.” I hear the clacking of computer keys.

“I have a hunch, and I’m hoping you can help me. I will owe you an unlimited amount of favors.”

Mason scoffs. “E, this is personal. This is about your girl, and she’s our family. You don’t owe me a damn thing.”

My chest swells with love and pride in my brother. In our family, no matter what, we have one another’s backs. “Thanks, brother. It feels good to hear that because she’s my everything, Mase. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

“I understand, E. Now, tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”

“Can you use some of your contacts to get security footage of the bakery?”

“Which one and when?”

I give him the date Callie went into anaphylaxis and the name of the bakery. “Have them looking for signs of Novak. Or Silla. If my hunch is right, it’s been her and him the entire time.”

“Consider it done. Jace gave me the abridged version of what went down with the lawyer. How’s Callie handling it?”

“She’s dealing, but now with this… I don’t know. Callie’s tough as nails. She’ll get through this too.”

“I don’t doubt it. I will call you as soon as I have the information. And, E?”

“Yeah, Mase?”

“I’m really happy for you. You deserve to be happy, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we put an end to all this.”

“Thanks, Mase. Love you, little brother.”