The Mole in His Bed novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: The Notebook
They found the gray envelope in the glove box of Paula's car.
She had not burned it, and she had not sold it back to anyone.
She had kept it, because the pages were the one thing that could ever hang her.
Judith put it into my hands under the white tent, where the families were still standing and nobody had gone home.
"It's yours to open," she said. "It always was."
I looked at the chief.
He stood a few feet away with his hat crushed in both fists, and his face was gray and drawn.
"Open it here," he said hoarsely. "In front of them."
I did.
The pages were cut close to the spine, with the Captain's blue ink running down every margin.
I took the first one out and held it up to the light.
"I'll read it," Neil said.
"No. I will."
My voice shook, and I let it.
"Detective Cora Tallant, Major Crimes, to go inside Crane Harbor Freight as bookkeeper. Cover: a fire on the shore road. Her husband is not to be told."
Two hundred people were listening, and I could hear the flags.
I turned the page.
"The detective is the finest investigator I have trained. She will not be paid, she will not be thanked, and if she is caught she'll be disowned. She agreed on the spot. She asked only one thing, and it was to see her mother."
My voice cracked at the last word.
I read the next page and the next.
When I came to the one that was dated three days before Pier Nine, I stopped.
It had a line at the top I had not read in the closet in the dark.
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