Page 97 of Before She Disappeared

“The address,” Emmanuel speaks up shortly, his voice excited again. “P.O. Box eighteen-oh-four.”

“That’s too short to be a valid box number around here,” Lotham provides.

“It is an important date for us in Haiti. The year of our independence.”

I frown at the revelation. Another inside joke on Angelique’s part? But to what end?

“There’s a physical address as well,” Lotham says. “Check it out.”

Emmanuel studies the print. “I don’t know this address.”

“Because it’s not valid. At a real DMV, the system wouldn’t even accept it. That street doesn’t exist in all of Boston, let alone Mattapan.”

“I... Can I show my aunt?”

“For chain-of-custody purposes, this can’t leave my sight. But you could write down the info. Now, I need you to study the license number itself. Normally, the string of numbers communicates information to law enforcement; yet another point of verification. Trust when I say, this license number is nothing but a string of gibberish. Which doesn’t make sense. They get the bar code right, only to screw up the license number? Which makes me wonder... Could this be another code meant for you?”

Emmanuel scrunches up his face. His lips move as he reads off the numbers to himself, then repeats several times. Slowly, he shakes his head. “This is not obvious to me. But LiLi had several ciphers. If I could compare these numbers with her notes in her codebreaking book, I might be able to figure it out.”

“Add it to your address notes.” Lotham produces a scrap of paper, pushes it across the table.

Emmanuel gets to work.

“Emmanuel.” I speak up. “Is there something from Haiti that might be relevant? A reference to a belief, religion, custom. I don’t know. But the fact that Angelique chose your mother’s date of birth, as well as a mailing address that marks your country’s independence. Surely that’s not accidental.”

Emmanuel smiles slightly. “You mean like pointing at a rainbow brings bad luck or eating the top of a watermelon will cause your mother to die? There are many superstitions in our culture, most of which my sister and I have heard from our aunt. But for us... LiLi believed in science. And I’ve lived my life here, not there. These are stories to us, nothing more.”

“It’s not personal to Angelique,” I fill in. “At least, not personal enough.”

Emmanuel nods. He fingers the evidence bag, then sets it down. “I can study the license number, the street address. For now, all I can say is that LiLi must be thinking of our mother.”

Lotham exhales, tries not to look as frustrated as I’m sure he must feel. I turn to him.

“You’re saying this is a decent-quality ID, possible to produce with a computer and printer, but requires some advanced skill. So how did Angelique get her hands on it?”

“Probably bought it on the streets. This area has some known providers. Wouldn’t be too hard to ask around, make it happen.”

“You think? Because this is a girl who takes extra high school courses in her free time. She’s not exactly lurking on street corners.”

Emmanuel suddenly flushes.

“Emmanuel?” Lotham’s voice holds a low growl of warning.

“Other kids, in high school, the rec center, they speak of fake licenses.”

“Purchased from the internet,” I say. At least that’s what I’d heard from Charlie.

“Maybe some. But...” That awkward teen pause again.

“Who, Emmanuel?” Lotham demands.

The kid relents with a sigh. “Marjolie. Angelique’s best friend. She has a fake ID. I heard her talking about it one day with LiLi. She was bragging about getting into a club. When LiLi asked her how, Marjolie started giggling. I couldn’t hear her answer. But Marjolie has a fake license, and she definitely could’ve gotten one for my sister. Once, I would’ve said my sister didn’t have the money to waste on such things. But, after what you found in the lamp...”

Emmanuel looks at me. “I must accept I didn’t know everything about my sister. I must wonder... Maybe I didn’t know her at all.”

“You did, Emmanuel. You know her and she’s counting on that. The coded school essay, the particulars of this license. Your sister is out there. And she’s talking to you. She’s counting on you.”

But I can tell the kid doesn’t believe. And after all the cases I’ve been through, I can’t really argue.

I clear the coffee mugs and carry them to the kitchen. I already know where we’re going next.

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