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Detective Joyner pulled back the yellow tape covering my father’s door, then opened the door and gestured for me to step inside. "Just try to be quick and don’t move anything.”

“It’s going to be hard to look for the files without moving anything.”

“Yeah, just go easy at it.”

“Okay.”

I gave him a tight smile before stepping inside. The room was filled with the familiar scent of my father’s cologne mixed with the faint scent of leather. Everything was exactly how I remembered—even the blood stain on the floor where he’d died.

I was staring at it when Joyner said, “Hey, ah… sorry about that. We can’t let the cleaning crew do their thing until…”

“It’s okay. I understand.”

“Heard you decided to just go with a memorial.”

“Just thought it would be easier.”

“Was it?”

“Not really.” I shrugged. “But we got through it, and once he’s cremated, we can do something special with the remains.”

“Sounds like you have it all figured out.”

“I wish,” I scoffed. “Right now, I feel like I’m scrambling.”

“Well, I won’t hold you up. Go on and see if you can find what you need.”

“Thanks.”

I moved to his desk first, opening drawers and rifling through all the neatly stacked files and documents. On the surface, it was exactly what I should’ve expected—paperwork,case notes, and a few scattered receipts. But nothing that resembled a code.

Knowing Joyner was watching me, I grabbed a file labeled "Vital Records" and flipped it open. It should’ve been there, but strangely enough, the file was empty. In fact, several of the files were empty.

I turned to the bookshelf and scanned the rows of legal texts and binders, searching for anything that might be considered suspicious. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything.

“Damn,” I muttered under my breath.

I glanced over at Detective Joyner, and he was leaning against the doorway, toying with his phone. He wasn’t paying me much mind, so I used the opportunity to step over to my father’s desktop.

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the small drive Holt had given me. I did like he’d told me and slipped it into the USB hub. I didn’t want to take a chance on Joyner seeing me, so I quickly stepped away from the desk.

That’s when I spotted the safe.

It was my last hope.

I dropped to my knees and quickly entered the combination. Strangely enough, it was my birthday. One might think it was my father’s way of saying that I was important to him, but I knew better. There was only one person who was important to him, and that was him.

The lock clicked open, and I pulled the door wide.

I expected to find what I was looking for, but all that was inside were a few stacks of cash, his gun, and a folder filled with legal documents.

No laptop.

No hidden ledgers.

No codes.

Nothing.

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