Every Precious Thing

There were the terms, the rent, the security deposit, and, at the end, signatures-Diana’s, tight and clear, and Mark Hackbarth’s, large and important.

“Here you go,” the waitress said, setting his sandwich and fries in front of him. “Can I get you anything else?”

“No, this will be great. Thanks.”

Logan started in on his BLT as he moved on to the next document-the application. This one was more interesting. Under employment history, Diana had listed The Hideaway as her current employer, and someplace called Harkin Services as her most recent job prior to that, but had given no address or phone number for the latter. Next was a listing of previous addresses. There were slots on the form for four, but Diana listed only two. One was another address in Braden that corresponded to her first year in town. The other was a place in a town called El Portal, California. The name sounded familiar to Logan, but he couldn’t recall where it was. The dates she’d lived there, though, were the same dates she’d put down for Harkin Services.

But all that information paled when compared to the nine-digit number in a box near the top-her Social Security number.

Logan grabbed his phone, intending to email Callie the number, but before he could, he was greeted with a message saying he’d missed a call. Right, he remembered. His phone had rung when they’d been talking to Tessie. Turned out the caller was Harp.

Before calling him back, Logan accessed his email, composed the message for Callie, but stopped himself before hitting SEND. He quickly looked through the rest of the photocopies to make sure there wasn’t anything else that could be useful, and was glad he did. The last page was a copy of Diana’s driver’s license. Not only was there the license number, but also her middle name and date of birth. If that didn’t help Callie dig something up, nothing would. He added all this to the message, and sent it on its way.

That done, he called his dad.

“Logan. Oh, good.” Harp sounded agitated.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I…” He paused.

“Dad, are you okay?”

Still nothing.

“Dad?”

“Logan. I…I can’t find the letter.”

“What?”

“The letter Len left me. I can’t find it. It was in the book, but I checked a little while ago and it’s not there. I need you to come back, and take me to the motel. It’s got to be in the room, don’t you think?”

“Whoa, Dad. Relax.”

“How can I relax? I can’t lose it.”

“You didn’t lose it. It’s in my car.”

Silence. “Your car?”

“I saw it in the glove compartment.”

“I didn’t put it there,” Harp said. Logan could hear the phone move around, and his father’s voice became more distant. “Logan says it’s in the glove compartment of his truck.”

Even farther in the distance, Barney responded, though Logan couldn’t make out what he said.

Harp again. “You’re kidding me, right? When?” A pause. “I swear to God, Barney, if I was forty years younger, I’d kill you right now…no, I would. Don’t talk to me right now.” Harp’s voice got louder again. “Barney put it there. He…forgot. If you get a chance, drive by a drugstore and pick up some ginkgo!”

Trying to ease his father’s tension, Logan said, “The important thing is it’s not lost.”

“I want you to bring it to me. Can you do that?”

“Not right now, but later.”

“Why not?”

“I’m a little busy at the moment.”

He could hear his father take a deep breath. “As soon as you can, okay?”

“Sure, Dad.” Logan’s phone beeped; Dev on the other line. “I’ve got another call. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Thanks, Logan. Barney, I cannot believe that you-” The line went dead.

Logan switched calls.

“He’s on the move,” Dev said. “The woman was on the phone, and as soon as she hung up, they took off.”

“Which way?”

“South.”

“In a hurry?”

“No. Normal speed.”

“You’re still following them?”

“Roger that.”

“Sounds like this is a good time for me to sneak away while they’re not looking.”

“Definitely.”

Harp jumped up when Logan entered Pep’s hospital room. “Thought you said you couldn’t come right away.”

“I didn’t bring the envelope with me,” Logan said.

“Why not?”

“It’s still in the El Camino.”

“And?”

“I was in the Jeep. Dev’s got my truck.”

Harp looked past Logan at the door. “Is he on his way?”

“Dad, relax. It’s safe, all right? We’ll get it later.”

Harp frowned. “I wish you had brought it with you.”

Logan touched his dad’s shoulder. “It won’t be long. I promise.”

“So where is Dev?” Barney asked.

“Doing something for me,” Logan said.

“You found something out?”

“Working on a few things.” Logan paused. “How’s Pep?”

“I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” Pep said from the bed.

Logan walked over. The bruises on Pep’s face had darkened, making him look worse, but the swelling had gone down around his eyes.

“Another couple weeks and you’ll be as good as new,” Logan told him.

“I’m fine now. I just want to get out of here and help you guys.”

“We’re okay at the moment. Just take your time and get better.”

“What will really make me better is a conversation with the guy who put me in here.”

Logan nodded sympathetically. “You didn’t tell me that you went to The Hideaway because the bartender at the Sunshine Room sent you there.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Pep said. “I barely remember that you were here at all.”

“The guy told me he sent you to see the bartender.”

“Yeah. Her name’s…um…uh…”

“Diana,” Logan said.

“Right. Diana. I tried to talk to her when I got there, showed her Sara’s picture, but she acted like she’d never seen her then walked off. I started to think maybe the other guy was just giving me a line to get a few extra bucks out of me.”

“You paid him?”

“I slipped him a twenty.”

“How long did you stay at The Hideaway?” Logan asked.

“I don’t know, another thirty minutes or so. She was my best lead by far, but she was always busy so I