“What is it?” I asked.
He did not answer.
My father saw the reaction and suddenly moved.
Not toward us.
Toward the grocery bag.
Daniel shouted, “Don’t!”
My father kicked it across the floor.
A glass jar shattered inside.
Sharp chemical fumes filled the room.
Daniel grabbed me and pulled me backward as smoke curled from the soaked paper.
The laptop sat open on the table.
The flash drive lay beside it.
My father lunged.
I reached it first.
He caught my wrist.
“Give it to me.”
“You said you were innocent.”
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“By destroying evidence?”
“Samuel had partners. They’re still watching.”
Daniel struck my father’s arm away and forced him against the counter.
“Richard Hale, you are under arrest.”
