The Last Thing He Told Me

While deputies from the US Marshal’s office search for Bailey, Bradford grills Hannah at the Marshal’s office in downtown Austin. Hannah is afraid Nicholas Bell has kidnapped Bailey, but Bradford seems more concerned with getting a clear account of Hannah’s time in Austin.

As Hannah explains what she hoped to do in Austin—namely, solve the mystery of Owen’s identity—Bradford tells her he is the Marshal who helped Owen and Bailey escape Austin and the crime syndicate a decade earlier. Hannah is confused and says Jake told her that Owen was not in the Witness Protection Program (WITSEC). Bradford says Owen had planned to enter the program but changed his mind when the new identities that had been established for Owen and Bailey were compromised by a leak in the New York office. As a result, Owen took Bailey and ran, and Bradford was the only US Marshal who knew where they’d gone. Furthermore, Bradford says, Owen told him about falling in love with Hannah. Bradford advised Owen that he must not tell Hannah about his past.

Hannah asks Bradford why Owen ran this time, rather than coming to Bradford, and Bradford says Owen understood if he were arrested in connection with his company, his photo and name would be all over the national news—just as Avett’s had been—and fingerprints taken during an arrest would have revealed his true identity. This satisfies Hannah, who explains, ”It makes me understand in a different way why there was no time to tell me anything—why there was no time to do anything but go” (231).

When Hannah asks if Bradford believes Owen was complicit in the crimes at his company, Bradford says no. Instead, he says he thinks Avett knew something about Owen that he used as leverage to make Owen stay. Once the raid was imminent, Owen knew that if he chose to involve Hannah and Bailey in his escape, both would have to give up life as they knew it and forever be on the run.

Bradford tells Hannah she and Bailey should go into WITSEC. As Hannah contemplates what they would have to give up in order to be reunited with Owen, Bradford tells her that Nicholas Bell was once good, but got drawn into passing messages for the crime syndicate leaders using an encryption method Owen developed. After Kate was killed, Owen hacked the system and turned over its contents to authorities, which got Bell sent to prison.

Hannah excuses herself to make a call to Jules, who has found someone to open the piggy bank containing Owen’s will. The will leaves Bailey in Hannah’s care, but also lists other people who can help care for Bailey. One of them is Charlie Smith. This indicates to Hannah that Owen trusts Charlie, as she should.

Bradford tells Hannah Bailey has been located and is safe and that Owen mailed a package of zip drives to Bradford containing information about the pressure Avett put on him to defraud investors; he reiterates that Bailey and Hannah need to enter WITSEC. Hannah, however, is plagued by one thought: If Owen had believed Bailey could be protected by WITSEC, he would have gone that route. But instead, he fled, which he would only do if it was the only way to keep Bailey safe. With this in mind, Hannah slips out of the door and into Austin.