Chương 5
"She didn't want you involved."
"Why?"
"Because she thought you would try to protect her."
Marcus laughed bitterly.
"That's what people say when they don't want you making your own choices."
Thomas looked at him.
"Maybe."
The honesty caught him off guard.
"Maybe she was wrong."
A silence followed.
For the first time since entering the room, Marcus saw Thomas as something other than a person holding secrets.
He saw someone carrying regret.
"What happened to Claire's investigation?"
Thomas folded his hands.
"It stopped."
"Because she died."
"Yes."
Marcus looked down.
He hated the simplicity of the answer.
A person.
A life.
A future.
Stopped.
"What did she find?"
Thomas looked at him.
"She found a connection between her mother's disappearance and a company called Northbridge Medical."
Marcus frowned.
"Medical?"
"They handled records and research contracts years ago."
"And?"
"And Claire believed some documents had been altered."
Marcus looked at the papers again.
"This is crazy."
"I know how it sounds."
"No."
Marcus shook his head.
"I mean it sounds like something people say when they want their life to be more complicated than it is."
Thomas nodded slowly.
"I thought the same thing at first."
That surprised Marcus.
"You didn't believe her?"
"No."
Thomas looked tired.
"I thought grief had made her search for patterns."
Marcus looked up.
"But?"
"But then I found things I couldn't explain."
The room became quiet.
Marcus wanted to ask what things.
He wanted to know everything.
But something stopped him.
A memory.
Claire sitting at their kitchen table months earlier.
Her laptop open.
Her expression distant.
He had asked if something was wrong.
She had smiled and said she was just tired.
He had kissed her forehead and gone back to answering emails.
At the time, he had thought he was giving her space.
Now he wondered if he had simply left her alone.
"What happened the night before she died?"
Thomas looked surprised by the question.
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"No."
Thomas leaned forward.
"I know she called me."
Marcus froze.
"What?"
"The night before the surgery."
His hands tightened.
"What did she say?"
Thomas looked uncomfortable.
"She asked me to keep something safe."
"What?"
Thomas reached into the folder and pulled out a small envelope.
He placed it on the table.
Marcus stared at it.
There was no name on it.
No explanation.
Just his wife's handwriting across the front.
Marcus recognized it instantly.
His breathing changed.
Because Claire had written one word.
Not his name.
Not Emma's.
Not Thomas's.
Just one word.
Maya.
Marcus did not touch the envelope.
For several seconds, he only stared at it.
Claire's handwriting had always been familiar to him in small, ordinary ways.
Grocery lists stuck to the refrigerator.
Notes left beside his coffee mug.
Little reminders written in the margins of books because she hated using bookmarks.
Her handwriting belonged to the life he understood.
Seeing it on that envelope felt different.
Like finding a door in a room he thought he knew completely.
"Why is it addressed to Maya?" Marcus asked.
Thomas looked away.
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"No."
The answer sounded honest.
That made it worse.
Marcus reached for the envelope, then stopped.
He hated that his hand hesitated.
It was paper.
Ink.
Something his wife had written.
There should not have been fear attached to it.
"What did Claire tell you?"
Thomas leaned back slowly.
"Not enough."
Marcus looked up.
"That seems to be everyone's favorite answer."
"I know."
Thomas rubbed his forehead.
"Claire trusted people in pieces."
The sentence stayed between them.
Marcus looked down at the envelope.
"She trusted you."
"She trusted me with a problem."
"Not with the truth."
Thomas did not argue.
Marcus picked up the envelope.
It was lighter than he expected.
That somehow bothered him.
He had imagined that whatever Claire left behind would feel important.
Heavy.
Something that explained months of confusion.
Instead, it felt like nothing.
That was how life usually worked.
The biggest moments often arrived looking ordinary.
"Where is Maya now?"
Thomas's expression changed.
"Why?"
"Because my wife left something for her."
"Marcus."
"Don't."
His voice sharpened.
"Don't tell me to be careful."
Thomas went quiet.
"I wasn't going to."
"Then tell me where she is."
Thomas looked toward the folder.
"She knows about Claire's investigation."
"How?"
"Because she was part of it."
Marcus felt his jaw tighten.
"She lied to me."
Thomas looked surprised.
"Did she?"
"She said she didn't know Claire."
"Did she say she never met her?"
Marcus stopped.
The distinction irritated him because it mattered.
"No."
Thomas nodded.
"Maya has her own reasons for staying quiet."
"Everyone does."
The bitterness in Marcus's voice surprised even him.
Thomas studied him.
"You don't trust anyone right now."
Marcus laughed quietly.
"My wife died and I found out she had a secret life I knew nothing about."
"That doesn't mean she didn't love you."
"I know."
The answer came too quickly.
Because that was the part he never questioned.
Claire loved him.
That was what made everything else hurt.
If she had stopped loving him, if she had wanted another life, if she had simply walked away, maybe anger would have been easier.
But she had stayed.
She had smiled.
She had held Emma.
She had kissed him goodbye before going to the hospital.
And somewhere inside all of that, she had carried something he never saw.
Thomas pushed the envelope closer.
"She wanted Maya to have this."
Marcus looked at him.
"Then why did she leave it with you?"
"Because she didn't know who she could trust."
The answer bothered him.
Not because it sounded false.
Because it sounded exactly like Claire.
Careful.
Thoughtful.
Always trying to protect everyone else.
Except maybe herself.
Marcus put the envelope into his jacket pocket.
"I need to talk to Maya."
Thomas nodded.
"I thought you might."
"Do you know where she is?"
"Yes."
Marcus waited.
Thomas hesitated.
"She checked into a hotel near downtown."
May you like
"Why?"
"Because she came here to meet me."
