Chương 7
Mara almost interrupted, but stopped herself.
There was something different in Lena’s voice.
Not defensiveness.
Concern.
“What happened?”
“I went back through the access logs.”
“And?”
“There is another entry.”
Mara stood again.
“Whose?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not possible.”
“It is if the account was created through a temporary authorization.”
“Whose authorization?”
“That’s the problem.”
Lena lowered her voice.
“It was approved using Daniel’s employee credentials.”
Mara felt the room become smaller.
“Daniel did it?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you’re thinking it.”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Then Lena corrected herself.
“I’m thinking someone wanted it to look like Daniel did it.”
Mara looked at the papers.
The missing report.
The handwritten note.
The warning from Daniel.
“He knew.”
“Maybe.”
“He knew someone was setting him up.”
“Maybe.”
“You really hate that word.”
“I hate pretending we know things we don’t.”
Mara walked to the kitchen counter and pressed her hand against the edge.
“When Daniel was younger, he used to take apart broken electronics.”
Lena was quiet.
Mara continued anyway.
“He never fixed them right away.”
“Why?”
“He said if he opened something too quickly, he would only see the damage.”
A small silence followed.
“He liked finding the reason something stopped working.”
Lena’s voice softened.
“That sounds like him.”
“That’s what scares me.”
“Why?”
“Because if he found something broken, he wouldn’t walk away.”
The next morning, Mara met Lena outside the Riverside building before the office opened.
The parking lot was mostly empty.
A maintenance worker dragged a trash bin toward the back entrance while a radio played faintly from inside the building.
Neither woman spoke at first.
They stood there holding coffee they had forgotten to drink.
“You slept?” Lena asked.
“Not really.”
“Same.”
Mara looked at her.
“You don’t seem like someone who loses sleep.”
Lena gave a tired smile.
“I’m a lawyer.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“It means I lose sleep professionally.”
For a moment, Mara laughed.
It was brief and unexpected.
Then the feeling disappeared.
They entered through the public doors when the receptionist arrived.
The same woman from the day before looked surprised to see them together.
“You’re here early.”
Mara noticed the woman’s eyes move toward Lena.
A small reaction.
Almost invisible.
But there.
“You know her?” Mara asked.
The receptionist looked away.
“Everyone knows everyone here.”
“That’s not true.”
The woman hesitated.
“No.”
She looked at the floor.
“It isn’t.”
Lena stepped closer.
“We need to ask about Marcus Vale.”
The receptionist immediately became still.
Not confused.
Not curious.
Careful.
“He isn’t in yet.”
“We didn’t ask if he was,” Lena said.
The receptionist looked at her.
And Mara saw something pass between them.
Recognition.
Fear.
Maybe both.
“What happened?” Mara asked.
The receptionist picked up a stack of folders.
“I have work.”
“People keep saying that,” Mara replied.
“Like work is the reason they can’t answer simple questions.”
The woman looked at her.
“You think this is simple?”
Mara stopped.
The receptionist lowered her voice.
“You think because your brother disappeared, everyone else suddenly knows what happened.”
“No.”
“Then don’t act like they do.”
The words were sharper than Mara expected.
The receptionist looked embarrassed afterward.
She placed the folders down.
“I’m sorry.”
Mara shook her head.
“Don’t be.”
The woman looked toward the hallway.
“Marcus was here late the night before Daniel disappeared.”
Lena immediately focused.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Who else was here?”
The receptionist looked uncomfortable.
“I don’t know.”
“That means you do know something.”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“It means I know enough to know I don’t want to be involved.”
Mara softened her voice.
“What did you see?”
The woman looked at the empty hallway.
“Daniel and Marcus argued.”
“What about?”
“I couldn’t hear everything.”
“What did you hear?”
The receptionist waited several seconds.
Then she said, “Marcus told him he was making things worse.”
Mara felt her stomach tighten.
“And Daniel?”
“He said something like, ‘You already made that choice.’”
Lena looked at Mara.
Neither of them spoke.
Because they both understood what that meant.
The argument was not about a mistake.
It was about responsibility.
They left the building twenty minutes later with another piece of the puzzle and no clearer picture of the whole thing.
Outside, Lena stopped beside her car.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
Mara waited.
“When Daniel first started working at Riverside, he wasn’t the person you know now.”
Mara frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He was angry.”
“At what?”
“Everything.”
Lena looked toward the building.
“He believed people in power always protected themselves.”
“That sounds like Daniel.”
“No.”
Lena shook her head.
“You know the version who stayed after hours to help employees fix problems.”
She paused.
“There was another version.”
Mara crossed her arms.
“What happened?”
“Ten years ago, there was a records error.”
“The one Daniel mentioned?”
Lena looked at her.
“He told you?”
“No.”
Mara looked away.
“I’m guessing.”
Lena nodded slowly.
“Daniel made a mistake.”
“What kind?”
“A patient assistance file was delayed because he approved a review without checking the full history.”
“Did someone get hurt?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
Then slower.
“But someone could have.”
Mara waited.
“Marcus took responsibility.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel was younger.”
“That doesn’t sound like Marcus.”
“It wasn’t simple.”
Lena opened her car door.
“Marcus protected him, but he also made sure Daniel never forgot it.”
Mara stared at the building.
“So Daniel owed him.”
“Maybe.”
“You hate that word.”
Lena looked at her.
“This time, I hate it more.”
A message arrived on Mara’s phone before she could answer.
Unknown number.
One sentence.
Do not trust Lena Ortiz.
Mara’s first reaction was anger.
Her second was fear.
Because whoever sent it knew she was with Lena.
She looked up.
Lena was watching her face.
“What is it?”
Mara turned the phone away.
“Nothing.”
The lie came out automatically.
Lena noticed.
Of course she noticed.
But she did not push.
May you like
That bothered Mara more than if she had.
“You’re learning,” Lena said quietly.
