Chương 5
“There is something else you need to know.”
I closed my eyes.
“What?”
“Lily called me the morning before the accident.”
My stomach dropped.
“She said she was scared.”
The kitchen suddenly felt unfamiliar.
“What did she say?”
Daniel took a breath.
“She said she had made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“She did not tell me.”
The clock kept ticking.
“She only said one thing.”
I waited.
“She said, ‘If Jason finds out what I know, I don’t know what he’ll do.’”
I looked at the receipt in my hand.
At the handwriting that was unmistakably my sister’s.
At the kitchen where she had cooked meals and wrapped gifts and laughed with me.
And for the first time since Lily died, I allowed myself to consider the thought I had been afraid to say out loud.
Maybe Lily’s death was not an accident.
I sat at Lily’s kitchen table until the coffee beside me went cold.
I did not remember making it.
That was the strange thing about fear.
It could make ordinary movements disappear from your memory.
I must have walked to the counter, filled the machine, pressed the button, and waited.
But my mind had stayed somewhere else.
It stayed on Daniel’s words.
She was scared.
She had made a mistake.
If Jason finds out what I know, I don’t know what he’ll do.
I wanted to call my mother.
I wanted to wake my father.
I wanted someone else to carry the weight of the thought forming inside my head.
But I knew what would happen.
My mother would break.
My father would try to fix something that could not be fixed.
And I would still be sitting there with the same fear.
So I did the only thing Lily would have done.
I started looking for facts.
Not feelings.
Not guesses.
Facts.
The next morning, I drove to Daniel Hayes’s office before opening hours.
His building sat above a row of small businesses downtown, between a bakery and a shop that repaired watches.
Lily loved places like that.
She always said old buildings had more personality than new ones.
I hated that my brain still collected things she would have liked.
It felt unfair.
Like the world was continuing to offer me pieces of her while refusing to give her back.
Daniel opened the door himself.
He looked tired.
Not physically.
More like someone who had been carrying a heavy box for too long and finally admitted it hurt.
“You came early,” he said.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
He stepped aside.
“Neither could I.”
His office smelled like paper and coffee.
There were stacks of files everywhere, but nothing looked careless.
Daniel was the kind of person who knew exactly where everything was even when nobody else could see the system.
He closed the door behind me.
“I called the storage company this morning.”
My heart jumped.
“And?”
“They confirmed the unit is still active.”
“Who has access?”
“According to their records, Lily and me.”
“Jason?”
“No.”
That answer should have comforted me.
It did not.
Because if Lily had hidden something from her husband, she must have had a reason.
Daniel opened a folder.
“I need you to understand something.”
“What?”
“I am not a detective.”
He looked directly at me.
“I can protect documents.
I can follow instructions.
I can make sure Lily’s wishes are honored.
But I cannot prove something just because it feels wrong.”
I nodded.
I appreciated that he said it.
The worst thing anyone could do in a situation like this was let grief become evidence.
“I know.”
Daniel looked relieved.
“Good.”
He pulled out a copy of Lily’s letter.
“She was careful.”
“Careful how?”
“She never accused Jason of harming her.”
The words bothered me.
“Why?”
“Because she did not know.”
Daniel tapped the page.
“She suspected something was wrong, but she was trying to find the truth before destroying someone’s life.”
That sounded like Lily.
Even when she was hurt, she tried to be fair.
Sometimes too fair.
“What was in the storage unit?”
Daniel hesitated.
“I have an idea.”
“What?”
“Lily had been collecting records.”
“About Jason?”
“Possibly.”
He looked at the clock.
“The facility opens in twenty minutes.”
I stared at him.
“You’re taking me there?”
“I am allowing you to come with me.”
That was such a Daniel answer that I almost smiled.
Almost.
Twenty minutes later, we were standing in front of a row of metal storage units behind a fenced property on the edge of town.
The place looked exactly like every storage facility I had ever seen.
Rows of identical doors.
A small office.
A security camera above the entrance.
Nothing about it suggested that my sister’s final weeks had been hidden behind one of those doors.
Daniel unlocked the unit.
Inside were several plastic containers, a folding chair, and a small wooden desk.
The desk surprised me.
Lily hated clutter.
She would organize junk drawers for fun.
Seeing a workspace here made my chest tighten.
“She spent time here,” I whispered.
Daniel nodded.
The first box contained financial records.
Bank statements.
Receipts.
Copies of emails.
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing that would convince anyone who did not already suspect something.
But the details mattered.
Several transfers had been made from an account connected to the house.
Small amounts.
Different dates.
Always under a thousand dollars.
Someone had tried to make the withdrawals look ordinary.
Daniel sat down in the folding chair.
“This is why she came to me.”
I looked at him.
“She thought someone was stealing from her?”
“Maybe.”
He picked up another document.
“Or maybe she thought someone was hiding something.”
The second box contained printed messages.
Most were between Jason and Rachel.
My hands went cold when I saw the first page.
I did not want to read them.
Not because I was protecting Jason.
Because I knew reading them would make Lily’s pain real in a way I could not avoid.
May you like
Daniel noticed my hesitation.
“You do not have to.”
