Chương 5
Maya had heard pieces of that story before. Everyone in town knew Richard had rebuilt the business after financial problems years earlier. It was one of the reasons people respected him.
“I know about the bankruptcy.”
Richard shook his head.
“You know the public version.”
“What’s the private version?”
He rubbed his thumb against the edge of the desk.
“The private version is that I was not the only person making decisions.”
“Who else?”
Richard did not answer immediately.
That hesitation told Maya more than the words would have.
“Someone who worked with you?”
“Yes.”
“Someone connected to Lily?”
Richard looked at the floor.
“Yes.”
Evan stepped forward.
“Who?”
Richard looked at him.
“You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“That’s becoming a pattern.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Richard stood.
“You think knowing a name fixes this?”
“No,” Evan said. “But not knowing anything is how people get controlled.”
The comment landed.
Richard’s expression changed.
Not anger.
Recognition.
“You sound like Lily.”
Evan went quiet.
Maya noticed.
“What does that mean?”
Richard looked between them.
“It means she asked the same questions.”
“About what?”
“About the same thing you’re asking now.”
Maya felt her stomach tighten.
“She talked to you about this?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before she disappeared.”
The room seemed smaller.
“You never told me that.”
Richard looked at her.
“You never asked.”
Maya stared at him.
The answer was so frustrating because it was technically true.
She had asked where Lily was. She had asked what happened. She had asked if Richard knew anything.
But she had not known what question she was supposed to ask.
“Why didn’t you tell me she came to you?”
Richard looked down.
“Because I thought I could handle it.”
“And did you?”
“No.”
The honesty surprised her.
Richard leaned against the desk.
“Lily came here three weeks before she disappeared. She had documents. Old copies of financial records. Names. Dates. Transfers.”
“Transfers to who?”
Richard swallowed.
“I don’t know.”
Maya frowned.
“You just said she had records.”
“I said she had records. I didn’t say they were complete.”
“What happened to them?”
Richard was silent.
That silence was the answer.
“Richard.”
“I gave them back.”
Evan stared at him.
“You gave them back?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she was scared.”
Maya felt anger rise.
“You thought giving them back would make her safer?”
Richard looked at her.
“No.”
The answer stopped her.
“Then why?”
“Because I was scared too.”
Nobody spoke.
The admission changed something.
Maya had expected Richard to be hiding behind confidence. Behind money. Behind his reputation.
She had not expected fear.
“What were you afraid of?” she asked.
Richard looked toward the restaurant.
A server laughed in the dining room. A glass clinked against a table.
“I was afraid that whoever wanted those records gone had already decided how far they were willing to go.”
Maya felt cold despite the warm room.
“Did Lily know?”
“Yes.”
“And she kept investigating?”
Richard nodded.
“That was Lily.”
The way he said it carried both admiration and frustration.
Maya understood that feeling.
Lily had always been the person who kept digging after everyone else decided the hole was too deep.
“What was the name on the records?” Maya asked.
Richard looked at her.
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“I shouldn’t.”
“That’s different.”
Richard looked at the key in her hand.
Then he looked at Maya.
“Where did you get that?”
She did not answer.
His expression changed.
“You didn’t find it in Lily’s apartment.”
“No.”
“Then where?”
Maya hesitated.
She did not like that he was asking.
She liked even less that part of her wanted to tell him.
“Why?”
Richard looked toward the door.
“Because if Lily gave you that key intentionally, she wanted you to find something.”
“And?”
“And if she didn’t give it to you…”
He stopped.
“What?”
Richard stepped closer.
“If someone else left that key for you, then you’re already involved.”
Maya felt her phone vibrate.
All three of them looked at it.
Unknown number.
A message.
She opened it.
There was a picture attached.
Her breath caught.
It was Lily.
Not an old photograph.
Not a memory.
A recent picture.
Lily was sitting at a table somewhere, looking directly at the camera.
Alive.
Under the image were four words.
Stop asking Richard. He is lying.
Maya Bennett kept the photograph hidden beneath the passenger seat for three days before she showed it to anyone.
Not because she did not trust Evan.
Because once another person saw it, the possibility became real.
Until then, Lily’s face in the picture had belonged only to Maya. A private piece of evidence she could protect from questions, from doubt, from the careful expressions people wore when they wanted to comfort her without admitting they thought she might never find her sister.
But after three days of staring at the same image, she knew she could not keep pretending she was the only person affected by it.
Evan found her sitting in the parking lot behind the restaurant where they had first discovered the connection.
He tapped on the window.
Maya looked up but did not unlock the door.
He stared at her through the glass.
Then he pointed at the lock.
She ignored him.
After a few seconds, he knocked again.
“You realize this is less intimidating when you’re sitting in a ten-year-old sedan eating crackers.”
Maya looked down.
She had not noticed the empty package in her lap.
“I wasn’t trying to intimidate you.”
“Good. Because I was mostly worried you were losing a fight with a snack.”
Despite herself, she almost smiled.
Almost.
Evan noticed.
He always noticed.
That was one of the things that made him impossible.
He could tell when she was lying, when she was scared, when she was exhausted. He had been doing it since they were teenagers, back when Maya thought being the older sister meant she had to hide every problem before it reached him.
May you like
She unlocked the door.
Evan climbed in and closed it.
