Chương 5
About a baby?
About Lucas showing an old photograph?
"Why do they care about a record?" he asked.
Clara looked at the baby carrier.
"Because Daniel didn't just find information."
Arthur waited.
"He copied it."
The room became quiet.
Marissa stopped arranging papers on the table.
"You didn't tell me that part," she said.
Clara looked uncomfortable.
"Because I didn't want more people involved."
Marissa shook her head.
"Clara."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
The frustration in Marissa's voice surprised Arthur.
"You keep saying you are protecting people, but you keep making decisions without letting them choose."
Clara looked away.
The accusation landed because it was true.
Arthur noticed the similarity.
Father and daughter.
Both convinced they knew what was best.
Both mistaking control for protection.
"Where is the copy?" Arthur asked.
Clara looked at him.
"I don't know."
"Daniel didn't tell you?"
"He hid things from me."
Arthur studied her face.
"Why?"
A long pause followed.
Then Clara reached into her bag.
She removed a small envelope.
Not the photograph.
Not the pendant.
Something else.
"He left this for me."
She placed it on the table.
Arthur did not touch it.
"What is it?"
"A note."
"From him?"
"Yes."
"Why haven't you opened it?"
Clara looked down.
"Because he died before he could explain."
Arthur frowned.
"That doesn't answer the question."
Her eyes lifted.
"Because I am afraid it will tell me I should have known."
Nobody spoke.
Outside, a truck passed through the street below.
The apartment shook slightly.
Arthur looked at the envelope.
He knew that feeling.
The fear of opening something because the unknown still allowed hope.
A closed door could contain anything.
An open one only contained the truth.
Lucas walked over quietly.
"Grandpa?"
Arthur looked at him.
The word sounded strange.
Not wrong.
Just unfamiliar.
"Yes?"
Lucas pointed at the envelope.
"Is that why Mom was crying?"
Arthur looked at Clara.
She looked embarrassed.
"I wasn't."
Lucas tilted his head.
"You were."
Clara sighed.
"Thank you for keeping that secret."
"I didn't."
For the first time, Arthur saw Clara smile.
It lasted less than a second.
But it was there.
Then a sound came from outside.
A car door closing.
Everyone stopped.
Marissa moved toward the window.
Arthur watched her face change.
"Clara."
Clara stood immediately.
"What?"
Marissa looked down through the blinds.
"The car followed you."
The room changed.
The small apartment.
The puzzle.
The piano upstairs.
All of it suddenly felt fragile.
Clara grabbed Lucas's hand.
Arthur reached for the envelope.
Not because he knew what was inside.
Because for the first time in years, he understood something clearly.
Whatever had been taken from his family was not just a secret.
It was something someone was willing to chase them for.
And now he was standing in the middle of it.
Arthur reached the window before he realized he had moved.
Marissa caught his arm.
"Not there."
Her voice was quiet, but the fear behind it was not.
Arthur stopped.
For years, people had moved around him because of his name.
Employees stepped aside.
Executives waited for him to finish speaking.
Strangers smiled because they recognized him.
This was different.
Marissa was not impressed.
She was trying to keep him alive.
Clara pulled Lucas closer.
"How many people are downstairs?"
Marissa looked toward the blinds again.
"I saw one."
"One person?" Arthur asked.
"One person I saw."
The answer settled heavily.
Nobody in the room needed to say what it meant.
A single person could be enough.
Arthur looked at the envelope still in his hand.
The paper felt thinner than it had a minute earlier.
"Does anyone know we are here?" he asked.
Marissa looked at Clara.
Clara shook her head.
"Only you and me."
Arthur glanced at Marissa.
"Then how did they find you?"
The silence that followed was immediate.
Clara looked uncomfortable.
"I made a call."
"To who?"
"Someone from Daniel's old office."
Arthur's expression changed.
"When?"
"Yesterday."
"Why?"
Her jaw tightened.
"Because I needed information."
"And you thought that was safe?"
"I thought I was running out of options."
The words came out sharper than she intended.
Arthur looked away.
Because he knew that feeling.
Not the situation.
Not the fear.
The feeling of reaching the point where every choice looked like a mistake.
Marissa walked away from the window.
"You two can argue later."
She picked up a backpack from beside the couch.
"Right now, we need to decide whether we leave or stay."
Arthur noticed the bag was already prepared.
"You expected this."
Marissa did not answer immediately.
"I expected Clara to ignore my advice."
Clara frowned.
"That is unfair."
Marissa gave her a tired look.
"Is it?"
The question landed harder than an accusation.
Clara looked down.
Lucas watched both women carefully.
Children noticed things adults hoped they missed.
Arthur knew that better than anyone.
He had spent years believing children remembered events.
They remembered feelings instead.
"Where can we go?" Arthur asked.
Marissa looked at him.
"Why are you asking me?"
"Because you prepared a bag."
A small pause.
Then she nodded.
"There is a motel outside the city."
"That sounds terrible."
"It is."
"Comforting."
"It is also boring."
Arthur almost smiled.
"Boring is underrated."
Marissa looked surprised.
"That is probably the first sensible thing you have said."
Clara gave her a look.
"Marissa."
"What?"
"You know who he is."
"I know exactly who he is."
The room became quiet again.
Arthur expected anger.
Instead, he heard disappointment.
It was somehow worse.
Marissa walked toward the kitchen.
"I read about you after Daniel started investigating."
Arthur followed her with his eyes.
"Most people did."
"No."
She opened a cabinet and took out a bottle of water.
"Most people read about the company."
She closed the cabinet.
"I read about the person running it."
Arthur said nothing.
"There is a difference."
Clara looked uncomfortable.
"Marissa, now is not the time."
"Maybe that is why it matters."
Arthur looked at her.
May you like
"What did you find?"
Marissa hesitated.
