Chương 6
“Where did you get this?”
“Installation security recovered it from your father.”
Mara looked up.
“Recovered?”
“He had it in his wallet.”
The anger came back cleanly.
“He carries a photograph of a brother he told me never existed.”
Keene did not answer.
“Does my mother know about this?”
“I haven’t interviewed her.”
“Where’s my father?”
“In another room.”
“Mercer?”
“Being interviewed.”
“Shaw?”
“Also.”
Mara pointed at the photograph.
“They all knew Daniel.”
“That appears likely.”
“Then somebody knows what happened.”
“Likely.”
“Can you stop saying likely?”
“No.”
Mara leaned back against the examination table.
The paper beneath her crackled loudly.
Keene studied the photograph again.
“There’s something else.”
Mara waited.
“The device behind the paper wasn’t a transmitter.”
“What was it?”
“A small storage module with a vibration motor and LED.”
“Why would storage vibrate?”
“We’re examining it.”
“You have a theory.”
“I have several, which is another way of saying I don’t know.”
Mara looked at the photograph.
“What was on it?”
“We haven’t accessed the data yet.”
“Then what made it activate?”
“That’s one of the questions.”
Mara pointed toward the photograph again.
“And the paper?”
Keene was silent.
“The folded paper taped behind the medal.”
“It was processed.”
“What did it say?”
Keene reached into her folder.
Instead of producing the original, she removed a photocopy.
“The original is evidence.”
Mara took it.
Only seven words had been typed on the narrow strip.
ASK THOMAS WHO LEFT DANIEL IN ROOM 214.
Mara read the sentence twice.
Then a third time.
The number bothered her more than the accusation.
Specificity had weight.
People invented broad threats.
Rooms existed.
“What is Room 214?”
“We’re working on that.”
“Jordan?”
“Possibly.”
“Was Daniel killed in a hotel?”
“I don’t know.”
“A hospital?”
“I don’t know.”
“A military facility?”
“Mara.”
Keene used her first name for the first time.
“We have been investigating this for less than an hour.”
Mara folded the photocopy without thinking.
Keene held out her hand.
“Please don’t.”
Mara flattened it and returned it.
“Sorry.”
Keene looked at the crease.
“You’re going to make a terrible evidence technician.”
“I have other strengths.”
“I hope so.”
Another knock came.
This time Park entered.
He looked at Keene before addressing Mara.
“The preliminary screen found a sedative compound on the swab from your skin.”
Mara sat straighter.
“What compound?”
“We’re confirming before I name it.”
“Was the dose dangerous?”
“Based on your symptoms and current condition, it appears limited.”
“Limited isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the answer I have.”
Keene closed her notebook.
“Could it have been placed on the medal intentionally?”
Park’s expression tightened.
“I can tell you the substance was concentrated on the area beneath the decoration.”
Mara looked down at the red mark below her collarbone.
Someone had not merely put Daniel’s medal on her.
Someone had expected it to make her collapse.
The public spectacle had been part of the design.
“Whoever did this wanted everyone looking at it,” she said.
Keene did not disagree.
A commotion rose in the corridor.
Mara heard Evelyn’s voice.
“You cannot tell me I’m not allowed to see my daughter.”
A male voice replied too quietly to understand.
Then Evelyn said, much louder, “She came out of my body, Agent Whoever-You-Are, so unless your badge outranks biology, move.”
Mara closed her eyes.
Keene looked toward the door.
“Your mother?”
“Unfortunately, unmistakably.”
The door opened.
Evelyn entered before anyone invited her.
Her makeup had streaked beneath one eye.
She carried Mara’s purse in one hand and a pair of white uniform gloves in the other, as though she had grabbed whatever remained on the chair after the hall emptied.
She stopped when she saw the sweatshirt.
“What happened to your uniform?”
“Evidence.”
“You look twelve.”
“Thank you.”
Evelyn put the purse down.
For a moment neither woman moved.
Then Evelyn crossed the room and touched Mara’s cheek.
Mara allowed it for perhaps two seconds.
After that she turned her face away.
Evelyn lowered her hand.
“You lied.”
“I did.”
“About Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Evelyn looked at Keene.
Keene stood.
“I can give you a few minutes, but please don’t discuss anyone else’s interview.”
Evelyn waited until the door closed.
Then she sat on the stool Park had left behind.
“I met Daniel once.”
Mara said nothing.
“It was 1997.”
“You told me you didn’t recognize the medal.”
“I didn’t at first.”
“Mom.”
“I recognized the symbol.”
“That’s recognizing it.”
Evelyn looked down at the gloves in her lap.
“Daniel came to the apartment when your father was away.”
“Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“You called him my father.”
Evelyn’s fingers stopped moving.
Mara felt something inside her become very still.
“Why did you correct yourself?”
“I didn’t.”
“You did.”
“Mara.”
“Who was away?”
Evelyn looked toward the closed door.
Her face had lost color again.
Mara stood.
The room tilted faintly, and she put one hand against the examination table.
“Who was away?”
Evelyn whispered, “Thomas.”
“And Daniel came to see you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He was scared.”
“Of what?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
“What did he want?”
Evelyn squeezed the gloves until the white fabric twisted between her fingers.
“He wanted to see you.”
Mara stared at her.
“Why?”
Evelyn began crying again, but Mara felt no impulse to comfort her.
“He asked to hold you.”
“Why?”
“I told him no.”
“Why did Daniel Velez want to hold me?”
Evelyn’s shoulders shook once.
She pressed the gloves against her mouth.
Mara crossed the room and pulled them away.
“Mom.”
Evelyn looked up.
The answer was already there.
Mara could see it in the shame, the grief, and something worse because it resembled relief.
“Thomas wasn’t the only Velez man I knew before you were born,” Evelyn said.
Mara stepped back.
The examination room seemed suddenly too small for the four white walls.
“No.”
“Mara—”
“No.”
“Daniel and I—”
“Stop.”
May you like
Evelyn obeyed.
Mara stared at her mother, then at the door behind which Thomas was sitting with investigators and a photograph of his dead brother in his wallet.
