Chương 12
“Police came.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“They looked through some things.”
“Computers?”
“Daniel’s laptop.”
“Phones?”
“His work phone was damaged in the crash.”
“Personal?”
“They took it.”
“And returned it?”
“No.”
Karen looked at Aaron’s phone.
“Did you ever receive anything from the house?”
Aaron said, “No.”
Mara’s hands went cold.
“What are you asking?”
Karen turned toward her.
“Whether Daniel kept anything at home before moving it.”
“He wouldn’t put us at risk.”
Karen did not answer.
Mara’s anger rose instantly.
“He wouldn’t.”
“I’m not saying he meant to.”
“He would not use our house.”
“Mara.”
“No.”
Louise looked down at the tablet.
Mara saw it.
“What?”
Her daughter’s shoulders tightened.
“Louise.”
“I don’t know if it matters.”
“What?”
Louise rubbed one sneaker against the chair leg.
“Dad had a box in the garage.”
Mara stared at her.
“What box?”
“The black one.”
“What black one?”
“The one on the shelf behind the camping stuff.”
Mara searched her memory.
There had been plastic bins.
Paint cans.
A toolbox.
Daniel’s fishing gear.
Nothing stood out.
“What was in it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you see him use it?”
“Once.”
“When?”
Louise looked uncomfortable.
“Before he died.”
Mara forced herself to keep her voice gentle.
“What was he doing?”
“He put papers in it.”
Karen stopped pacing.
Aaron’s voice came through the phone.
“What kind of box?”
Louise looked at the speaker.
“It was black.”
“Metal?”
“I think.”
“Did it have a lock?”
“Yes.”
Mara looked at the brass key.
Louise shook her head immediately.
“Not that one.”
“How do you know?”
“Different key.”
Mara’s heart began pounding.
“Where is that box now?”
Louise looked at her mother.
“In our garage.”
Karen said, “You need someone to check the house before you go back.”
Benton nodded.
“That I agree with.”
Mara stood.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“No one goes into my house without me.”
“Mara,” Aaron said.
She turned toward the phone.
“You have already had five months to make decisions around me.”
“I didn’t know you had the key.”
“You knew my husband was dead.”
“I had instructions.”
“So did he.”
Mara’s voice shook now.
“And his instructions left an eight-year-old carrying evidence because all the adults were too careful to tell me anything.”
Louise looked up.
Mara saw the words hit her daughter and immediately regretted them.
She crouched.
“That was not your fault.”
“I know.”
Louise’s chin trembled.
“No.”
Mara took both of her hands.
“You shouldn’t have had to keep it.”
“Dad told me to.”
“I know.”
“He said it was important.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t want to mess it up.”
Mara pulled her close.
“You didn’t.”
Louise buried her face against Mara’s shoulder.
Noah squirmed between them and made an annoyed grunt.
Louise laughed weakly.
Mara kissed her hair.
Behind them, Karen said quietly, “Daniel shouldn’t have done that.”
Mara looked over Louise’s head.
Karen’s face was pale.
“He was scared,” Karen continued.
“That explains it.”
“It doesn’t excuse it.”
Mara stared at her.
For the first time all day, Karen said something Mara needed to hear.
Not about billing records.
Not about gray SUVs.
About Daniel.
Mara looked down at the brass key.
Aaron’s voice came softly through the speaker.
“She’s right.”
Mara closed her eyes.
A knock sounded at the door.
Officer Ruiz opened it.
Evelyn stood outside with two uniformed officers.
Her gray hair was windblown.
Her purse hung open.
Her expression moved from anger to fear the instant she saw Mara.
“Oh, honey.”
Mara stood.
Evelyn crossed the room and wrapped both arms around her daughter, Noah caught gently between them.
Mara held on.
She had not intended to cry.
She did anyway.
Only for a few seconds.
Then Evelyn pulled back and cupped Mara’s face.
“What happened?”
Mara wiped beneath one eye.
“A lot.”
Evelyn looked at Karen.
Karen looked away.
Then Evelyn noticed Louise.
“Come here, bug.”
Louise went to her.
Evelyn hugged her tightly.
Officer Benton’s radio crackled.
He listened.
His posture changed.
“Ruiz.”
The younger officer turned.
Benton raised the radio again.
“Repeat that.”
Static answered.
Then a voice came through clearly enough for everyone to hear.
The gray SUV had been rented that morning.
The renter’s identification was fake.
Security footage showed the driver leaving the vehicle twenty minutes earlier.
A woman in a gray blazer.
Karen sat down slowly.
Mara felt Evelyn’s hand close around hers.
Benton listened to the rest of the transmission.
Then he looked directly at Karen.
“They found another camera angle.”
Karen swallowed.
“What does it show?”
“The woman didn’t come here from outside.”
Mara felt her stomach drop.
Benton’s face remained grim.
“She got off your flight.”
Mara looked at Karen.
Karen shook her head before anyone accused her.
“I didn’t know.”
Benton’s radio crackled again.
He stepped away from the table and listened.
Ruiz moved toward the door.
Evelyn pulled Louise closer without being told.
Mara tucked Noah against her chest and felt his small body tense with hers.
“Do they know where she went?” Karen asked.
Benton held up one finger.
The room waited.
Then he lowered the radio.
“Security has her on camera entering the east concourse.”
“Alone?” Ruiz asked.
“So far.”
Karen stood.
“Then she could still be here.”
“She could.”
Mara’s mouth went dry.
“Was she sitting near us?”
Benton looked at her.
“They’re checking the manifest.”
Karen whispered, “If she was on the plane, she heard enough.”
Mara thought of the crowded cabin.
The turned heads.
The safety card.
The passengers pretending not to listen.
The woman in gray could have sat ten feet away while Karen described Daniel’s records and Louise showed the key.
Mara looked at her daughter.
“Did you show the key before we landed?”
Louise frowned.
“Only when I showed you.”
“Could people see it?”
“I don’t know.”
Mara hated herself for asking.
Louise’s shoulders curled inward.
Evelyn saw it.
“That’s enough.”
Mara looked at her mother.
Evelyn’s voice hardened.
May you like
“She is not an evidence locker.”
Mara closed her eyes.
