Chương 5
Another instinct, colder and newer, said distance would end the only conversation that had given her more truth about Daniel’s final weeks than five months of police reports and condolences.
“Can she leave her seat?”
Mara asked.
Karen’s head snapped up.
The flight attendant understood immediately.
“I can ask her not to.”
“That’s not the same.”
“No.”
Mara looked at Karen.
“Would you stay?”
Karen gave a tired laugh.
“Do I have a choice?”
“Yes.”
Mara’s answer surprised them both.
“You can get up.”
The flight attendant’s eyebrows rose.
Mara continued.
“You can make this bigger right now.”
Karen looked toward the rear of the plane.
Then she fastened her seat belt tighter.
“I’ll stay.”
Mara sat in the aisle seat behind her.
Louise slid into the window seat beside Mara, leaving the middle seat empty.
Noah had fallen asleep again.
Mara tucked the nursing cover away and wrapped him against her chest with both arms.
The flight attendant remained standing.
“I still need to tell the captain we have a passenger dispute.”
“That’s fine,” Mara said.
Karen looked irritated.
Mara ignored her.
“You don’t have to mention the files unless you believe there’s a danger.”
The attendant considered that carefully.
“I’ll say there is a disagreement involving potentially sensitive personal information.”
Karen muttered, “That’s one way to put it.”
The attendant looked at her.
“And I’ll say all parties are currently cooperative.”
Karen shut her mouth.
When the attendant walked forward, Mara watched until she disappeared behind the curtain near first class.
Then she looked down at the key.
“There has to be a number.”
Karen turned slightly.
“What?”
“Keys have markings.”
Mara rotated it between her fingers.
There was a tiny stamped sequence along the shaft.
“B-four-one-seven.”
Karen went still.
Mara noticed.
“You know that.”
“No.”
“You reacted.”
“I reacted because it sounds familiar.”
“From where?”
Karen stared at the seatback.
“Daniel rented a storage box.”
Mara felt a quick pulse of anger.
“You just said you didn’t know what the key opened.”
“I didn’t.”
“You know a storage facility?”
“I know he asked me about one.”
“When?”
“About a month before he died.”
“What did he ask?”
“Whether I knew someplace that rented secure document lockers without using an employer account.”
Mara stared at the back of Karen’s head.
“And you didn’t think to mention this sooner?”
Karen turned.
“You were breastfeeding a baby while your daughter accused me of knowing your dead husband.”
“That’s your excuse?”
“My excuse is that I’ve been trying not to say the wrong thing for ten minutes.”
“You were doing fine when you were humiliating me.”
Karen’s cheeks flushed.
Louise looked between them.
Mara saw her daughter tense and forced herself to lower her voice.
“Where is the facility?”
“Outside Minneapolis.”
Mara blinked.
“That’s where we live.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Karen looked confused.
“Because Daniel lived there.”
“No.”
Mara’s voice sharpened.
“How do you know where we live now?”
Karen opened her mouth, then stopped.
Mara’s skin prickled.
Daniel had died in Minnesota.
Karen had worked with him in Minnesota.
That was not the troubling part.
The troubling part was the word now.
Karen looked toward the window.
“Mara.”
It was the first time she had used her name.
Mara hated it.
“How do you know my name?”
Karen rubbed her palms against her jeans.
“Daniel talked about you.”
“That doesn’t explain now.”
“No.”
“Then explain it.”
Karen stared down at her seat belt.
“I looked you up.”
“When?”
“After he died.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to know if you were okay.”
Mara’s laugh came out sharp.
“You cared if I was okay?”
Karen flinched.
“I didn’t contact you.”
“You think that makes it better?”
“No.”
“Did you know I would be on this flight?”
“No.”
“Did you know we were traveling?”
“No.”
“Did you follow us?”
“No.”
The answers came faster now.
Mara studied her face.
Karen seemed frightened, but not trapped.
There was a difference.
“Then why were you flying from Phoenix?”
Karen looked away.
Mara’s pulse quickened.
They had spent four days in Phoenix with Mara’s sister.
Mara had booked the trip because Louise had started waking at night again.
It was supposed to be a break.
A swimming pool.
Takeout.
No casseroles from sympathetic neighbors.
No bedroom where Daniel’s side of the closet still held six shirts she could not touch.
“Answer me.”
Karen’s jaw tightened.
“I had a meeting.”
“With who?”
“A lawyer.”
Mara stared.
“In Phoenix?”
“Yes.”
“Which lawyer?”
Karen shook her head.
“I’m not giving you his name here.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t know who is listening.”
The man across the aisle lifted his eyes from his safety card.
Karen glared at him.
He sighed.
“Lady, there are forty people listening.”
A few passengers smiled uneasily.
The tension broke for perhaps two seconds.
Then the seat belt sign chimed.
The captain’s voice filled the cabin, calm and practiced, announcing that they had begun their descent.
Mara looked at the key again.
“Was it Daniel’s whistleblower lawyer?”
Karen did not answer.
That was enough.
“What were you meeting about?”
Karen’s fingers tightened around the armrest.
“Whether I’m ready to testify.”
Mara’s mouth went dry.
“To who?”
“Potentially federal investigators.”
Louise whispered, “About Dad?”
Karen looked at her.
“About what happened at his company.”
Mara leaned forward.
“And his death?”
Karen’s face closed.
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Because I don’t know what happened to him.”
“You’re afraid someone killed him.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You told the flight attendant not to call anyone because we don’t know who would meet us.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“It sounds exactly the same.”
Karen pressed her lips together.
The plane dipped gently.
Noah stirred.
Mara secured him instinctively with one hand.
Karen finally spoke.
“Daniel believed someone was watching him.”
The cabin noise seemed to thin.
“Who?”
“He didn’t know.”
“When did he tell you?”
“Two days before he died.”
Mara stared at her.
“What exactly did he say?”
May you like
Karen hesitated.
“He said the same gray SUV had been near the clinic three times.”
