Chương 6
That was the first thing anyone said that sounded practical.
Mark glanced at her.
Claire shrugged.
"I work with children."
She adjusted the strap of her bag.
"You learn quickly that adults can spend hours explaining why they are right while a problem gets worse."
Noah almost smiled.
Almost.
It disappeared when Mark started walking toward the street.
"Where are you going?" Noah asked.
"To my car."
"Why?"
"Because I am taking you there."
Evelyn stared at him.
"You think I am getting in a car with you?"
Mark stopped.
For the first time, he seemed to have no prepared response.
That answer told Noah something.
Mark had planned for confrontation.
He had planned for suspicion.
He had planned for anger.
He had not planned for Evelyn refusing to follow his lead.
"I don't trust you," she said.
Mark nodded once.
"I know."
The simple acceptance unsettled her.
"You should be more upset about that."
"I am."
"Doesn't look like it."
Mark looked toward the street.
"It took me a long time to understand that being upset does not mean I was right."
Nobody spoke.
The admission felt too honest to interrupt.
A bus moved past the courthouse, blocking the view of the road for a few seconds.
When it cleared, Mark was still standing there.
Still waiting.
Still looking older than he had an hour earlier.
Noah checked the message again.
No new texts.
That somehow felt worse.
Silence from Rachel meant too many possibilities.
"Where is your car?" Noah asked.
Mark pointed across the street.
They walked together, but not as a group.
There was too much distance between them for that.
Claire stayed beside Evelyn.
Noah walked a few steps behind Mark.
The city moved around them.
A man argued into a headset outside a coffee shop.
A woman chased after a child who had escaped from holding her hand.
A construction worker laughed while carrying equipment toward a building entrance.
Normal life continued with almost insulting confidence.
Noah had always found that strange.
The biggest moments in people's lives rarely arrived with the world making room for them.
They happened while someone was late to work.
While someone was buying groceries.
While someone was deciding whether to answer a phone call.
Mark unlocked an older gray sedan parked near the corner.
Noah noticed the small scratches along the passenger door.
Not expensive.
Not careless.
Just used.
The kind of car owned by someone who had other priorities.
Evelyn stopped beside it.
"I need one thing."
Mark looked at her.
"Name it."
"No more half answers."
He did not respond.
"Not one more."
Mark looked away.
"Evelyn."
"No."
Her voice was quiet.
That made him listen.
"I have spent too long being the last person to know things about my own life."
A muscle moved in Mark's jaw.
"I cannot do that again."
After a long moment, he nodded.
Her face hardened.
"That is not what I said."
"I know."
"Then don't say it."
Mark closed his eyes briefly.
The old Mark would have argued.
The old Mark would have explained why there were reasons and exceptions and complications.
This Mark just opened the driver's door.
"Get in."
Nobody moved.
Then Claire opened the back door.
"Everyone can continue being angry in the car."
Noah looked at her.
She gave him a tired look.
"What?"
"You are strangely calm."
"I am not calm."
She got inside.
"I just have children. I have learned that panic is usually loud and rarely useful."
Noah looked at Evelyn.
For a second, something almost human crossed her face.
Not happiness.
Not relief.
Just recognition that someone else was also exhausted.
They got into the car.
Mark drove.
The first few minutes passed without conversation.
Noah watched the streets change outside the window.
The courthouse disappeared behind them.
Office buildings became smaller.
The traffic became less crowded.
Mark kept both hands on the wheel.
"You were there," Noah said.
Mark did not look at him.
"Where?"
"When the records were created."
A pause.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I was asked to be."
"By who?"
Mark's fingers tightened around the steering wheel.
"That is the question you are going to ask first?"
Noah looked at him.
"Yes."
Mark nodded slowly.
"Then you are going to hate the answer."
"I already hate most of the answers today."
For the first time, Mark almost smiled.
It vanished quickly.
"I was asked by Evelyn."
The car became silent.
Evelyn turned from the passenger seat.
"What?"
Mark kept driving.
"I said you would hate it."
"No."
Her voice was different now.
Not angry.
Confused.
"That doesn't make sense."
"I know."
"You were working for me?"
"I was helping you."
"Then why don't I remember?"
Mark looked at the road ahead.
"Because you asked me not to let you remember."
Evelyn stopped breathing for a moment.
The words sat there.
Impossible.
But not impossible enough to ignore.
Noah watched her face.
A memory was trying to reach her.
Something buried.
Something blocked.
"What happened?" she whispered.
Mark did not answer immediately.
The car continued forward.
Finally, he said, "We are almost there."
Noah looked at him.
"You cannot do that."
"Do what?"
"Drop something like that and then say we are almost there."
Mark's eyes stayed on the road.
"Watch me."
Noah wanted to argue.
He wanted to force the answer out.
But then he looked at Evelyn.
She had gone completely still.
And for the first time since he had met her, Noah wondered if the truth was not something someone had hidden from her.
Maybe it was something she had once chosen to hide from herself.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
The only sound inside the car was the low hum of the engine and the occasional clicking noise from the turn signal when Mark changed lanes.
Evelyn kept looking straight ahead.
She did not look at Noah.
May you like
She did not look at Mark.
She watched the buildings pass as if one of them might suddenly contain an explanation.
