Chương 7
A long second passed.
"Your brother."
The answer landed harder than he expected.
"Mark?"
She nodded.
Daniel pulled out the chair across from her.
"Why would Mark have those documents?"
"I don't know."
"You just said he showed them to you."
"I said he showed me copies."
"Claire."
Her fingers tightened around each other.
"He came here last month."
Daniel felt something shift.
Last month.
Before the investigation.
Before the accusation.
Before anyone knew there was a problem.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because he asked me not to."
Daniel let out a short breath.
"You kept a secret from me because Mark asked you to?"
"It wasn't like that."
"Then what was it like?"
Claire looked tired.
Not angry.
Not defensive.
Just tired.
"He said he was trying to protect you."
Daniel almost laughed.
The sound never came.
"Protect me from what?"
"He didn't say."
"Of course he didn't."
Claire looked at him sharply.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Act like everyone is part of some plan against you."
Daniel looked down.
The accusation hurt because it sounded like something she had been carrying for a while.
Not something she invented that night.
"I need to talk to him," he said.
Claire reached for his arm.
The gesture surprised both of them.
"Wait."
Daniel looked at her hand.
She slowly pulled it back.
"He was scared."
"Mark?"
"Yes."
"Mark doesn't get scared."
"Everybody gets scared."
The sentence was quiet.
And for some reason, it reminded Daniel of how little he actually knew about what happened inside other people's heads.
He had spent the last two days trying to find who had built the trap.
He had not asked why people were afraid to step near it.
His phone buzzed again.
Another message.
This time, there was no photograph.
Just an address.
Daniel stared at the screen.
"What is it?" Claire asked.
He turned the phone around.
Her face lost color.
"That is where Mark works."
Daniel looked at her.
"How do you know?"
"Because I drove there."
"When?"
She hesitated.
"Yesterday."
The answer created a silence neither of them could fill.
"You went to see him?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Claire looked toward the window.
"Because I thought if I heard his side, I could understand what was happening."
"And?"
She shook her head.
"He wouldn't talk."
"Why?"
"He kept asking me if you had found anything."
Daniel leaned forward.
"Why would he care what I found?"
Claire looked back at him.
"That was the question I asked."
"What did he say?"
"Nothing."
The anger that rose inside Daniel was mixed with something else.
Something closer to disappointment.
His brother had always been the person who disappeared when things became complicated.
When their father was sick, Mark visited less often.
When their mother needed help after surgery, Mark always had a reason he could not stay long.
Daniel had spent years telling himself that Mark was just different.
Not cruel.
Not selfish.
Just different.
But difference became harder to excuse when people got hurt.
"I am calling him," Daniel said.
"Daniel."
"No."
His voice was sharper than he intended.
Claire flinched.
He noticed.
That made him stop.
"I need answers."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
She looked at him.
"Then tell me."
The room became still.
Daniel opened his mouth.
The truth was he did not know what to say.
He wanted her to understand the fear inside him.
The feeling that every person around him had a piece of a puzzle he was not allowed to see.
But he also knew something else.
He had been treating everyone like a witness.
Not like a person.
"I don't know," he finally said.
Claire looked down.
It was the first honest thing either of them had said in hours.
Daniel called Mark.
The phone rang four times.
Five.
Six.
Then voicemail.
He ended the call.
A minute later, his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered immediately.
"Where are you?"
The voice on the other end was not Mark.
It was a woman.
"Daniel?"
He recognized it after a moment.
Maya.
"Where are you?"
"At home."
A pause.
"Are you alone?"
He looked at Claire.
"No."
"Good."
The way she said it made him sit straighter.
"What happened?"
"I found something else."
Daniel moved away from the table.
"What?"
"My access logs."
"From the company?"
"Yes."
"What about them?"
"There is a login from my account."
"When?"
"Three months ago."
Daniel frowned.
"You weren't there."
"I know."
"Can you prove that?"
Another pause.
"Yes."
"How?"
"Because I was at my father's funeral."
Daniel stopped.
The detail was so specific that it immediately changed the shape of the problem.
"Maya."
"My account was used at 2:14 in the afternoon."
Her voice became quieter.
"I was standing beside my father's grave at 2:14."
Daniel looked toward the dark hallway.
The house suddenly felt smaller.
"Who had access to your account?"
"I thought nobody."
"Thought?"
She swallowed.
"After my father died, I forgot to update my emergency contact information with the company."
"What does that have to do with your account?"
"Nothing."
She paused.
"Unless someone used my recovery information."
Daniel felt a familiar coldness move through him.
"Who was your emergency contact?"
Maya did not answer.
That silence told him enough.
"Maya."
"It was Robert Hale."
The name returned.
Again.
Always returning.
"Why?"
"Because he was my supervisor when I started."
Daniel leaned against the wall.
"Three years ago."
"Yes."
"Before he left."
"Before they said he left."
Neither of them spoke.
The phrase hung there.
Not a fact.
Not yet.
A question.
"Daniel," Maya said.
"What?"
"I think someone has been building this for a long time."
He looked at the phone.
The photograph was still open on the screen.
A picture of evidence.
A picture of a trap.
A picture that proved someone was watching.
"I think you're right," he said.
After he ended the call, Claire remained seated.
She looked smaller than she had earlier.
May you like
Not weak.
Just exhausted from carrying information that had nowhere safe to go.
