Chương 8
“Probably.”
“She may say things that don’t make sense.”
“Why?”
“Because she nearly died.”
Mina felt the officer’s attention sharpen beside her.
Thomas heard his own mistake.
He corrected too fast.
“Because she was critically ill.”
Mina asked, “What do you think she might say?”
Thomas looked at her.
Nothing moved in his face.
“That Daniel hurt her.”
Daniel inhaled sharply through the phone.
The room seemed to contract.
Mina said, “Why are you so sure?”
“I’m not.”
“You keep bringing it up.”
“Because she told me she was afraid.”
“Of Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“Not of you.”
Thomas’s eyes hardened.
“No.”
Mina held his gaze.
“Then why are you scared of her waking up?”
He stared at her.
The officer moved slightly closer.
Thomas gave a small, incredulous laugh.
“You think I did something.”
“I think you’re lying.”
“About what?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“That’s useful.”
He looked at the officer.
“Are we done?”
The officer said, “For now.”
Thomas walked toward the doors.
He did not look back.
Mina watched until he disappeared into the corridor.
Only then did Daniel speak.
“Don’t follow him.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Good.”
Mina looked at the axe again.
“You need to tell the police at the hospital what you told me.”
“And don’t leave anything out because it makes you look bad.”
Daniel was quiet.
Then he said, “I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
His voice softened.
“I do now.”
Mina ended the call and stood still for several seconds.
The officer asked, “You okay?”
“No.”
He nodded as if that were the correct answer.
“I need to go to the hospital.”
“Go.”
“What about the coffin?”
He looked toward the damaged white shell.
“Not your problem anymore.”
It did not feel true.
Outside, the late afternoon light had turned the parking lot painfully ordinary.
Cars moved past on the road.
A delivery van waited at a red light.
Someone across the street was walking a small brown dog that kept stopping to smell the same patch of grass.
Mina stood on the funeral home steps in her orange uniform with dried blood on her hand and wondered how the world had managed not to notice what had happened.
Her car was parked near the rear lot.
She had driven Evelyn’s old Honda because her own car was in the shop.
The passenger seat still held a grocery receipt and a pair of sunglasses Evelyn had forgotten months earlier.
Mina picked them up before sitting down.
They were cheap plastic frames.
Evelyn owned expensive things but constantly bought sunglasses from drugstores because she lost them.
Mina set them in the cup holder.
Then she started the engine.
Her hands shook too much to drive.
She turned it off again.
For several minutes, she sat listening to the ticking of cooling metal.
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
She almost ignored it.
Then she answered.
“Hello?”
A woman said, “Is this Mina Park?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Claire Donnelly.”
Mina straightened.
Evelyn’s friend.
“How did you get my number?”
“Evelyn gave it to me months ago.”
Claire’s breathing sounded fast.
“I just saw a video.”
Mina closed her eyes.
Of course.
Someone had already posted it.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my God.”
Claire began crying, but only for a few seconds.
She pulled herself together with an audible breath.
“What hospital?”
Mina told her.
“I’m coming.”
“Claire.”
“What?”
“Did Evelyn tell you she was leaving Daniel?”
Silence.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“A few weeks ago.”
“Was she afraid of him?”
Another pause.
“Not exactly.”
Mina gripped the phone.
“What does that mean?”
“She was afraid of what would happen if she left.”
“Because of Daniel?”
“Because of the company.”
Mina frowned.
“What company?”
“The Mercer family business.”
Mina had always assumed Evelyn stayed away from business matters.
Daniel and Thomas managed most of the family investment firm after their father retired.
Claire said, “Evelyn found something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Claire.”
“I’m serious.”
Her voice shook.
“She wouldn’t tell me on the phone.”
“Why?”
“Because she thought somebody was reading her messages.”
Mina looked through the windshield.
A pickup truck passed the funeral home entrance.
“She said Daniel was?”
“No.”
“Thomas?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Then who?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire inhaled.
“She told me she had documents.”
“What kind?”
“Financial records, I think.”
Mina closed her eyes.
“Where are they?”
“She said she hid them.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she tell Daniel?”
“No.”
“Thomas?”
Claire made a sound of frustration.
“She didn’t tell me.”
Mina pressed her thumb against the steering wheel until the cut hurt.
“Why was she leaving?”
“Because she didn’t know who she could trust anymore.”
“Did she trust Daniel?”
Claire hesitated long enough to answer.
“Some days.”
That sounded painfully believable.
Mina asked, “Was she suicidal?”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because we had plane tickets.”
Mina stopped.
“What?”
“We were supposed to fly to Chicago yesterday.”
“For what?”
“To meet an attorney.”
The air inside the car seemed to disappear.
“What attorney?”
“Someone who handles financial fraud.”
Mina stared at the funeral home doors.
Claire said, “She was never supposed to be in that coffin.”
Mina did not answer.
The sentence sat between them with the awful weight of something obvious only after it had become irreversible.
Claire said, “Mina?”
“I’m here.”
“Are you going to the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t go to the house.”
Mina’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Why?”
“Because if Evelyn hid something there and somebody already knows she was planning to leave, the house may not be safe.”
Mina looked toward the funeral home doors again.
A police cruiser had pulled into the lot.
Two officers got out and walked inside without hurrying.
“Did Evelyn ever say where she hid the records?”
“No.”
“Did she leave anything with you?”
“No.”
Claire hesitated.
“She asked whether I still had the spare key to my apartment.”
Mina frowned.
May you like
“Why?”
“She said she might need somewhere to put a bag for a few days.”
