Chương 2
Victoria looked past her again.
Lily had stopped crying.
That frightened Claire more than the tears had.
The girl stood behind the bars watching the adults with the terrible concentration children developed when they understood that the truth was being discussed around them.
Claire turned away from Victoria.
“Somebody get me the key.”
Nobody answered.
She looked at the station attendant standing near the luggage cart.
“The gate. I need the key.”
The attendant, a young man with rain on the shoulders of his uniform, looked toward Victoria.
Claire saw it.
“So she told you not to open it.”
“No, ma’am, I—”
“Open the gate.”
“I don’t have authorization for that section.”
“My daughter is locked behind it.”
He swallowed.
“I can call my supervisor.”
“Call him while you’re opening it.”
“Claire.”
She turned on Victoria.
“If you say my name one more time before that gate opens, I swear to God—”
“Mom.”
Lily’s voice stopped her.
Claire looked back.
The child had one hand inside her cardigan pocket.
“Mom, I have something.”
Claire returned to the gate.
“What do you have?”
Lily pulled out a small black object.
A USB drive.
For several seconds Claire did not understand what she was looking at.
Then she recognized it.
Daniel had owned half a dozen of those cheap black drives. He used them for everything because he distrusted cloud storage and forgot passwords constantly. Claire used to tease him about it.
Lily pushed it between the bars.
Claire took it.
“Where did you get this?”
“Uncle Daniel’s picture.”
Claire looked at the silver frame.
The cardboard backing hung open.
There was a narrow cavity behind the photograph.
Her stomach tightened.
“Was this inside?”
Lily nodded.
“When did you find it?”
“Tonight.”
“How?”
“It rattled.”
Victoria had come closer.
“Give it to me.”
Claire turned.
The platform seemed to contract around those four words.
“What’s on it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just locked my daughter in the rain because of something you don’t know?”
“I know enough.”
Claire put the drive in her coat pocket.
Victoria stepped forward.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
“You have no idea what Daniel was involved in.”
“And Lily does?”
“She saw the files.”
Claire looked at her daughter.
Lily shook her head quickly.
“I didn’t.”
Victoria’s jaw tightened.
“You opened it.”
“I put it in the computer.”
“What computer?” Claire asked.
“The little room.”
“The bridal suite?”
Lily nodded.
“There was a computer on the desk.”
Claire closed her eyes for one second.
Of course there was. The railway company had converted an old station office into a private preparation room. Claire had seen a laptop there earlier beside the printer.
“What happened when you put it in?”
“Pictures came up.”
“What pictures?”
Lily looked at Victoria.
Her lower lip moved.
“Grandpa.”
Claire felt the first real stab of fear.
Her father, Thomas Morgan, had been dead for six years.
Victoria said, “Enough.”
Claire ignored her.
“What pictures of Grandpa?”
“With Uncle Daniel.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Inside? Outside?”
“A building.”
“What building?”
Lily rubbed her nose with the back of her wrist.
“It had Morgan on it.”
Victoria turned away.
That movement was small.
It was also the first thing Victoria had done all evening that looked like fear.
Claire noticed.
So did at least three other people.
One of them was Edward Morgan.
Claire’s uncle had been standing near the train with his wife. Now he came forward slowly, his face gone strangely blank.
“What did she find, Victoria?”
Victoria did not answer.
Edward looked at Claire.
“Where’s the drive?”
Victoria said, “This is a family matter.”
Edward gave a short, humorless laugh.
“We are unfortunately the family.”
The wedding coordinator approached again, followed by an older station manager carrying keys.
Claire turned away from all of them.
“Open it.”
The manager unlocked the gate.
The instant the latch released, Lily pushed through.
Claire caught her.
For a few seconds there was no photograph, no USB drive, no Victoria, no watching guests. Lily buried her face against Claire’s coat and shook from cold.
Claire wrapped both arms around her.
“I’ve got you.”
“I’m sorry about my dress.”
Claire looked down.
Mud streaked the pale-blue hem.
She almost laughed, and the sound that came out was too close to a sob.
“I hated that dress anyway.”
Lily pulled back.
“You picked it.”
“I make mistakes.”
That got the smallest possible smile.
Claire took off her coat and wrapped it around her daughter.
Behind them, Victoria said, “The train leaves in four minutes.”
Claire looked over her shoulder.
Nobody moved toward it.
The station manager suddenly found the luggage cart extremely interesting.
Edward folded his arms.
A woman Claire knew only as one of the groom’s aunts whispered something to her husband.
Victoria’s face hardened.
“Board the train.”
Still nobody moved.
Claire understood then that her mother’s power had always depended on people moving when she expected them to move.
She had mistaken obedience for gravity.
Tonight, for the first time Claire could remember, the room had discovered it could remain still.
The train doors chimed.
Lily looked up.
“Are we going?”
“No.”
“Claire,” Victoria said.
Claire took her daughter’s hand.
“No.”
“You will regret making decisions before you understand what’s happening.”
“That might be true.”
Victoria seemed unprepared for the answer.
Claire picked up the open suitcase.
“Come on, Lil.”
“Where?”
“Home.”
Edward stepped in front of them.
“Claire, wait.”
She looked at him.
He pointed toward her pocket.
“If that came from Daniel, you need to know what’s on it.”
“I need to get my daughter warm.”
“I agree.”
“Then move.”
His mouth tightened.
“You don’t understand.”
Claire laughed once.
“Apparently that’s tonight’s family motto.”
Edward did not smile.
“Daniel called me three days before he died.”
Claire stopped.
Victoria closed her eyes.
Only for a moment.
But Claire saw.
“What did he say?”
Edward looked at Victoria.
“Not here.”
May you like
Claire almost walked away.
Then Edward added, “He said if anything happened to him, I should ask Victoria about Harrow Street.”
