Chương 7
Then, “Claire’s girl?”
Maya stood so fast the motel chair scraped backward.
“You know my mother?”
“Met her once.”
“Do you know me?”
“No.”
“Do you remember Leonard Carter’s animal seizure seven years ago?”
“Oh, I remember.”
“There was a young woman there.”
Sam exhaled.
“Yeah.”
“Who was she?”
“You need to ask her.”
“I don’t know who she is.”
Another pause.
“Her name’s Nora.”
Maya gripped the phone.
“Nora what?”
“Carter.”
The name felt both expected and impossible.
“Leonard’s daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You removed her from the property.”
“I took her to the hospital.”
“Why?”
“Her wrist was cut open.”
Maya looked at her own scar.
“How?”
“She’d opened a pen.”
Maya sat slowly.
“A wolf pen?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She was trying to get one out.”
Maya stopped breathing.
Sam continued.
“One of Leonard’s wolves was injured. Animal control was coming in. Nora thought they were going to euthanize him.”
“Did they?”
“No.”
Maya already knew.
“Koda.”
“Yeah.”
“Did she know him?”
“Raised him, from what I understood.”
Maya closed her eyes.
“Why does he react to me?”
“I can’t answer that.”
“Did Nora look like me?”
Sam did not respond.
“Mr. Ortiz?”
“Yes.”
“Did she look like me?”
“A little.”
Maya’s stomach tightened.
“How little?”
“Enough that when I saw your mother years before, I thought about it.”
“You met my mother before?”
“During the 2002 raid.”
Maya stood again.
“You said once.”
“Once then. Once later.”
“When later?”
“After Leonard’s case.”
“Why?”
“She called me.”
Maya stared at the motel wall.
“My mother called you seven years ago.”
“Yes.”
“About Nora?”
“Yes.”
Maya felt anger returning, hotter now.
“What did she ask?”
“If Nora was safe.”
“Why?”
“You need to ask Claire.”
“No. I’m asking you.”
Sam’s voice hardened slightly.
“I’m not going to tell you someone else’s family history because you’re upset.”
“I’m part of the family history.”
“That doesn’t mean every part belongs to you.”
Maya nearly hung up.
Instead she said, “Do you know how to reach Nora?”
“Yes.”
Maya waited.
“I’m not giving you her number.”
“Can you give her mine?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
Maya wrote her number on a motel notepad even though Sam already had it from caller ID.
After the call, she sat on the bed and stared at the phone.
It did not ring.
She called Claire.
This time she did not bother with greetings.
“You knew about Nora.”
Claire said nothing.
“You called Deputy Ortiz after Leonard’s arrest.”
“Maya—”
“Why?”
“I wanted to know if she was alive.”
“Why wouldn’t she be?”
“Because Leonard raised her.”
Maya rubbed both hands over her face.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Claire was silent for so long Maya thought she might hang up.
Then she said, “Nora’s mother disappeared.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means she left.”
“Or?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Leonard hurt her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Dad?”
“No.”
“You sound sure.”
“Because your father was afraid of Leonard.”
Maya stared at nothing.
“That would’ve been useful information yesterday.”
“There is no useful version of any of this.”
“Stop deciding what I can handle.”
Claire’s voice sharpened.
“I was your mother. Deciding what you could handle was literally my job.”
“I’m twenty-nine.”
“And I made those decisions when you were five.”
“You kept making them.”
Claire became quiet.
That was true, and they both knew it.
Maya sat near the window.
“You knew Nora existed.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever meet her?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“After Leonard’s arrest.”
Maya felt something drop in her chest.
“You met her seven years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She contacted me.”
“How did she find you?”
“Old court records.”
“What did she want?”
Claire whispered, “To know about you.”
Maya stood.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Leonard talked about you.”
Maya could hear her own heartbeat.
“What did he say?”
“That you were the reason everything was taken from him.”
“I was five.”
“I know.”
“He blamed a five-year-old?”
“He blamed everyone except himself.”
Maya walked to the window.
“What did Nora want to know?”
“What happened that night.”
“The night I got hurt?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Leonard told a different version.”
“Of course he did.”
“He said your father was protecting you from a wolf.”
Maya looked at her scar.
“And you told Nora the truth.”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“She cried.”
Maya waited.
“She said she had spent her whole life believing the wolves were dangerous because everyone else was stupid around them.”
“Was she wrong?”
“She was raised by Leonard. I think being wrong was complicated.”
Maya sat again.
“Did she ask to meet me?”
“Yes.”
“And you said no.”
“Yes.”
Maya closed her eyes.
A strange grief came over her.
Not for Nora exactly.
For a meeting that had never happened.
A possibility denied before Maya knew it existed.
“Why?”
“Because she was still involved with Leonard.”
“How?”
“She lived on the property.”
“She was his daughter.”
“She defended him.”
“She was his daughter.”
“I know.”
“Did you think she was dangerous?”
Claire hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Was she?”
“I don’t know.”
“That keeps coming up.”
“Yes.”
Maya leaned against the window.
“Mom, Koda recognized me because I look like Nora.”
Claire did not answer.
“That’s the obvious explanation.”
“Yes.”
“But the scar.”
“I don’t know.”
“Nora cut the same wrist freeing him.”
Claire exhaled.
“Then maybe it was the gesture.”
“What gesture?”
“You used to hold your hand flat against the fence.”
Maya’s breath caught.
“How do you know?”
“You did it with Seven.”
The wolf mother.
Maya closed her eyes.
Another fragment surfaced.
Wire under her fingertips.
Gray fur moving on the other side.
Not touching.
Just close.
Maya whispered, “I think I did that yesterday.”
“What?”
“I put my hand against the glass.”
Claire began crying again.
This time Maya did not feel angry.
Only tired.
They stayed on the phone in silence.
After a while Claire said, “I am sorry.”
Maya watched a man outside drag a suitcase through dirty snow.
May you like
“I know.”
“That doesn’t fix it.”
