Chương 7
"Who approved the relationship?"
"I can't discuss that over an unsecured line."
"Allison."
"Mara, listen to me."
Her tone changed.
Not corporate anymore.
Personal.
"Do you trust your brother?"
The question landed harder than any accusation.
Mara looked at the ceiling.
Two days ago, the answer would have been automatic.
Now she had to search for it.
"I don't know."
Allison was quiet.
Then she said:
"That answer tells me more than you think."
The call ended after Allison promised to freeze Mara's access and have someone contact her through official channels.
When the room went silent again, Evan moved back toward the chair.
"She knows."
Mara looked at him.
"Who?"
"Your company."
"About Daniel?"
"About something."
"That's not helpful."
"I know."
She looked at him.
He looked tired.
Not like Daniel.
That comparison bothered her.
Because she wanted to hate everyone connected to this.
It would have been easier.
But Evan looked like a person who had been losing a fight long before Mara knew there was one happening.
"Tell me about Claire."
He sat down.
"Claire was a systems analyst."
"For Northline?"
"Yes."
"What happened to her?"
Evan rubbed his face.
"She found something."
"What?"
"I don't know exactly."
Mara stared.
"You keep saying that."
"Because it's true."
"Then tell me what you do know."
Evan looked at the floor.
"Northline started as a legitimate company."
Mara waited.
"Daniel was good at seeing weaknesses."
"That sounds like a compliment."
"It isn't."
Evan looked at her.
"He could look at a system and immediately see where someone could take advantage of it."
"Like a security consultant."
"Yes."
"And then?"
"And then he started believing that finding a weakness gave him permission to use it."
The room became still.
Mara thought about Daniel as a child.
The way he would find the loose boards in their backyard fence and crawl through before anyone knew there was a problem.
Their mother used to call him curious.
Their father called him trouble.
Mara had always defended him.
She had said there was a difference between curiosity and carelessness.
She was no longer sure.
"What did Claire find?"
Evan hesitated.
Then reached into his pocket.
He removed a small folded receipt.
Mara recognized it immediately.
Not the receipt itself.
The handwriting.
Daniel's.
"I found this in my office after he told me to delete everything."
She unfolded it carefully.
It was for a storage unit.
A location outside the city.
The date was two weeks before the accident.
"Why didn't you give this to the police?"
Evan looked uncomfortable.
"Because I didn't know if I was giving them evidence or making myself a suspect."
Mara looked at him.
"You were already scared."
"Yes."
"Of what?"
He looked at the receipt.
"That whatever Daniel was hiding, Claire found it before he could."
Mara read the address again.
A storage facility.
A place Daniel had never mentioned.
A place he had been paying for while telling everyone the company was finished.
She picked up her phone.
"I need a ride."
Evan immediately shook his head.
"No."
Mara looked at him.
"No?"
"You can't just leave."
"I can barely walk."
"That's not what I mean."
He pointed toward the receipt.
"That is exactly the kind of thing someone wants you to find."
Mara looked down.
"And what?"
"What if it's a trap?"
The question annoyed her because it was reasonable.
She hated reasonable things right now.
"I spent my entire life waiting for people to tell me what was safe."
She folded the receipt.
"I'm done waiting."
Evan looked at her.
"You sound like Daniel."
The comparison hit harder than he intended.
Mara looked away.
"Don't say that."
"I'm sorry."
"No."
She shook her head.
"Don't apologize for saying something true."
A nurse came in moments later with medication.
She stopped when she saw the tension in the room.
"Everything okay?"
Mara looked at the nurse.
The easy answer waited.
Yes.
Fine.
Nothing.
Instead she said:
"I need to know when I can leave."
The nurse frowned.
"You're scheduled for another evaluation."
"When?"
"Tomorrow morning."
Mara looked at the clock.
The accident had happened less than forty-eight hours ago.
It felt like a month.
"Can I leave against medical advice?"
The nurse studied her.
"Is this about the accident?"
Mara looked at Evan.
Then back at the nurse.
"It's about what caused it."
The nurse did not ask more.
She simply adjusted the chart.
After she left, Evan stood.
"I should go."
Mara looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because if Daniel is watching who talks to you, I shouldn't be here."
"You think he is watching?"
Evan did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Her phone buzzed.
A new message.
Unknown number.
Mara looked at the screen.
Evan saw her expression.
"What is it?"
She opened the message.
One sentence.
Stop looking for answers you are not ready to carry.
Her first reaction was fear.
Her second was anger.
She showed Evan.
He read it.
Then immediately stepped back.
"Mara."
"What?"
"Do you recognize the number?"
"No."
"Don't reply."
She stared at the message.
Two days ago, she would have listened.
Two days ago, Daniel was the person she called when something felt wrong.
Now his absence sat in every decision.
Mara typed a response.
Evan moved closer.
"What are you doing?"
She looked at him.
"Finding out who thinks they can scare me."
Her thumb hovered over the screen.
Then she sent one word.
Who?
The reply came almost instantly.
That was what frightened her most.
Not the message.
The speed.
You already know.
Mara looked at the screen.
Her hands went cold.
Because the number had no name.
No profile.
Nothing identifying the sender.
But the message had one detail that made her stop breathing.
It was sent from her own phone number.
Mara stared at the screen until the letters blurred.
May you like
Her own phone number.
The message sat there without explanation, without an attachment, without any proof that what she was seeing was even possible.
