Chapter 4 - ADRIAN HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR ME
Adrian woke thirty-six hours later.
Not fully.
Not strongly.
But enough to open his eyes and become immediately irritated by oxygen tubing.
That was apparently a good neurological sign.
Dr. Brooks allowed me inside for five minutes.
Mason stood near the door.
Lily sat beside me, holding her rabbit.
Adrian looked at her first.
His cracked voice barely carried.
“You stayed.”
Lily nodded.
“You smelled better.”
His mouth moved.
Almost a smile.
Then he saw me.
“Claire.”
I felt anger arrive before relief finished.
“You knew.”
His eyes sharpened.
Mason shifted.
Adrian looked at him.
“What did you tell her?”
“Enough.”
I crossed my arms.
“South Station.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
That was confirmation.
“You were looking for me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Not here.”
I laughed.
“You almost died and that’s still your favorite answer?”
His eyes returned to mine.
“Lily.”
I understood.
Not in front of her.
Fair.
I looked at Mason.
“Take her to get pudding.”
“I want chocolate,” Lily said.
Mason stared.
“You just negotiated with a three-year-old.”
“She wins.”
He took her.
When the door closed, I stepped closer.
“Talk.”
Adrian breathed carefully.
Pain.
I saw it.
Didn’t care enough to stop.
“Marcus Trent stole from me.”
“I know.”
“He also stole from someone else.”
“Who?”
“A crew that used my docks without permission.”
“The Albanians?”
“Yes.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
Adrian’s face tightened.
“Marcus used your identity.”
I stared.
“What?”
“He opened accounts in your name.”
My skin went cold.
“What accounts?”
“Storage rentals. vehicle registrations. One courier company.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“He told them I was involved?”
“Worse.”
Adrian swallowed.
“He told them you were.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“Because you were clean.”
“I was a receptionist at a dental office.”
“Exactly.”
I suddenly remembered strange mail.
Collection letters.
A call asking about a van I never owned.
Marcus always handled it.
Or said he did.
“When did you find out?”
“After he disappeared.”
“And South Station?”
“I had people looking for you because the crew believed you had something Marcus took.”
“What?”
“Ledger access.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
“You knew then?”
“Yes.”
“And instead of telling me, you got me a hotel room.”
“I thought you were safer if you knew nothing.”
I laughed without humor.
“There it is.”
His expression changed.
“What?”
“You decided.”
“I protected you.”
“You decided.”
Silence.
Three years of gratitude shifted.
Not vanished.
Complicated.
“Were we in danger?”
“Yes.”
“Was Lily?”
His eyes closed.
“Yes.”
“What did they want?”
“Marcus copied financial records tying several people to trafficking through the docks.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
“Blackmail.”
“Yes.”
“Did he give them to me?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I had your belongings searched after the hotel.”
My body went cold.
“You what?”
Adrian looked at me.
“I’m not proud of it.”
“You searched my things?”
“For a drive.”
“Without asking?”
“Yes.”
Rage arrived.
“How dare you?”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“And then you hired me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted you where I could protect you.”
There.
Finally.
The truth.
My job.
The apartment assistance.
The private-school voucher Lily later received.
I had thought Adrian helped because he was unexpectedly kind.
Maybe he had.
But kindness had been mixed with surveillance.
“You watched us.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“First year constantly.”
I felt sick.
“Then?”
“Less.”
“Less?”
“Claire—”
“No.”
I stepped back.
“You do not get to say my name like that.”
He looked weaker suddenly.
Not physically.
Something else.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“Marcus was missing.”
“You should have told me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Eva?”
“No.”
“Mason did.”
“He knew of her.”
“You kept everything from me.”
“Yes.”
I laughed once.
“Everyone in my life seems to think secrecy is protection.”
Adrian’s voice softened.
“You were twenty-six with an infant and thirty-two dollars.”
“I was still an adult.”
That landed.
He looked away.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
I wanted to leave.
Then I remembered the voicemail.
“She said I should ask why my life needed saving.”
Adrian looked back.
“She wants you angry at me.”
“She doesn’t need to work hard.”
“No.”
“Why now?”
“Because she thinks Marcus’s records still exist.”
“Do they?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ever find them?”
“No.”
“Did Marcus?”
“Maybe.”
“Is he alive?”
Silence.
My chest tightened.
“Adrian.”
“I don’t know.”
That answer frightened me more than yes.
“What do you know?”
“He disappeared after the warehouse break-in.”
“Did your people kill him?”
His face changed.
“No.”
Immediate.
Firm.
I believed him.
“Did the Albanian crew?”
“Possibly.”
“Eva thinks you did.”
“Probably.”
“And now she’s trying to kill you.”
“Yes.”
“Why wait three years?”
Adrian looked toward the window.
“Mason.”
The door opened immediately.
He had been listening.
Of course.
“Tell her.”
Mason’s face tightened.
“Three weeks ago, a body was recovered from the harbor.”
I stopped breathing.
“Who?”
“Dental records suggest Marcus.”
The room tilted.
“You found Lily’s father?”
“Potentially.”
“And no one told me?”
Mason looked ashamed.
“We were waiting for confirmation.”
I stared at both men.
“This family has a disease.”
Adrian almost smiled despite himself.
“Noted.”
“What happened to him?”
Mason answered.
“Gunshot wound. Body weighted.”
My stomach turned.
“When did he die?”
“Medical examiner thinks around three years ago.”
Right after he disappeared.
“So Eva believes Adrian ordered it.”
“Yes.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Mason looked at Adrian.
“We didn’t.”
“Then who?”
“No proof.”
I thought about the crew.
Warehouse.
Records.
Maybe Marcus stole from everyone.
Maybe everyone wanted him dead.
“What does Eva want?”
“The same thing everyone wanted then.”
“Ledger.”
“Yes.”
“Why would she think I have it?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Because Marcus may have hidden it somewhere connected to Lily.”
My blood turned cold.
“No.”
“He was terrified before he vanished.”
“How do you know?”
“He called me.”
I stared.
“When?”
“The night he left you.”
My hands went numb.
“What did he say?”
Adrian’s voice weakened.
“He said he had done something stupid.”
“That narrows nothing.”
“He said, ‘If I don’t make it, make sure Claire never knows what I used.’”
My stomach tightened.
“What I used?”
“I didn’t understand then.”
“What did he use?”
Adrian looked at me.
“That’s what Eva thinks Lily can find.”
The door opened.
Lily ran inside with chocolate pudding on her chin.
“Mommy!”
I turned.
She held something.
Her stuffed rabbit.
The old one she had carried since infancy.
Brown.
One ear resewn badly by me after it tore.
Adrian stared at it.
Mason did too.
I felt cold.
“What?”
Mason stepped closer.
“Where did she get that rabbit?”
“Marcus bought it before she was born.”
Silence.
Adrian’s face changed.
“Mason.”
“I’m thinking the same thing.”
I grabbed Lily.
“What?”
Mason pointed to the rabbit.
“Marcus said he used something connected to Lily.”
I looked at the stuffed animal I had washed, repaired, slept beside, carried through three apartments.
“No.”
Lily hugged it.
“My bunny.”
I stared at the stitched ear.
The tear had happened when Lily was six months old.
Or had it?
I suddenly remembered.
Marcus had given me the rabbit with one ear already slightly loose.
I had thought it was cheap.
My pulse hammered.
Adrian whispered:
“Claire.”
I took the rabbit gently.
Lily protested.
“Mommy!”
“I’m not taking it.”
I felt the ear.
Something inside.
Hard.
Tiny.
Not stuffing.
I froze.
“Get scissors.”
Mason moved.
Lily started crying.
“No cut Bunny!”
I crouched.
“Baby, I’m going to fix him.”
“He not broke.”
My hands shook.
Adrian watched.
Mason brought surgical scissors.
I opened the old seam.
Inside the stuffing was a black plastic capsule.
No bigger than my thumb.
Mason went completely still.
I pulled it out.
USB drive.
May you like
Lily’s rabbit had carried Marcus Trent’s secret for three years.
And suddenly every person who had been watching us made sense.
