Chapter 2 - THE COAT MY BROTHER LEFT BEHIND
The first thing I did when my shift ended was check whether anyone was following me.
The second was realize that someone already was.
A black sedan waited across the street from Bellamy's Steakhouse.
Its headlights came on the moment I stepped outside.
I walked toward the train station, pretending not to notice.
The car followed.
Every memory of Evan's final night came rushing back.
The hospital had told me his heart had failed unexpectedly.
I'd accepted that explanation because Evan had lived with a heart condition since childhood.
But Caleb's warning had changed everything.
At the next intersection, I ducked into a crowded convenience store and exited through the side entrance.
Twenty minutes later, I reached my apartment.
I locked the door, pulled the curtains, and opened my bedroom closet.
Evan's red coat was exactly where I'd left it.
I pressed my face against the worn fabric.
For a moment, I could almost see my brother standing in the kitchen, signing ridiculous jokes while stealing food from my plate.
Then I remembered Caleb's instruction.
The left sleeve.
I examined the lining.
Near the cuff, I found a seam stitched with darker thread.
My hands trembled as I opened it with nail scissors.
Something metallic fell onto the bed.
A small brass key.
Then came a folded photograph and a handwritten note.
The key was stamped with two characters.
N17.
I unfolded the photograph.
It showed a beautiful dark-haired woman standing outside a medical facility.
A tall man held her arm.
His face was partly turned away, but the silver ring on his hand was unmistakable.
I studied the woman's features.
I'd never met her, but I'd seen her portrait in newspaper articles about Chicago's notorious Vale family.
She was Isabel Vale.
Caleb's mother.
The woman supposedly killed in the lake house explosion fourteen years earlier.
On the back, Evan had written a date.
October 18, 2019.
Seven years after the explosion.
My mouth went dry.
A sound came from the hallway.
Three slow footsteps.
Then someone stopped outside my door.
My phone vibrated with a message from an unknown number.
Don't open it. It's Caleb.
I stared at the screen.
Another message appeared.
Your brother discovered the truth about my mother. The photograph is only the beginning.
May you like
Then came the words that made my knees weaken.
Hannah, my mother is alive.
