Chapter 5 - THE FRIEND WHO NEVER MOVED TO CHARLESTON
Sarah never moved away voluntarily.
That was the first truth.
The second was worse.
She had returned to Chicago eight months ago.
Under another name.
Jack’s investigator found a rental record.
Sara Mitchell Voss.
Lily stared.
“Voss?”
Jack sat across from her in the hotel conference room.
“Married.”
“To Marco?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“She filed a confidential marriage license two years ago.”
Lily laughed.
Sarah hated Marco.
At least Lily thought she did.
But Sarah had never once said his name.
She had only called her strange employer “a man who believed money could buy silence.”
“Why hide a marriage?”
Jack answered:
“Because Marco publicly has no wife.”
Lily remembered Sarah’s last strange phone call.
If anyone ever offers you a job where secrecy pays more than dignity, don’t take it.
At the time, Lily thought Sarah was being dramatic.
Now it sounded like warning.
“What happened to her?”
“We don’t know.”
Lily’s anger rose.
“That answer is getting old.”
“So is hearing it.”
Jack did not become defensive.
That made it harder to stay angry.
Rocco entered with an old file.
Marco had purchased the Charleston property for Sarah.
Six weeks later, she left.
The house was sold.
But there had been one emergency-room visit during her stay.
Broken wrist.
Three bruised ribs.
Lily felt sick.
“Marco hurt her.”
“No proof.”
“People don’t accidentally collect three bruised ribs.”
Jack’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
A hospital photograph showed Sarah wearing a long-sleeved shirt despite summer heat.
Lily knew that behavior.
She had lived it.
Long sleeves.
High collars.
Changing in darkness.
Learning which mirrors to avoid.
Jack saw her expression.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That isn’t nothing.”
Lily looked away.
“Different story.”
He did not press.
That mattered.
Then Rocco placed another page down.
Sarah had made one phone call from Charleston the night of her hospital visit.
Not to Lily.
To Ethan Bennett.
Lily’s ex-husband.
Everything inside her stopped.
“Why would Sarah call Ethan?”
Jack watched her carefully.
“You tell me.”
“They knew each other through me.”
“Were they close?”
“No.”
At least she thought not.
Ethan mocked almost everyone Lily loved.
Sarah particularly.
He called her dramatic.
Nosy.
Bad influence.
Then Jack slid a second document across the table.
A payment.
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
Marco Voss to Ethan Bennett.
Lily’s fingers went numb.
“What was he paying Ethan for?”
The transfer memo contained only two words.
Family leverage.
Lily stood so quickly the chair moved.
“Noah.”
Jack was already reaching for his phone.
“He is protected.”
“You don’t know Ethan.”
“Then tell me.”
Lily looked toward the closed door.
Her voice dropped.
“Ethan doesn’t care about Noah unless Noah can hurt me.”
Jack went very still.
It was not pity in his face.
It was recognition.
“What did he do to you?”
Lily wrapped her arms around herself.
“I said different story.”
Jack nodded.
And stopped.
Then his phone rang.
Ruth.
Not security.
Jack answered on speaker at Lily’s request.
Ruth sounded terrified.
“Lily?”
“I’m here.”
“Ethan called.”
Her blood froze.
“What did he want?”
“He asked whether Noah still plays with broken robots.”
Jack and Lily looked at each other.
May you like
Ruth continued:
“Then he said to tell you he knows what piece Noah found.”
