Chapter 6 - WHY MILES CHOSE ME
Miles did not run.
That was the only reason Jared allowed him to speak.
We stood inside Room 214 while morning light leaked through the curtains.
Jared’s voice was quiet.
“Explain.”
Miles looked at me.
“I knew Evelyn had met Willa.”
My stomach tightened.
“You said a veterinarian remembered me.”
“He did. But that’s not why I came.”
Jared took one step forward.
“Why?”
“Evelyn sent me instructions before she disappeared.”
Miles removed his phone.
A scheduled email.
Sent twenty-four days earlier.
IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME AND NERO STOPS EATING, FIND WILLA THORNTON. DO NOT TELL JARED WHY UNTIL NERO ACCEPTS HER.
Jared stared at him.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You used her.”
Miles looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
I crossed my arms.
“Wonderful. Apparently everyone in this story has investigated me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That phrase is having a very busy week.”
Jared almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Miles explained.
Evelyn believed someone inside Jared’s household was monitoring communications.
If Miles openly searched for the woman named on Nero’s collar, Dominic might react.
So he created a plausible reason.
A dying dog.
A desperate owner.
A clinic worker with unusual instincts.
Except one part had not been staged.
Nero really was dying.
“And the hundred thousand dollars?” I asked.
“Jared authorized anything necessary.”
I looked at Jared.
“You were prepared to pay a hundred thousand dollars for one night?”
“For Nero?”
He answered without hesitation.
“Yes.”
Something about that bothered me less than it should have.
Miles continued.
“Evelyn trusted Willa because of something that happened during her third clinic visit.”
I frowned.
“What happened?”
“You stopped a man from following her into the building.”
Memory returned slowly.
A gray sedan.
A man standing near the corner.
I had locked the clinic door and told Anna she could wait until he left.
She had stayed almost two hours.
“Was that Brendan?”
Miles shook his head.
“No.”
He showed me a photograph.
Dominic’s driver.
Evelyn had known then that Dominic was watching her.
That was when she hid my name inside Nero’s collar.
Not because I had medical expertise.
Because I had protected a stranger without asking questions.
Jared looked at me differently after that.
I disliked how much I noticed.
Then Miles’s phone vibrated.
A message from a blocked number.
One photograph.
Evelyn sitting in a wheelchair beside a window.
Today’s newspaper rested on her lap.
Alive.
Underneath:
BRING THE MEMORY CARD TO KENSINGTON FOUNDATION GALA TONIGHT.
NO POLICE.
NO FBI.
NO WILLA.
Jared stared at the final line.
I did too.
Then a second message arrived.
This one was addressed to me.
COME ANYWAY IF YOU WANT BRENDAN TO TELL YOU WHY HE CHOSE YOU FOUR YEARS AGO.
My chest tightened.
Jared looked over.
“What does that mean?”
May you like
I had no answer.
Because until that moment, I had believed meeting Brendan had been random too.
