Chapter 3 - THURSDAY NIGHT
Nathan called me from the mansion.
I was sitting on the floor of my apartment beside one of Lily's moving boxes.
Her purple sweater was in my lap.
I had picked it up without realizing.
For weeks, I had been doing that.
Opening boxes.
Touching something.
Freezing.
Remembering.
Then putting it back.
"Maya."
Nathan's voice sounded different.
"What happened?"
"Federal investigators want to talk to you tonight."
I closed my eyes.
"About David?"
"Yes."
"About the money?"
A pause.
"No."
My stomach tightened.
"What then?"
Nathan didn't answer immediately.
"Maya, were you supposed to attend a charity event the night Lily was admitted?"
I stared at the wall.
"Yes."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
"What time?"
"Seven."
"How were you planning to get there?"
"My car."
"Which route?"
"Lake Shore Drive."
Nathan became silent.
"Why?"
"Did David know?"
"Of course."
"Did he know you canceled?"
"No."
I stood.
Lily's sweater slipped from my lap.
"Nathan."
"I'm coming over."
"Tell me now."
"Maya."
"Tell me."
His voice lowered.
"Julianne says David met with a man who asked when you'd be alone."
My hand tightened around the phone.
"When?"
"During the yacht trip."
"Before Lily died?"
"Yes."
"How long before?"
"At least several days."
The room seemed to tilt.
"What man?"
"Someone called Grey."
"Who is he?"
"They're identifying him."
I thought back through the week Lily got sick.
Breakfast.
School drop-off.
The grocery store.
Her fever.
My canceled dinner.
My car.
Then something surfaced.
A memory I had forgotten.
"My brakes."
Nathan went silent.
"What?"
"Six months ago."
I swallowed.
"We were at the Lake Geneva house."
"What happened?"
"I drove into town."
"The brake pedal felt strange."
"Strange how?"
"Soft."
I pressed my palm against my forehead.
"I told David."
"What did he say?"
"He said I was imagining it."
"Anything else?"
"The next morning he sold the car."
Nathan's voice sharpened.
"He sold it?"
"Yes."
"Immediately?"
"Within a week."
"Why?"
"He said he didn't trust it."
Nathan didn't speak.
I could hear him thinking.
Then I remembered something else.
"There was a fuel smell."
"Where?"
"The garage."
"When?"
"Same weekend."
Nathan swore softly.
"Stay there."
"I thought you said you were coming."
"I am."
He hung up.
Twenty minutes later, Nathan arrived with two federal agents.
They asked me everything.
Had David ever threatened me?
Not directly.
Had he ever discussed life insurance?
Barely.
Did I know the amount?
No.
One agent opened a folder.
"Mrs. Vance, your life insurance was increased eleven months ago."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"From two million to twelve million dollars."
"No."
"You didn't authorize that?"
"No."
"Did you sign any new policy documents?"
"No."
The agent exchanged a look with his partner.
Then he placed a page on the table.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
It looked almost perfect.
Almost.
But I knew my own hand.
"That's not mine."
"We know."
I stared at the beneficiary section.
DAVID VANCE.
Below it.
NORTHSTAR DEVELOPMENT HOLDINGS.
I looked at Nathan.
"What is Northstar?"
His face hardened.
"The shell company tied to the offshore accounts."
My skin went cold.
"His shell company was going to receive money if I died?"
The agent replied carefully.
"Potentially."
"Why?"
"We're investigating that."
"How long has David owned it?"
"We don't know yet."
I stood.
"Stop saying you don't know."
Nathan rose too.
"Maya."
"No."
I pointed at the papers.
"He forged my signature."
"Yes."
"He insured my life."
"Yes."
"He listed his shell company."
"Yes."
"He met with a man who asked when I would be alone."
Nobody answered.
I looked at all three of them.
"And on the night I was supposed to drive alone, Lily became sick and I canceled."
Nathan's face changed.
That was when all of us understood the same thing.
If Lily had not become ill, I would have driven that car.
The car was still in storage.
David had told me months earlier it had been sold.
It hadn't.
It had been moved through one of his companies.
Federal agents impounded it before midnight.
The mechanical examination took nine hours.
At 9:14 the next morning, Nathan called.
I didn't want to answer.
I did anyway.
"What?"
His voice was quiet.
"They found damage."
I closed my eyes.
"What kind?"
"The brake line was cut."
My knees gave out.
I sat hard on the floor.
Nathan kept talking.
"The cut was partially sealed."
"What does that mean?"
"It would have held pressure for a while."
"Then failed."
"Yes."
"When?"
"We can't know exactly."
I pressed one hand over my mouth.
Lake Shore Drive.
Traffic.
Speed.
Concrete.
Water.
If Lily had not gotten sick...
I would have gone to the charity dinner.
I would have driven that car.
I started crying.
Not softly.
My whole body shook.
"Lily saved me."
Nathan didn't answer.
"She got sick..."
My voice broke.
"She got sick and I stayed home."
"Maya."
"If she hadn't gotten sick, I would have been in that car."
"We don't know what would have happened."
"Yes, we do."
I stared at Lily's photograph.
"My daughter was dying while her father was waiting for me to drive into a wall."
That afternoon, federal agents executed a second wave of warrants.
They searched a private storage office tied to Vance Capital.
They found burner phones.
Cash.
Fake identification.
And a photograph of me walking Lily to school.
On the back, someone had written two words.
THURSDAY NIGHT.
Below that was another note.
CHILD NOT PRESENT.
I stared at the copy Nathan showed me.
Then at the next photograph.
Lily leaving school.
Pink backpack.
Missing tooth.
Smiling.
Someone had photographed my daughter too.
May you like
And beneath her picture, in different handwriting, was a single question.
WHAT ABOUT THE GIRL?
