Chapter 8: The Afternoon She Didn't Expect
The police station was a twenty-minute drive.
We went that afternoon, all three of us.
Robert brought both USB drives and the originals from the box.
I brought my mother's letter and her signed statement.
Nick drove, and nobody talked much on the way there, which felt right.
The officer who took our statement was a woman in her forties named DS Calloway.
She had a notepad and a recorder and she listened without interrupting, which I appreciated.
When we finished, she looked at the documents for a long time.
"This is thorough," she said.
"My mother was thorough," I said.
DS Calloway nodded slowly.
"We'll need to bring in the financial crimes unit.
This won't move overnight.
But what you've brought us today—" She tapped the folder.
"This is a strong foundation."
We left the station at half past four.
Nick's phone had seventeen missed calls.
Fourteen from Martha.
Three from a number we didn't recognize.
He didn't return any of them.
We drove back to the hotel and ordered room service and sat on the bed with the trays between us and ate without talking for a while.
Outside, the city was doing its ordinary evening things.
Lights coming on.
Traffic thinning.
"Are you all right?" Nick asked.
"I don't know yet," I said.
"Ask me tomorrow."
He smiled.
Small and tired.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"About all of it.
About not seeing it sooner.
About the years she spent making you feel like you weren't enough."
"You saw it," I said.
"You just didn't know how deep it went."
"Still."
"Nick." I waited until he looked at me.
"You brought your father to our wedding.
You stood up in front of everyone.
You put those envelopes on the table." I held his gaze.
"You saw it."
He was quiet for a moment.
Then he reached over and tucked a short strand of hair behind my ear — the hair that was no longer long enough to fall forward — and left his hand there against the side of my face.
"We'll find you a good stylist," he said.
"Someone who can work with what's there."
"I know," I said.
"It'll grow back."
"Don't," I said.
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
May you like
And after a second, so did I.
It was the first real thing that had happened all day.
