Chapter 5 — My Brother’s Silence
I called Caleb from the hospital parking lot.
He answered on the fourth ring.
“Rowan?”
“Were you in Adrian Cross’s car?”
Silence.
Not confusion.
Not denial.
Silence.
I closed my eyes.
“You have five seconds before I hang up.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“Wrong answer.”
“Rowan, listen—”
“Were you there?”
“Yes.”
The word emptied the air from my lungs.
Cars moved through the parking garage.
A horn sounded.
Somebody laughed near the elevator.
The world kept going.
“You watched my wife die.”
“No.”
“What do you call it?”
“I was unconscious after the crash.”
“You never told me.”
“I was scared.”
“For three years?”
“Adrian threatened me.”
I laughed.
It came out broken.
“Of course. You were scared.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make it sound simple.”
“It is simple. You lied.”
“I made a mistake.”
“No. Missing an exit is a mistake. You chose silence every day.”
Caleb’s breathing grew louder.
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth would be new.”
He went quiet.
Then he asked, “Who told you?”
“Erin Vale.”
Caleb cursed under his breath.
“You need to stay away from her daughter.”
My anger sharpened.
“You know Maisie?”
“I know what her mother was involved in.”
“What was she involved in?”
“Things that got people hurt.”
“Erin is dead.”
Another silence.
“How?” he asked.
“Cancer, according to Maisie.”
Caleb exhaled.
“That’s not what I heard.”
I gripped the phone.
“What did you hear?”
“That Erin disappeared after stealing company files.”
“She died eleven days ago.”
“Did you see a body?”
The question chilled me.
I turned toward the hospital entrance.
Through the glass doors, I could see Dana standing at the reception desk.
Maisie’s room was down the hall.
“Why did you tell me to stay away from her?”
“Because Adrian has people looking for those files.”
“What files?”
“The ones Erin took from the car after the crash.”
“She was at the scene?”
“She arrived before the police.”
“Why?”
“She worked dispatch. Adrian called her.”
My stomach turned.
“Did she help cover it up?”
“At first.”
I looked down at Erin’s letter.
A final page was folded inside.
I had not read it yet.
Caleb continued.
“She cleaned the car. Moved things. Lied to investigators.”
“So she was guilty too.”
“Yes.”
“Then why tell me now?”
“Maybe guilt.”
“Maybe?”
“Erin never did anything without a reason.”
The hospital doors opened.
Dana stepped outside.
Her face was tense.
I lowered the phone.
“What happened?”
“Maisie’s gone.”
I stared at her.
“She can barely walk.”
“She left through the service elevator.”
My elevator.
My building.
I knew every maintenance route inside St. Vincent’s.
Caleb’s voice came through the phone.
“Rowan?”
I raised it again.
“Where would Adrian take her?”
Caleb did not answer.
“Caleb.”
“You need to call the police.”
“Where?”
“The old Cross Medical warehouse near the river.”
“Why there?”
“Because that’s where Erin hid the files.”
I ran toward my truck.
Dana shouted after me.
I opened the final folded page of Erin’s letter while moving.
May you like
There was only one sentence.
Do not trust Caleb—he was driving.
