Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Stayed.
Michael did not turn around.
He kept driving north on the Kennedy Expressway while two black SUVs held position three car lengths behind him.
Willow watched the vehicles in the side mirror.
"They said Mrs. Sterling."
Michael's jaw tightened.
"I heard them."
"Marion sent the video."
"I know."
"So why would her people want the documents?"
"Maybe they aren't her people."
Willow looked at him.
"Then why use her name?"
"Because confusion buys time."
Michael took the next exit without signaling until the last second.
One SUV missed it.
The second followed.
Michael drove beneath an overpass and turned into a twenty-four-hour gas station crowded with taxis.
He parked beside a row of delivery vans.
The SUV continued past the entrance.
"Stay low."
Willow slid down in the seat.
Her evening gown suddenly felt absurd against the cracked vinyl upholstery.
Michael waited thirty seconds.
Then he pulled back onto a side street.
"We're not going to O'Hare."
Willow sat upright.
"Amanda is there."
"Amanda knows how to disappear."
"What if they find her?"
"Then running directly toward her helps them."
Willow hated that he was right.
"Where are we going?"
Michael checked his mirror again.
"Somewhere Richard cannot easily control the cameras."
Twenty minutes later, they entered the parking garage of a small neighborhood hospital where one of Michael's oldest friends worked night security.
Eddie Ramos met them beside the elevator.
He was sixty-two, broad-shouldered, and wearing a security uniform that had never looked formal on him.
He took one look at Willow's face and stopped joking.
"Who did that?"
"Her husband."
Michael's answer made Eddie's expression harden.
"Do you need a doctor?"
Willow shook her head.
"I need a room with a door and no Sterling cameras."
Eddie nodded.
"Come with me."
He led them to an unused conference room near the administrative wing.
The room had no windows and one old security camera above the door.
Eddie unplugged it in front of them.
"Hospital IT will complain tomorrow."
"Tomorrow sounds great," Michael said.
Eddie looked at the leather case.
"Is this about the old business?"
Willow turned sharply.
"You know?"
Eddie looked at Michael.
Michael sighed.
"Eddie worked for Sterling Fleet Services in the eighties."
"Until Richard fired me for asking why brake invoices existed for trucks that did not exist."
Eddie pulled out a chair.
"Your mother was the only accountant who took me seriously."
Willow stared at him.
"You knew my mother?"
"Everybody who worked fleet knew Liz."
Eddie smiled sadly.
"She could find a missing dollar faster than most men could find a missing truck."
Willow sat down.
Another piece of her mother returned from the dead through someone else's memory.
"Did she know Richard was stealing?"
Eddie nodded.
"She knew something was wrong."
"We all did."
"The company was growing too fast, suppliers were changing every month, and somehow every executive cousin owned a subcontractor."
Michael opened the case and removed Elizabeth's ledgers.
Eddie stared at them.
"She kept copies."
"Yes."
"Good for her."
Willow's phone vibrated.
Helena again.
MARION WANTS TO MEET YOU.
Willow typed WHERE?
The answer came immediately.
ST. AGNES CHAPEL. 1:00 A.M. ALONE.
Michael read over her shoulder.
"No."
Willow looked at the clock.
12:31 a.m.
"It's twenty minutes away."
"And she specifically asked you to come alone."
"She sent the video to Amanda."
"We think she did."
"Helena said she did."
"Helena believes she did."
Willow rubbed her forehead.
"I cannot spend the rest of this night assuming every person is lying."
Michael looked at her bruised cheek.
"Tonight is an excellent night to start."
Eddie leaned against the wall.
"St. Agnes has cameras outside and a priest living on-site."
Michael frowned at him.
"You're not helping."
"I'm being useful."
Eddie looked at Willow.
"Don't go alone."
"She asked me to."
"Then make her think you did."
Michael gave Eddie a reluctant glance.
Thirty minutes later, Willow entered St. Agnes Chapel through the side door.
She wore Michael's spare work coat over her gown.
Her diamond earrings were in her pocket.
Michael and Eddie waited in a car across the street.
The chapel was dim except for votive candles near the altar.
Marion Sterling sat alone in the third pew.
She wore the same black beaded gown from the anniversary party beneath a camel coat.
Her silver-blonde hair was no longer perfect.
One side had fallen loose near her temple.
For the first time since Willow had known her, Marion looked old.
Willow stopped at the end of the aisle.
"Did you send Amanda the video?"
Marion looked up.
Her eyes moved to Willow's face.
She flinched.
"Yes."
Willow sat two pews behind her instead of beside her.
"Why?"
Marion looked toward the altar.
"Because I watched my son become his father tonight."
Willow felt no sympathy.
"He became his father years ago."
Marion closed her eyes.
"I know."
"You helped."
The words were blunt.
Marion accepted them.
"I know that too."
Willow's anger rose.
"You spent five years telling me I wasn't good enough for this family."
"Yes."
"You mocked my clothes."
"Yes."
"You asked me every month when I planned to give Lucas an heir."
Marion looked down at her hands.
"Yes."
"You made me feel small because it was easier than admitting your husband was cruel."
Marion finally looked at her.
"Yes."
The lack of defense was almost more infuriating than denial.
Willow stood.
"Then why am I here?"
Marion reached into her coat.
Willow tensed.
Marion removed a small silver flash drive.
"Because Richard is not simply cruel."
She held it between two fingers.
"He is terrified."
Willow did not move closer.
"Of my father?"
"Of the past becoming admissible."
"What is on that drive?"
"Board minutes."
"Private emails."
"Payments."
Marion's mouth tightened.
"And recordings."
Willow stared at the drive.
"Recordings of what?"
"Richard."
"Saying what?"
Marion hesitated.
"Things a man only says when he believes his wife has stopped listening."
Willow stepped one pew closer.
"Why keep them?"
Marion gave a tired smile.
"For the same reason women in families like mine keep jewelry in safe-deposit boxes."
"Insurance."
Willow looked at her for several seconds.
"Why now?"
Marion's eyes filled with shame.
"Because I did not protect Amanda."
"And tonight I did not protect you."
"Sending a video after your son hits me is not protection."
"No."
Marion's voice broke slightly.
"It is evidence."
Willow almost turned away.
Then Marion said, "Lucas knew about the Donovan claim before he proposed to you."
Willow stopped.
The chapel seemed to go silent around them.
"What?"
"Richard told him enough to understand your family might possess documents."
Willow's fingers went cold.
"Are you saying Lucas married me because of my father?"
"I don't know why Lucas first fell in love with you."
Marion's eyes were wet now.
"But I know why Richard encouraged the marriage after initially objecting."
Willow could barely speak.
"To get close to Michael."
Marion nodded.
"To find out what he had."
Every romantic memory in Willow's marriage rearranged itself.
The questions Lucas had asked about the garage.
His strange curiosity about old family papers.
The renovation he had offered to pay for.
The time he suggested Michael sell the property because the neighborhood was changing.
Willow had thought he was trying to help.
"Did Lucas know Richard was using him?"
Marion looked away.
"At first, maybe not completely."
"And later?"
"Later he stopped asking questions that might require courage."
Willow swallowed hard.
"Give me the drive."
Marion stood.
She took one step toward Willow.
Then the chapel lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Willow heard the side door open.
A man's shoe scraped against stone.
Marion whispered, "Run."
A flashlight beam sliced across the pews.
Willow dropped behind the wooden bench as someone moved down the aisle.
The silver flash drive slipped from Marion's hand and clicked against the floor.
A second beam appeared near the altar.
There were two people inside.
Willow crawled beneath the pew opening and reached for the drive.
Her fingers closed around it.
A hand grabbed her coat from behind.
She twisted hard, tearing the sleeve seam.
Then the chapel door burst open.
Michael's voice filled the darkness.
"Step away from my daughter."
The flashlight beams swung toward him.
Eddie triggered the chapel's emergency alarm from the vestibule.
A siren began screaming.
The intruders ran through the sacristy exit.
Michael chased them only as far as the doorway.
He came back to Willow immediately.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
She held up the flash drive.
"I got it."
Michael looked toward Marion.
She stood frozen beside the altar.
Her face was pale.
Michael's expression changed when he saw her.
"Marion."
She looked at him.
"Hello, Michael."
The familiarity in her voice made Willow look between them.
Michael did not answer.
Marion lowered her eyes.
"I should have helped Elizabeth."
Willow's head snapped toward her father.
Michael's face became unreadable.
"What does she mean?"
Willow asked.
Neither of them spoke.
Marion looked at Michael.
"She deserves to know."
Michael closed his eyes.
Willow felt anger rise again.
"Know what?"
Marion answered for him.
"Your mother did not work alone when she copied Richard's ledgers."
May you like
She looked at Willow.
"I helped her."
