Chapter 2 - THE BOX WITH THE SILVER MOON
Maya refused my offer three times before she finally looked at the blood on her sleeve.
It wasn't hers.
A shard of glass had cut my hand when I'd pulled Ellie behind the counter, and without noticing, I'd smeared a thin red line across Maya's coat.
She stared at it.
Then she looked at Ellie.
"Give me ten minutes."
"Five."
She frowned.
"I need to close the bakery."
"Lock the door."
"I need to—"
"Your life matters more than the register."
She hated hearing it.
I could tell.
People hated being told they needed protection because protection sounded too much like weakness.
Maya grabbed a small backpack from beneath the counter.
Ellie followed her.
I stayed near the window, watching the street.
The black sedan was gone.
That bothered me more than if it had remained.
Calvin's people didn't leave because they were finished. They left because they had already learned what they needed.
Theo called.
"We traced the shooter."
"Where?"
"Abandoned parking structure three blocks north."
"Alive?"
"No."
I closed my eyes.
Calvin had killed his own man before we could question him.
"Anything else?"
"We found this."
A photograph arrived on my phone.
It showed Nora Bennett.
Eleven years younger.
Standing beside my mother.
My chest tightened.
My mother was wearing the dark green coat she had owned during the last winter of her life.
Nora was holding a small metal box.
The same box sitting behind me.
"Where did this come from?"
"The parking structure."
I looked at Maya.
She had stopped moving.
"Who is that?" I asked, showing her the photograph.
She stared.
"My sister."
"And the woman beside her?"
Maya's eyes lifted to mine.
"I don't know."
She was lying again.
I put the phone away.
"Let's go."
The drive to my house was silent.
Ellie sat between Maya and me in the back seat, clutching her red coat around herself.
After ten minutes, she fell asleep.
Her head slipped against my arm.
Maya noticed.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"She likes people too quickly."
I looked down at the little girl.
"That's not something to apologize for."
"She doesn't understand what people are capable of."
"Neither did I when I was her age."
Maya gave me a sad smile.
"That's because most children don't need to."
My house was thirty minutes outside the city, behind iron gates and enough security to discourage anyone who didn't understand what those gates represented.
When the limousine entered the property, Maya stared through the window.
"This is your home?"
"Yes."
"It's enormous."
"I don't spend much time in it."
"Why?"
I looked at Ellie.
"Because big houses are quiet."
Maya didn't answer.
Inside, Mrs. Callahan, my longtime housekeeper, was waiting.
She took one look at Ellie and softened immediately.
"Oh, sweetheart."
Ellie hid behind Maya's coat.
Then she peeked out.
"Do you have cookies?"
Mrs. Callahan laughed.
"I think we can arrange that."
Within five minutes, Ellie had forgotten she was supposed to be frightened.
Maya watched her with a tenderness that made me wonder how long she'd been doing this alone.
"Where's Ellie's father?" I asked.
Maya's expression changed.
"He died."
"How?"
"Car accident."
"Like Nora?"
She looked at me.
"You've been investigating us."
"I have."
"Why?"
"Because someone tried to kill you tonight."
"And because of the box."
"Yes."
She crossed her arms.
"You have no right to know what my sister left behind."
"Maybe."
I lowered my voice.
"But if that box is what I think it is, your sister died because she knew something about my family."
Maya went pale.
"Your family?"
"My mother."
Maya looked toward the kitchen where Ellie was eating a cookie.
Then she whispered, "Nora never trusted powerful men."
"She trusted my mother."
Maya's silence confirmed it.
I walked toward the library.
After a moment, she followed.
I opened a drawer and removed a photograph of my mother.
"Is this her?"
Maya stared.
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"Nora kept this photograph."
She pointed to the corner.
There was a tiny silver crescent stitched into my mother's coat.
The same moon.
My blood went cold.
"What was your sister doing with my mother?"
Maya shook her head.
"I don't know everything."
"But you know something."
"Nora told me never to ask questions."
"That's convenient."
"It wasn't convenient when she died."
Her voice cracked.
I said nothing.
Maya took a breath.
"Three weeks before the accident, Nora came to me late at night. She was terrified."
"Of Calvin?"
"She didn't say his name."
"What did she say?"
"She said there was a man who had spent years pretending to be loyal to powerful families while secretly selling their secrets."
I stared at her.
"Did she name him?"
"No."
"What else?"
"She gave me the box."
My heart hammered.
"What was inside?"
"Documents."
"Where are they?"
Maya looked at the door.
"Somewhere safe."
"How safe?"
"Safe enough that nobody has found them."
"Yet."
She flinched.
I regretted the word.
"Why didn't you go to the police?"
"Because Nora told me the police were already compromised."
"Some were."
"How would you know?"
"Because I've spent eleven years cleaning up after people who thought badges made them untouchable."
Maya studied me.
"Did your mother know Nora was in danger?"
"Yes."
"Did you?"
"No."
She looked surprised.
"My mother never told you?"
"No."
"Why?"
I stared at the photograph.
"Because she was protecting me."
The words sounded strange coming out of my mouth.
My mother had spent most of her life protecting me from the truth.
Maybe she had been protecting me from the wrong people.
A soft voice came from the hallway.
"Mr. Sebastian?"
Ellie stood there holding her stuffed rabbit.
"What?"
"Can I sleep here?"
I crouched.
"Of course."
"Is this where you live?"
"Yes."
"Are there bad men here?"
I looked at Maya.
"Not inside."
Ellie nodded seriously.
"Okay."
She turned to leave.
Then stopped.
"My mommy said Mr. Rourke had a secret room."
Maya gasped.
I went still.
"Who is Mr. Rourke?"
Ellie shrugged.
"Mommy's old friend."
Maya's face had lost all color.
"Ellie, sweetheart, where did you hear that?"
"In the box."
My eyes met Maya's.
"The box has something else inside."
She closed her eyes.
"What?"
"A picture."
"What picture?"
Ellie pointed at me.
"You."
I didn't move.
Maya whispered, "That's impossible."
"Why?"
"Because Nora never met Sebastian Rourke."
I looked at her.
"Then why does your niece have a picture of me?"
Maya didn't answer.
I turned toward the hallway.
"Mrs. Callahan."
The older woman appeared.
"Yes?"
"Keep Ellie with you."
"Of course."
I waited until the child disappeared.
Then I faced Maya.
"We're opening that box tonight."
She shook her head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because Nora made me promise."
"What did she make you promise?"
"That if anything happened to me, I would give the contents to the person wearing your mother's ring."
I looked down at my hand.
The ring was gone.
I had lost it eleven years ago.
Maya stared at me.
"You don't have it."
"No."
"Then we can't open the box."
I stepped closer.
"My mother gave me that ring the week before she died."
Maya whispered, "Then somebody else has it."
A cold realization settled between us.
Somebody had my mother's ring.
Somebody had known about Nora.
And somebody had just tried to kill the woman who still possessed the box.
I reached for my phone.
"Call Theo."
Maya frowned.
"Why?"
"Because we're going to find out who stole my mother's ring."
Outside, headlights appeared beyond the gates.
Then disappeared.
Someone was watching the house.
And suddenly I wasn't certain they were waiting to get inside.
I was afraid they were waiting for me to leave.
At midnight, I found Maya standing outside Ellie's bedroom.
The child was asleep.
Maya was holding the metal box.
"You haven't slept."
"No."
"Why?"
She looked at the door.
"Because Nora told me this day would come."
"What day?"
"The day someone connected Ellie to your family."
I leaned against the wall.
"Why was she so certain?"
"Because she knew your mother."
I waited.
Maya finally said, "Your mother came to our house once."
"When?"
"After Ellie was born."
"Why?"
"To see her."
I stared.
"My mother held Ellie?"
"Yes."
"How old was she?"
"Two weeks."
I looked toward the bedroom.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Nora begged me not to."
"She had no right."
"Maybe."
Maya's voice softened.
"But she was terrified."
"Of Calvin?"
"Of everyone."
I looked at the box.
"Open it."
"No."
"You told me there were documents."
"There are."
"Then why hide them?"
"Because the documents aren't the dangerous part."
"What is?"
She touched the lid.
"The message."
I frowned.
"What message?"
"Nora left instructions."
"For whom?"
"For you."
Maya opened the box.
Under the photograph was a small brass key.
I recognized it.
My mother's study key.
I hadn't seen one like it since I was twenty.
"Where did you get that?"
"Nora gave it to me."
"Why?"
"She said it opened something your family had forgotten."
I took the key.
"Where?"
"That's what I never discovered."
I turned it over.
A number had been scratched into the metal.
117.
Theo entered.
"Boss."
I closed my hand around the key.
"What?"
"The surveillance team found another camera."
"Where?"
"Across the street."
"Anything on it?"
"Someone has been filming the bakery for six weeks."
Maya went pale.
"Six weeks?"
Theo nodded.
"Long before you met Ellie."
I looked at Maya.
"Then Calvin wasn't watching because of me."
She whispered, "He was watching because of Nora."
I looked at the photograph.
My mother.
Nora.
Calvin.
Three people connected by a secret that had survived eleven years.
I put the key in my pocket.
"Tomorrow, we go back to the bakery."
Maya shook her head.
"It's dangerous."
"Everything is dangerous now."
"Sebastian."
I looked at her.
"I'm not asking you to trust me."
"Then what are you asking?"
"Trust yourself."
She was quiet.
Then she nodded.
That was the first time Maya chose to stay beside me rather than simply stand behind me.
May you like
I noticed the difference.
I would remember it.
