Chapter 12 - AUNT EVELYN
Aunt Evelyn called me herself.
Her voice sounded exactly the way it always had.
Warm.
Measured.
Almost maternal.
“Mara, darling.”
I nearly dropped the phone.
Helen signaled for everyone to remain silent.
The call was being traced.
“Aunt Evelyn.”
“I heard about Grant.”
“I’m sure you did.”
“You must be terrified.”
I looked at Arthur.
His face had become stone.
“I am.”
“Bring Ellie to me.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
Gentle.
Reasonable.
Deadly.
“Why?”
“Because everyone around you has an agenda.”
“And you don’t?”
A pause.
“Mara.”
“Yes?”
“I loved your father.”
“Did you?”
The warmth vanished slightly.
“What has Arthur been telling you?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
“That man has spent forty years protecting Kingsley lies.”
“Like Peter Voss?”
Silence.
Then she sighed.
“So you opened Geneva.”
“Yes.”
“That was a mistake.”
“For whom?”
“For you.”
Helen wrote on a pad.
KEEP HER TALKING.
I leaned against the table.
“Why Ellie?”
“Ellie was never supposed to become involved.”
“My father made her the beneficiary.”
“Your father was vindictive.”
“He thought you stole from the company.”
“He thought everyone stole from him.”
“Did you?”
Evelyn laughed softly.
“You are still such a child.”
I felt something inside me settle.
For years her affection had made me feel small in a comforting way.
Now I understood it had been a tool.
“Where are you?”
“Safe.”
“Where is Celeste?”
Another pause.
That answered enough.
“What did you do to her?”
“Celeste is emotional.”
“What did you do?”
“She made choices.”
I gripped the phone.
“If you hurt her—”
“What?”
Evelyn’s voice sharpened.
“You’ll freeze my hotel account?”
The cruelty surprised me.
Then I realized she had probably laughed about the lobby incident.
She knew everything.
“Mara, Grant has lied to you since the day he met you.”
“I know.”
“He married you for Bluebird.”
“I know.”
“He prepared to take your child.”
“I know.”
“And you still think he is the danger?”
That sentence mattered.
She wanted me focused on Grant.
“You are.”
Evelyn went silent.
Then she laughed.
“You finally sound like your father.”
“Good.”
“No.”
Her voice turned cold.
“That isn’t a compliment.”
The trace completed.
Arthur received a location.
Evelyn was calling from a hotel near Baltimore.
Federal agents were already moving.
Helen gestured for me to continue.
“What happens September second?”
Evelyn stopped breathing for half a second.
“Nothing.”
“Then why is it circled at the cabin?”
Silence.
“Mara, listen carefully.”
“I am.”
“You think Bluebird protects Ellie.”
“It does.”
“No.”
Her voice dropped.
“It traps her.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Your father made a child responsible for sins committed before she was born.”
“You are the one trying to control her.”
“I am trying to prevent an irreversible transfer.”
“Of evidence.”
“Of destruction.”
I froze.
Evelyn continued.
“If Bluebird releases, it will not only expose me.”
“It will expose your father.”
Arthur’s face changed.
“What did he do?”
I asked.
“You really haven’t read everything.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did he do?”
“He paid people.”
“For what?”
“To keep Richard Mercer quiet.”
“That’s not what the files say.”
“You have seen the version Kingsley lawyers preserved.”
Her voice became almost gentle again.
“Ask Arthur what happened the night Richard Mercer died.”
I looked at Arthur.
He went completely still.
Evelyn whispered, “Ask him who was there.”
Then the line disconnected.
Arthur did not meet my eyes.
“Arthur?”
He sat slowly.
“Your father was there.”
The air left my lungs.
“At the cabin?”
“No.”
Arthur swallowed.
“At the hospital.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard called him.”
“What did Richard say?”
May you like
Arthur looked older than he had that morning.
“He said Evelyn was going to kill him.”
