Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN ARTHUR BURIED WITHOUT A BODY
Arthur Pendelton stared at the photograph so long that I wondered if he had forgotten we were there.
The twins were crying.
My mother still wasn't moving.
But Arthur stood frozen beside the bed with that old photograph between his fingers.
“Sir?”
He looked at me.
Not like the people in the store had looked at me.
Not with pity.
With fear.
“Where did your mother get this?”
He held up the picture.
It showed my mother younger, maybe twenty, standing beside another young woman near Lake Michigan.
The second woman had dark hair.
She was laughing.
Arthur was standing between them.
Much younger.
Still serious.
But smiling.
I'd never seen a grown man's face change so quickly.
“That belongs to Mom.”
“What is your mother's name?”
“Claire Sterling.”
Arthur's jaw tightened.
“No.”
I backed away.
“It is.”
He crossed the room and knelt beside her.
For a man his size, he moved carefully.
He touched two fingers to her neck.
Then he looked toward the door.
“We need a doctor.”
“I can't pay one.”
“You're eight.”
His voice broke strangely on the last word.
“You're not supposed to.”
Arthur carried my mother downstairs himself.
Outside, a black car had appeared in the alley.
Two men stepped out.
One said, “Mr. Pendelton—”
“Hospital. Now.”
The man looked at Mom.
Then at me.
Then at the twins.
His face went pale.
“Arthur...”
“I said now, Daniel.”
That was the first time I heard the name Daniel Mercer.
I would learn later that Daniel had worked beside Arthur for twenty-four years.
That he knew every scar Arthur carried.
And every secret Arthur had buried.
But that night, Daniel looked at my mother as if he'd seen a ghost.
At the hospital, doctors took Mom through swinging doors.
A nurse carried my brothers away to be examined.
Someone wrapped me in a warm blanket.
Arthur stayed.
I didn't understand why.
I sat on a plastic chair staring at my muddy feet.
“Are you her friend?”
Arthur looked at me.
“Your mother's?”
I nodded.
His eyes went toward the emergency room doors.
“A long time ago.”
“Were you nice to her?”
Something almost like pain crossed his face.
“Not enough.”
A doctor finally came out.
“Claire Sterling's severely dehydrated and has pneumonia. She's also dangerously anemic. Another twelve hours without treatment and...”
He stopped when he saw me.
Arthur didn't let him finish.
“Will she live?”
“We believe so.”
My lungs finally worked again.
“And the babies?”
“Underfed, but stable.”
I started crying.
Not loudly.
Just because my body didn't know what else to do.
Arthur sat beside me.
He didn't hug me.
He didn't say everything would be all right.
He simply took off his coat and put it around my shoulders.
Something hard bumped against my hand inside the pocket.
A watch.
Old.
Silver.
Its glass was cracked.
I pulled it halfway out.
Arthur snatched it gently but quickly.
“Sorry,” I whispered.
He looked at the watch.
Then he opened the back.
Inside was a tiny engraved letter.
E.
“What does E mean?”
Arthur closed it.
“Someone I failed.”
Before I could ask more, Mom's room door opened.
She was awake.
Her face looked almost gray against the white pillow.
Arthur stopped breathing.
Mom saw him.
The monitor beside her bed began beeping faster.
“Get him out.”
Her voice was barely there.
Arthur didn't move.
“Claire.”
“Get him away from my children.”
I looked between them.
“You know him?”
Mom's eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
Arthur stepped closer.
“I thought you were dead.”
“And that was convenient for you, wasn't it?”
Daniel entered behind him.
Mom saw Daniel.
Her entire body stiffened.
She grabbed my wrist.
“Ivy.”
“Mom?”
“Take your brothers and stay away from these men.”
Arthur's eyes hardened.
“Claire, what happened?”
She laughed once.
A tired, bitter sound.
“You really don't know?”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I spent ten years believing you died.”
Mom stared at him.
Then she noticed the old silver watch in his hand.
Whatever anger was in her face disappeared.
“Where did you get that?”
Arthur looked down.
“It was Evelyn's.”
Mom went completely still.
“Evelyn didn't own that watch.”
Arthur frowned.
“She gave it to me.”
“No.”
Mom struggled upright.
“That watch belonged to our father.”
Our father.
Arthur's face emptied.
Mom pointed at the cracked silver watch.
“Turn it over.”
Arthur did.
“Open the back again.”
He pressed the small catch.
The case opened.
There was the engraved E.
Mom shook her head.
“Look underneath the plate.”
Arthur pried at the thin metal insert with his thumbnail.
Something tiny dropped onto the blanket.
A folded strip of yellowed paper.
Arthur stared at it.
Daniel took one step backward.
I noticed.
Arthur didn't.
He unfolded the paper.
There were only four words.
CLAIRE KNOWS WHO BETRAYED US.
Arthur slowly lifted his eyes toward my mother.
But Mom wasn't looking at him.
She was staring past him.
At Daniel.
And for the first time since I'd met her, I watched my mother become truly afraid.
“Arthur,” she whispered.
May you like
“Don't let Daniel leave.”
Daniel's hand moved toward the door.
