Chapter 3 - The Lie That Began Two Years Ago
Sadie opened the door three inches.
A woman in her early sixties stood outside.
Elegant gray coat.
Silver hair.
No visible security.
She looked nothing like Ronan, until Sadie noticed the eyes.
Calm.
Observant.
Impossible to fool.
“Who are you?”
“Ronan's aunt.”
Sadie tightened her grip on the door.
“How do you know Carl?”
Evelyn looked toward the hallway.
“May I come inside?”
“No.”
A faint smile.
“Good.”
“What?”
“You shouldn't let strangers into your apartment.”
Sadie almost closed the door.
“Wait.”
Evelyn reached into her handbag.
Sadie stiffened.
The older woman stopped.
Slowly, she removed a photograph.
She held it through the opening.
Carl.
Younger.
Standing beside a warehouse.
The photograph was dated four years earlier.
Beside him stood another man.
Sadie recognized him.
Leo.
The man from Ronan's table.
“What is this?”
“Carl Jenkins worked for a company connected to Ronan.”
Sadie looked up.
“Doing what?”
“Security.”
“Why didn't Ronan tell me?”
“Because he didn't know.”
Sadie laughed once.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. I expect you to ask questions.”
Evelyn handed her a folder.
Inside were payroll records.
Carl's name appeared repeatedly.
Then suddenly stopped.
“Why was he fired?”
Evelyn's expression hardened.
“He was suspected of stealing.”
“How much?”
“Almost four hundred thousand dollars.”
Sadie's stomach dropped.
“That's impossible.”
“Is it?”
She thought about Carl's unexplained absences.
The gambling.
The sudden money.
Then the debts.
Evelyn continued.
“The money disappeared. So did Carl.”
“Why would he date me?”
“That is what Ronan is trying to understand.”
Sadie stared at her.
Evelyn hesitated.
“There is something else.”
Of course there was.
“There always is.”
“Your father.”
Sadie went still.
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then leave him out of this.”
“His name was Daniel Mercer.”
Sadie's fingers tightened around the folder.
“How do you know that?”
“Because Daniel worked at Hayes Shipping for seventeen years.”
The hallway disappeared.
Sadie heard only the ringing in her ears.
Her father had died when she was sixteen.
A workplace accident.
That was what her mother had told her.
“What did he do?”
“Accounting.”
Evelyn watched her carefully.
“And three days before his death, he discovered money disappearing from company accounts.”
Sadie couldn't speak.
The four hundred thousand.
Carl.
Her father.
“No.”
“Sadie—”
“No.”
She shoved the folder back.
“My father died in a car accident.”
“Yes.”
“You're trying to make this into something it wasn't.”
“I hope you're right.”
Sadie slammed the door.
She locked it.
Then stood with her back against it.
Her phone rang.
Ronan.
She declined.
Again.
Ronan.
Declined.
A message appeared.
My aunt should not have gone to you. I'm sorry.
Another.
I won't come unless you ask.
Sadie stared.
Then typed:
Did my father work for you?
The answer came immediately.
He worked for my father. I was twenty-one.
Did you know him?
A pause.
Yes.
Sadie's hands trembled.
Call me.
Her phone rang.
She answered.
“What happened to him?”
Ronan was silent.
“Tell me.”
“Your father found discrepancies in several accounts.”
“Carl?”
“We don't know.”
“Was my father killed?”
“I don't know.”
“That's not good enough.”
“No,” Ronan said quietly. “It isn't.”
Sadie sank onto the sofa.
“Why didn't anyone investigate?”
“They did. Police ruled the crash accidental.”
“And you?”
“My father believed otherwise.”
Sadie closed her eyes.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel called him the night before he died.”
Her breath stopped.
“What did he say?”
Ronan paused.
“He said he had found the person stealing from us.”
Sadie whispered, “Who?”
“He never said.”
A key turned in her front door.
Sadie froze.
Ronan heard it.
“What was that?”
Carl.
The door opened.
Sadie disconnected.
Carl entered carrying groceries.
He smiled.
“Hey.”
Sadie stared at him.
Two years.
Two years sleeping beside him.
Two years apologizing.
Two years believing she had simply chosen the wrong man.
What if he had chosen her?
“Where were you?”
“Work.”
“You don't have a job.”
Carl's smile faded.
“What is this?”
Sadie forced herself to remain calm.
“Nothing.”
He placed the groceries down.
“You're acting weird.”
Sadie thought about Ronan.
About the photograph.
About her father.
Then she did something she had not done in years.
She lied without fear.
“I'm tired.”
Carl studied her.
Then smiled again.
“Get some sleep.”
That night, Sadie waited.
At two twelve, Carl fell asleep.
At two forty, she slipped from bed.
She found his jacket.
Wallet.
Keys.
Nothing.
Then his phone.
Password protected.
Sadie tried his birthday.
Wrong.
Her birthday.
Wrong.
Then her father's birthday.
The phone unlocked.
Sadie nearly dropped it.
Why would Carl use Daniel Mercer's birthday?
She opened his photographs.
Hundreds.
Cars.
Receipts.
Screenshots.
Then a hidden folder.
Password required.
She entered her father's birthday again.
Unlocked.
The first photograph was Sadie.
Taken before she had ever met Carl.
She was leaving a grocery store.
Another showed her entering work.
Another showed her mother's house.
Dates from nearly three years ago.
Carl had been watching her for almost a year before introducing himself.
Sadie's stomach turned.
She continued scrolling.
Then found a scanned document.
Her father's handwriting.
Numbers.
Account codes.
Names.
And one sentence circled in red.
If anything happens to me, the evidence is with S.
Sadie heard movement behind her.
She turned.
Carl stood in the doorway.
He wasn't sleepy anymore.
He looked at the phone in her hand.
Then at Sadie.
His face became strangely calm.
“You shouldn't have opened that.”
Sadie backed toward the window.
“Why were you following me?”
Carl took one step forward.
“Give me the phone.”
“Why?”
“Sadie.”
“Did you know my father?”
Carl stopped.
Silence.
Then he smiled.
“Yes.”
Sadie's entire world collapsed into one word.
“You killed him?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Carl's smile disappeared.
“I don't know.”
“Why did you come after me?”
“Because your father hid something.”
“What?”
Carl looked toward the phone.
“A ledger.”
Sadie shook her head.
“I don't have it.”
“I know.”
“Then why stay?”
For the first time, Carl looked almost ashamed.
“I was supposed to watch you for a month.”
“Supposed to?”
Sadie whispered.
“Who sent you?”
Before Carl could answer, headlights swept across the bedroom wall.
Carl looked toward the window.
A black sedan had stopped outside.
His face drained of color.
“That isn't Hayes.”
Sadie stared at him.
Carl grabbed the curtain shut.
“What do you mean?”
He turned toward her.
May you like
For the first time since she had known him, Carl Jenkins looked genuinely afraid.
“Because those are the men I've been hiding you from.”
