Chapter 13
Camila did not ask permission.
She grabbed the steering wheel with one hand and pointed toward the exit with the other.
"Drive."
Sofia hit the gas.
The SUV behind them moved at the same time.
For three blocks it stayed close enough that Sofia could see its headlights filling the rearview mirror. Her pulse thudded in her throat. Maria remained on the phone, saying her name over and over.
"Sofia? Sofia, are you there?"
"Yes."
"Do not go home."
"I'm not."
"Go somewhere public. Police station. Hospital. Anywhere with cameras."
Sofia turned onto a wide avenue lined with restaurants and late-night pharmacies. The black SUV followed.
Camila twisted in her seat.
"Still there."
"I see it."
Sofia's hands tightened around the wheel.
Then, at the next intersection, a police cruiser pulled out from a side street.
The SUV slowed.
At the following light, it turned right.
Sofia kept going straight.
Neither woman spoke for several seconds.
Finally Camila exhaled.
"I officially hate your in-laws."
Sofia barely heard her.
She was thinking about the gold star.
The same shape Leo had drawn inside the blue box.
The same emblem on the stranger's jacket.
Maria was still connected.
"Who wears that pin?" Sofia asked.
"Senior staff. Donors sometimes. Board members."
"Could Ethan have one?"
Maria hesitated.
"Yes."
Sofia closed her eyes briefly.
Camila touched her arm.
"Don't do that to yourself yet."
"Yet?"
"You know what I mean."
Sofia did.
They drove to a twenty-four-hour diner and parked beneath three security cameras. Only then did Sofia return her attention to Maria.
"Tell me everything."
"Not over the phone."
"You called me."
"Because I panicked."
"Then don't stop now."
Maria went silent.
Sofia could hear a television somewhere near her, low and indistinct.
"Ana was not investigating the governor," Maria finally said. "At least not at first."
"Then who?"
"Thomas Vale."
Sofia knew the name.
Everyone in the state knew the name.
Thomas Vale had been Margaret Cole's chief of staff for almost a decade. He was the man behind the governor at press conferences, the one who whispered in her ear before she answered difficult questions. At family events he was less visible but always present, moving through rooms as if he knew where every exit was.
He had attended Sofia and Ethan's wedding.
He had sent Leo a wooden train set for Christmas.
Sofia suddenly wanted to throw it away.
"What did Ana find?"
"Invoices," Maria said. "The Cole Foundation ran emergency housing programs after the North County floods. Most of the work was legitimate. But Ana noticed certain vendors receiving payments for properties that didn't exist. She thought it was an accounting error. Then she found the same names linked to consulting firms controlled through Vale's associates."
"How much?"
"A little over six million dollars."
Camila mouthed a curse.
Sofia stared through the windshield at the neon diner sign.
"Did Margaret know?"
"I don't know."
"You worked there."
"So did two hundred other people. The foundation was structured to keep departments separate. Ana was hired through a contractor to reconcile grant disbursements."
"Why didn't she go to the police?"
"She was going to."
Sofia's stomach tightened.
Maria continued.
"She wanted proof nobody could dismiss. She believed if she went too early, Vale would destroy everything and call it a clerical mistake."
"And Ethan?"
Maria hesitated again.
"Ana thought Ethan was different from his mother."
Sofia almost laughed at the cruel timing of the sentence.
Three years ago, she had thought so too.
"She went to him?"
"Yes."
"And then she died."
"The next night."
Sofia pressed a hand to her mouth.
The official report had said Ana lost control on a wet curve outside the city. Toxicology had shown no alcohol or drugs. Investigators found no sign of mechanical failure. The conclusion was tragic and simple: rain, speed, bad luck.
But Ana had been a careful driver.
Sofia had repeated that fact until people stopped responding.
Careful people still crashed, they told her.
Accidents did not require character flaws.
Eventually she forced herself to accept it.
Now acceptance felt like betrayal.
"Meet me," Sofia said.
"No."
"Maria."
"I have a family."
"So did Ana."
The words came out harsher than Sofia intended.
Maria inhaled sharply.
Sofia closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry."
"No," Maria said quietly. "You're right."
They agreed to meet at ten the next morning in the lobby of a hospital where Maria's sister worked. Public. Crowded. Secure.
Before hanging up, Maria said one more thing.
"If you find the blue box, don't open it at home."
"Why?"
"Because if Ana hid what I think she hid, people have been searching for it for three years."
The line ended.
Sofia and Camila sat in silence.
Then Camila said, "We are not going to your storage unit tonight."
Sofia nodded.
For once, she agreed.
They returned to Camila's apartment just before three.
Leo was still asleep.
Sofia lay beside him and watched the ceiling until dawn.
At seven, her phone began vibrating repeatedly.
Messages.
Dozens of them.
Friends.
Coworkers.
Numbers she did not recognize.
Camila walked in holding her own phone.
"You need to see this."
A local news website had posted a short statement from the governor's office.
GOVERNOR'S FAMILY REQUESTS PRIVACY DURING PERSONAL MATTER.
The statement said an "emotional domestic disagreement" had occurred at the residence and that no one had been seriously injured. It added that Governor Cole was "deeply concerned about the wellbeing of her grandson" and hoped "all members of the family receive the support they need."
Sofia read it twice.
No names.
No accusation.
But the message was clear.
Someone was unstable.
And it was not Margaret.
"She did this before breakfast," Camila said.
Sofia's phone rang.
Ethan.
This time she answered.
"Did you approve that statement?"
Silence.
Then, "Good morning to you too."
"Did you approve it?"
"I asked them not to name you."
Sofia's chest tightened.
"That wasn't my question."
"Mom's office was getting calls because a staff member saw you leave upset."
"A staff member?"
"Sofia, people talk."
"Your mother hit me."
"I know what you said happened."
"What I said?"
Ethan exhaled.
"Please don't turn every word into a trial."
Sofia stared toward the guest room where Leo slept.
"Did Ana come to you the night before she died?"
The silence changed.
It was immediate.
Heavy.
Ethan did not ask what she meant.
He did not ask which Ana.
He knew.
Sofia's fingers went cold.
"Ethan."
"Who told you that?"
"So she did."
"Sofia—"
"She came to you."
"It was a long time ago."
"She died the next day."
"I know when she died."
His voice cracked.
For the first time since Sofia left the house, he sounded frightened.
"What did she tell you?"
"Not on the phone."
Sofia almost laughed.
Maria had said the same thing.
Everyone had secrets too dangerous for telephones.
"Then come alone to Camila's building at noon."
"You're there?"
Sofia realized her mistake.
"No."
"You just said—"
She ended the call.
Camila stared at her.
"Please tell me you did not just give him my address."
"He already knows where you live."
"Wonderful. Love that for me."
Sofia rubbed her forehead.
"We need to move Leo."
Within an hour, Camila's sister took Leo to their parents' house two towns away. Sofia told him it was another sleepover.
He seemed excited until she said she was not coming immediately.
"Mommy comes later?"
"Yes."
"Promise?"
Sofia hugged him.
"Promise."
He pulled back.
"Can Mama come?"
The question pierced her.
"Mama is always with you when you remember her."
Leo considered that.
Then he nodded.
"Grandma said remembering makes people sick."
Sofia's breath stopped.
"She said what?"
"She said Mama got sick because she couldn't stop thinking about bad things."
Sofia crouched.
"Leo, did Grandma ever tell you how Mama died?"
He looked confused.
"Car."
"Anything else?"
He nodded.
"Mama made trouble."
Sofia felt anger rise so fast she nearly shook.
"Who told you that?"
Leo looked down.
"Grandma."
Then he added, almost apologetically, "She said good families don't make trouble."
Sofia kissed his forehead and let Camila's sister take him.
The moment the elevator doors closed, Sofia turned to Camila.
"We're going to the storage unit."
This time Camila did not argue.
The facility opened at eight.
Ana's belongings occupied a ten-by-ten unit near the back of the second building. Sofia had not opened it in more than a year.
Inside were boxes labeled BOOKS, CLOTHES, KITCHEN, LEO BABY, and ART.
The air smelled like dust and cardboard.
Sofia stood in the doorway feeling as if she had entered a grave.
"Where do we start?" Camila asked.
"Anything blue."
They searched for almost two hours.
No blue box.
But in a plastic bin marked LEO BABY, Sofia found an old photo album.
Inside the front cover was a photograph of Ana at Lake Briar.
She stood beside the old cabin at sunset, holding infant Leo against her chest.
On the porch behind her sat a blue metal document box.
A gold star sticker was fixed to the lid.
Camila leaned over Sofia's shoulder.
"That's it."
Sofia turned the photo over.
Three words were written on the back in Ana's handwriting.
SECOND SKY. JULY 18.
Below that was an address.
Not the old cabin.
A storage property near Lake Briar.
Camila stared at it.
"She left you a map."
Before Sofia could answer, a sound came from outside the unit.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Then stopped.
Camila's expression changed.
Sofia quietly put the photograph in her pocket.
A shadow appeared beneath the half-open storage door.
Someone was standing on the other side.
Then a man's voice said, "Mrs. Cole, we need to talk."
May you like
Sofia recognized it.
Thomas Vale.
