The Man in the Room

The detective's name was Yolanda Reeves, and she worked out of the county prosecutor's office on cases that involved financial crimes and insurance fraud.

Liza met her in a conference room that smelled like coffee and dry-erase markers. She brought the letter — Peter's letter, her mother's secret — and the PI's reports and her own evidence log, which had grown in the three weeks since she'd first come to this office.

"Here's what I can tell you," Detective Reeves said, after she'd read everything twice. "Raymond Drake is dead. Whatever he did is his problem. But if his son knew — if Drake Marsh was aware of the fraud, was involved in it, or took any action based on it — that matters. That could be conspiracy, fraud, obstruction."

"When did Raymond die?"

"Eight years ago. Heart attack."

"Was Drake involved in the business?"

Detective Reeves looked at her notes. "He was twenty-three when the fire happened. He worked at the shop occasionally. After Raymond died, Drake was the executor of the estate, which means he had access to all the financial records." She looked up. "It also means he would have seen any documentation of the fraud — if it existed."

Liza thought about what it meant to be twenty-three and to find out that your father had burned down a building for insurance money. She thought about what it meant to be that person and to keep it quiet for decades, and to marry someone and live with them and build a life with them without ever saying a word.

She thought about the night Drake had first hit her. She'd asked him a question about money — about something on a bank statement she didn't recognize — and the way his face had changed, the way the mask had come off and the thing underneath had surfaced, fast and total.

She thought: he was protecting something.

"What do you need from me?" she asked.

"Right now? Copies of everything. The letter, the PI reports, your evidence log, anything that connects Drake to the storage unit or the property records." Detective Reeves paused. "And I need you to understand something. This investigation could take months. It may not result in charges. And even if it does, it won't directly affect your restraining order case — that's a separate proceeding."

"I know."

"But if Drake is acting from a position of exposure — if he's scared that you're going to expose him — that changes what he does. And that might change what happens to you."

Liza nodded. She understood.

She had been protecting herself for twenty years. Now she might also be protecting the truth about what his family had done. She wasn't sure, yet, what that meant, or whether she was ready for it.

She went home and looked at the drawer and did not open it.