Chapter 17 - CATHERINE
They exhumed Catherine Croft’s grave under federal supervision.
Julian did not attend.
Maya found him standing in the penthouse at the same window where he had waited for her at 2:43 AM.
“You don’t want to know?”
“I want to know.”
“Then why aren’t you there?”
“Because there is a difference between wanting truth and wanting to watch strangers open your mother’s coffin.”
Maya stood beside him.
“Fair.”
He looked exhausted.
“Do you think she’s alive?”
Julian stared at the skyline.
“I have spent fifteen years certain she was dead.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No.”
He closed his eyes.
“I don’t know what I think anymore.”
Maya took his hand.
He looked down.
She did not let go.
The call came three hours later.
Derek answered.
His face told them before he spoke.
“The remains are not Catherine.”
Julian went still.
Maya squeezed his hand.
“Who?”
“Unknown female.”
Julian stared.
“Age?”
“Approximately forty.”
“My mother was forty-six.”
“Could still fit.”
“DNA?”
“Not a match.”
Silence.
Julian walked away.
Maya followed slowly.
He sat.
Then stood.
Then sat again.
His hands began shaking.
Maya crouched in front of him.
“Julian.”
He stared at nothing.
“She could have been alive this whole time.”
“Yes.”
“She could still be.”
“Yes.”
“Why wouldn’t she come back?”
Maya did not answer.
Julian laughed bitterly.
“Now I understand your question.”
“What?”
“When you asked why Daniel didn’t come home.”
Maya’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“It hurts differently when the person chooses the distance.”
“Yes.”
Julian looked down.
Maya touched his hands.
“You don’t know what choice she had.”
“No.”
“Then don’t sentence her before you hear it.”
Julian stared at her.
“You are very irritating.”
“I learned from you.”
Derek traced Catherine’s known associates.
One name appeared repeatedly after the bombing.
Evelyn Shaw.
A former nurse.
She had moved to Nova Scotia fourteen years ago.
Thomas recognized the name.
“Catherine’s childhood friend.”
Julian frowned.
“My mother never mentioned her.”
“They had a falling out.”
“About what?”
“Adrian.”
Of course.
Evelyn had returned to the United States three years earlier.
She now lived in a small town outside Madison, Wisconsin.
Two hours from Chicago.
Julian stared at the address.
Maya looked at him.
“Go.”
“I don’t know what I’ll find.”
“That’s why you go.”
“I could find a grave.”
“Yes.”
“Or nothing.”
“Yes.”
“Or her.”
Maya squeezed his hand.
“Yes.”
They drove north.
No convoy.
Julian chose one vehicle.
Derek drove.
Maya sat beside Julian.
The house was small.
Blue shutters.
Flowers along the porch.
A woman answered the door.
Evelyn Shaw was seventy.
She looked at Julian.
Her face changed.
“Oh.”
Julian could not speak.
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“You have Adrian’s eyes.”
Maya’s chest tightened.
Julian finally managed.
“Is she alive?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Julian grabbed the porch railing.
Maya touched his back.
“Where?”
Evelyn looked frightened.
“She made me promise.”
“Fifteen years.”
“I know.”
“My mother let me believe she was dead for fifteen years.”
“She thought you would survive if you believed it.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“Everyone has that excuse.”
Maya looked at him.
He noticed.
The anger softened slightly.
Evelyn invited them inside.
“Catherine discovered David survived Adrian’s attempt to kill him.”
Julian stared.
“She met him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He contacted her.”
“What did he want?”
“To warn Adrian.”
“But Gabriel already knew Adrian’s route.”
“Yes.”
“Who told him?”
Evelyn looked down.
“Catherine.”
Julian froze.
Maya’s stomach dropped.
“What?”
Evelyn began crying.
“She didn’t know Gabriel was going to bomb the car.”
Julian stood.
“Explain.”
“Gabriel contacted her and said Adrian was planning to kill David.”
“He already had.”
“David survived.”
Evelyn continued.
“Gabriel convinced Catherine that Adrian had become unstable.”
Julian’s face emptied.
“She gave Gabriel the meeting route because he promised only to confront Adrian.”
Maya closed her eyes.
Catherine had been the leak.
Julian’s own mother.
“She caused his death.”
“Not intentionally.”
“She gave Gabriel the route.”
“Yes.”
Julian looked ready to break.
“Then why wasn’t she in the car?”
“David reached her minutes before she left.”
Evelyn swallowed.
“He told her Gabriel planned to kill Adrian.”
“So she ran.”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at Julian.
“She tried to stop it.”
“What happened?”
“Gabriel’s men intercepted her.”
Maya felt cold.
“They held her?”
“For three days.”
Julian stared.
“After the bombing, she escaped.”
“And never came to me.”
Evelyn’s face broke.
“She believed Gabriel would kill you if she appeared.”
Julian laughed.
“Again.”
“She also blamed herself.”
“So do I.”
Maya looked at him.
“Julian.”
He walked toward the door.
Evelyn spoke quickly.
“She watched you.”
Julian stopped.
“What?”
“She had photographs.”
His jaw tightened.
“Of me?”
“Every birthday.”
Julian slowly turned.
“Graduation.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Your first public business meeting.”
Julian’s face broke.
“She was alive.”
“Yes.”
“She watched.”
“Yes.”
“And she never came.”
Evelyn whispered.
“She thought you hated her.”
“I thought she was dead.”
“I know.”
Julian covered his face.
Maya had never seen him cry.
Not once.
Now his shoulders shook.
Maya went to him.
He turned away at first.
Then he let her hold him.
Evelyn watched with tears in her eyes.
After several minutes, Julian pulled himself together.
“Where is she?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“Montana.”
Julian looked at her.
“She changed her name.”
“What name?”
“Claire Dawson.”
Maya’s phone buzzed.
She glanced down.
A news alert.
Gabriel Croft had escaped federal custody during transport.
Maya’s face went cold.
Julian saw it.
“What?”
She showed him.
Gabriel had escaped less than twenty minutes earlier.
Derek cursed.
Then another message arrived.
Unknown number.
A photograph.
An older woman stood outside a cabin in Montana.
Silver hair.
Julian’s eyes.
Maya’s stomach dropped.
Gabriel had found Catherine before Julian could.
May you like
The message contained only six words.
COME GET YOUR MOTHER, JULIAN.
