She sighs, clearly not understanding the shift. “My parents left me money. A lot of it, I think—I’ve never actually seen the number. It’s in a trust. I can’t touch it until I’m twenty, which is…soon, now that I think about it.” She lifts a shoulder, like it genuinely doesn’t weigh on her. “It’s just always been there. This thing that happens later. My aunt always said not to talk about it. That people would look at me differently, try to use me, if they knew. So I don’t. I never really have.”
Every word she says slots into place like pieces of a puzzle I didn’t realize I was missing.
“You really don’t know how much?” I ask.
She shrugs again. “I don’t know exactly. Enough that I wouldn’t have to worry, I think. I planned to travel for a yearonce I had access to it. I don’t even know if I want to anymore, with everything that’s going on.”
“You’re going to take that trip, sweetheart,” I say soothingly, though it doesn’t soften my sharp focus as I ask, “When’s your birthday?”
“Next month. June fifth.”
A coldness grows inside me as she answers.So close. This is motive.
“And if something happens to you before then?” I ask, my voice quieter now.
She hesitates. Then, slowly, “I think it goes to my aunt.”
Heavy silence fills the room.
She notices it immediately, her expression shifting. “What?”
I study her for a second longer, then exhale slowly, ensuring my tone is flat. “This is why I keep asking the same questions.”
She frowns slightly. “To get me to remember things I didn’t think were important.”
“Exactly.”
Her eyes widen just a fraction as it settles in for her too. “You think this is about the money?”
“I think it’s a strong possibility.”
She sits there for a second, processing, then shakes her head slightly. “That’s…insane.”
“Is it?”
She doesn’t answer. Because now, it makes sense. The realization doesn’t sit well with her. I can see it in the way her expression tightens. The way her fingers curl slightly against the sheets like she’s trying to hold onto something steady while everything shifts under her.
“That doesn’t make sense,” she says after a moment, her voice quieter now, uncertain. “My aunt wouldn’t. She raised me. She’s the one who warned me to be careful.”
I watch her carefully, measuring every reaction. “People don’t always show you who they are when there’s something to gain.”
“She wouldn’t kill me for money,” Nora insists, but I pick up on the slight hesitation now, a crack in the certainty she had seconds ago.
“You don’t know that,” I say evenly.
“I do,” she pushes, though it sounds weaker this time. “She’s all I have.”
The words stop me cold. I know what it is to have no one. To count a single person as your whole world and build everything around them. But I don’t let it show. Instead, I shift slightly, grounding the conversation before it spirals. “We don’t know anything for sure yet. This is just a lead.”
She exhales slowly, dragging a hand through her hair. “I don’t like it.”
“You’re not supposed to.”
A quiet pause settles between us, heavy with everything unsaid. Then I straighten slightly, shifting gears before she gets stuck in it. “Get up.”
She blinks at me. “What?”
“You said you wanted to feel safer,” I remind her. “We start now.”
