Page 88 of Trust No One

“Yes. It’ll be tomorrow or the next day. She’ll need to be transported to the Western Lab in Roanoke.”

“When will they release her body?”

“I’m not sure.”

“I haven’t told anyone yet.”

“Waiting until morning. Gabe can’t do anything tonight.”

“What about Edith?”

“Do you want me to call her?” he asked.

“No. Like it or not, Maria was family. And I owe it to her.”

“Call me if I can help.”

I pressed the phone to my temple. There’d been a time when his focused view of the world bothered me. A straight arrow who didn’t make mistakes. I was the one who blundered. “Thank you.”

I called Edith, knowing I was going to wake her up. She’d always gone to bed early, and with Molly in the house, she clearly needed more rest.

She answered on the third ring. “Raine.”

“Edith.” The words caught in my throat before I cleared it. “Maria passed an hour ago. Her heart failed.” I would repeat this phrase over and over in the coming weeks. It would become practiced and glide more numbly over my lips. But now it was raw and ragged. Tears clogged my throat.

“What? Are you sure?” Her voice was heavy with sleep.

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t make sense. I talked to her on the phone this afternoon.”

“You called her?”

“She called me. She wanted to hear about Molly’s day at school.”

“Did she talk to Molly?”

“No. Molly was napping. She said she’d call back before bedtime. But she didn’t.”

“You could have woken up the girl for Maria.”

“She was asleep.”

It had been a petty act of revenge that in the grand scheme was monumental. It was the girl’s last chance to talk to her mother.

“Where is Molly now?”

“Sleeping. Do you want me to wake her?”

I needed time to think and process. “I’ll be by in the morning.”

When I hung up, the darkness drifted around me, tightening like a shroud. I dressed in jeans, sweatshirt, boots.

The air outside was cold, heavy, and sharp.

I sat on the stairs. Glanced at my phone and noticed the hours-old texts from Maria.

Maria: Save my daughter.