Page 157 of Taken Away

Payable to: University of Pennsylvania.

Remitter: Mabel Blackwood.

A low whistle slid between his teeth.

“Well, well,” he said softly. “Mabel wasn’t just sending you birthday money, was she?”

Aubrey said nothing.

He turned another page.

This one was different.

Check stub.

Payable to: Theodore Langford.

Declan’s expression sharpened.

“Ah,” he said. “Here we are.”

He checked the memo line.

Housing deposit.

Another stub.

Books.

Another.

Living expenses.

All four years.

He looked up.

“How long have you had this?”

“Since this morning.”

“You call your stepdad yet?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

She hesitated.

“I don’t want to embarrass him,” she said.

Declan studied her for another moment. Then nodded once.

“Fair enough.”

He closed the folder.

“That’s one mystery,” he said. “What’s the other?”