by T M Kelly
“No, should I, though?” I started making my way down the stairs. “Charlie needed to talk, so I came home.”
“Lily, whatever you read in the news today, it’s all lies.”
I patted him on the chest and opened the front door. “I need to go.” He followed me down the porch steps and stayed fast on my heels as I made my way to my car. I threw my duffle bag in first and then slid into the driver seat. “Julian, news tends to lie. Just relax.” Right as he was about to bend down and give me a kiss, I closed my door. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Lily, please don’t leave yet. I really need to talk to you.”
Every part of me wanted to run into his arms and ask him why. Instead, I waved at Charlie who was standing on the sidewalk with a bottle of water in her hand. I blew her a kiss, and she winked at me. She knew I needed to leave, and I knew she would cover for me.
My flight didn’t leave for another two hours, which gave me time to read more stories on my phone. Of course, that was a bad decision. Once other news sources had gotten wind of Julian and my dad’s little secret—everyone was posting an article. I turned off my phone and threw it in my duffle bag.
Over the PA, a woman’s voice said, “Can Lily Waters please come to one of the customer service counters.”
I looked around expecting to see Julian standing off in the distance. The place was packed, but I knew he would stand out in a crowd. He was nowhere in sight, though. I stood up and made my way to the counter where two women with airline uniforms on were talking.
“Hi, my name was just announced over the intercom.”
“You’re Lily Waters?” the one woman with short dark brown hair and way too much makeup on said.
“Yes.” Now I was feeling a little sick. I was both stressed and worried.
“Here.” She handed me the phone and punched a button.
I cleared my throat. “Hello.”
“Lily, thank God you’re still there.”
“Julian, why did you page me at the airport?”
“I need to tell you something.”
“Okay.” I felt confused. This was one of those moments where I wanted my dad. He’d always said the right thing to make me feel better.
“Where are you heading?”
“Away.” I had no plans to tell him.
“Lily, let me come see you so we can talk.”
“I need to go.” As I handed the phone back to the woman, I could hear him yelling. I said thank you and turned to head back to my seat.
The woman was holding the phone still. “Are you sure you’re done? He’s still talking.”
“I’m done.”
Hopefully San Francisco had some answers.
20
“Do you want a compact car or full-size?” the man behind the counter at the car rental place said, handing me a form to sign.
“Full size, please.” I scribbled my name at the bottom of the document. “Actually, do you have an SUV available?” My plan was to drive back to Las Vegas since I knew I would probably find some things in the storage unit to take back with me.
He was typing and staring at the computer screen. “We do have one left.”
“I’ll take it.”
After about twenty minutes, I had a vehicle and was on my way to my dad’s storage unit. I don’t know why I kept a lot of his paperwork, but I did. Charlie and I had loaded the unit with maybe twenty boxes packed full of ledgers, papers, and several files.
Never once did I have the urge to look at them. It was my dad’s stuff, and I knew he had nothing to hide. A part of me doubted that decision now. As I pulled into the driveway of the storage unit, I spotted two black SUVs parked and no other cars in the small driveway. I pulled up to the security pad and punched in the code. Right as the gate started to open, a man walked out of the front entrance to the building. He had a bald head, wore a black tailored suit, and held a briefcase.
A chill ran up my spine. It was dusk and getting dark fast. I suddenly had this urge to go to my hotel room and come back in the morning. Then I told myself I was being silly and brushed off the worry.
The unit we rented for Dad was on the second floor of the last building in the complex. I parked my rental vehicle in front of the entrance and headed inside.
We rented a medium size unit because my dad had that much stuff. I unlocked the sliding door and pushed it up. The space was packed full, but there was a spot for me to work in the center of the room. I grabbed a box off the top of the first stack directly by the door and started sifting through it. After going through several boxes I sat down on the floor and flipped off the lid. Right as I was about to grab the first file at the top of the pile, I heard a door slam shut.
For some reason, the sound didn’t alarm me. I guessed because I was in a public place, people went in and out all day long. There had been a sign as I made my way up to the unit that read, Open eight to eleven. It was only eight in the evening, so I had plenty of time to explore.
I held the file in my hand and knew whatever was on the other side of the cover could change everything. I felt a little nervous to open the manila folder. As I flipped it open, I heard a clank, like someone dropped something on the concrete floor. Shaking my head, I ignored the sounds and looked at the first page.
It was about me.
The file had my birth certificate. Pictures I drew. The last page stopped me, though. It was a letter typed out on a standard-size sheet of paper.
Lily,
I am so lucky. You have made my life complete. I’m sorry we didn’t have the chance to do more together.
I had to stop reading. My mom had tucked a note just for me in this file. Now I wondered if my dad had ever read it. I continued to read.
There are things I kept from you, and I’m so sorry. Lily Bug, you need to know somethi
That’s where the note ended. What was my mom going to tell me? Now I wanted to dig deeper and find the answer. It had to be somewhere in one of the many boxes. There was an electrical outlet and a lamp stored in the corner. I wanted to have some privacy sifting through each box. After getting the lamp plugged in, I went over and slid the door down.
I brought my phone in with me just in case Charlie called. Powering up my device, I set it to the side and started digging through the first box. My phone pinged several times because I had a shit-ton of messages coming through.
One of the messages that flashed across the screen was from Charlie: “Lily, call me immediately. You’re in danger.”
Danger? What the hell?
I grabbed my phone and dialed her number.
“Lily, oh sweet Jesus. Where have you been?”
“Charlie, calm down. What’s wrong?”
“Sweetie, Julian needed to tell you something important when he was here.”
“Okay, well have him tell me.”
“He should be there soon. His flight left about thirty minutes after yours.”
I stood up and paced the small space. “Wait. Why is he coming here?” I stopped in my tracks. “And where is here exactly?”
“The storage unit. I knew you wanted to go look through a few things.”
My mind was racing. “Does he have the key code to get in?”
“Yeah, I kinda gave it to him.”
“C, now you’re scaring me.”
She sighed. “Just check your phone while talking to me. See if he sent you a message.”
I did as she directed and found ten unread messages from him. “Yeah, he has definitely been trying to get ahold of me.”
“Okay, call me back later. Go and ease his mind.”
“Ease his mind?”
“Just trust me.”
After I hung up with Charlie, I quickly hit the call button for Julian. “There you are,” he said, sounding out of breath. It’s like a maze at this storage facility.”
“I’m in—”
“Don’t say it, just in case the place is bugged.”
What the fuck is going on?
I pulled it up. “What are you doing here?”
He quickly covered my mouth with his hand. Then he turned and closed the door. He pulled something from his bag slung over his shoulder. It was a small black device that looked like a phone. After he powered it up, he hit the green button. “Okay, we’re good.”
“Good? What is that and why are you here?”
“It’s a scrambler just in case the place is bugged.”
I shook my head. “Bugged? What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Charlie told me about all the boxes of paperwork you stored from your dad’s office,” he said, pulling me to the center of the room where we both sat on the floor. “She said you never looked at them?”
“Yeah, it was Dad’s personal stuff. It was none of my business.” I pulled my hand away. “What are you trying to tell me? Spit it out, Julian.”
He seemed uncomfortable. “I think your dad got mixed up with the wrong people, but I don’t know the whole story.”
“And you think there is something in one of these boxes that could tell us more?” He nodded at my words. “Why do you know all this?”
“That’s a bit of a long story.”
“I have a lot of time.”
He smiled and reached for my hand again. “I’m sorry if you think I’m the bad guy here. I promise you I’m not.”
Something I had started to learn about Julian: he had a look with almost every emotion. His eyebrows would position a certain way, and his lips would go in an up or down direction. At that moment, he was—my mind was racing—scared. Julian possibly feeling that emotion seemed off. I also knew he wasn’t feeding me a line of bullshit.
I interlaced our hands. “Is my life about to change with whatever you share?”
He looked down and then back up. “I’m afraid so.”
Was I ready for this? I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Reaching behind me, I grabbed the file with all the info about me. “Well, maybe amongst those things you share, you can tell me about my mom, too.” I handed him the unfinished note. “Why would this be in the file? What could she possibly have to tell me?”
He didn’t say anything for the longest moment. “I think your mom was mixed up in it all, too,” he said in a whisper.
“What?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“My mom died of a heart attack. Or is that wrong?”
He shook his head. “Like I said, I don’t know the whole story, Lily.”
My body started to shake, and my chest felt tight. “Julian.” I struggled to hold back my tears. “My dad killed my mom?”
“No,” he quickly said. “No, he loved your mom.”
“She was in the middle of whatever you need to tell me?”
“Yeah, I think so.” He stood up and walked over to the first stack of boxes. “Let’s look at these together.”
“We could be here all night.”
“Well, at least we will be here together.”
Something about his words touched me. “Were the two SUVs still in the parking lot when you arrived?”
“What SUV?”
“Oh, I bet they left already.” I brushed it off as no big deal and grabbed a binder in the box. “There was a bald guy in a suit with a briefcase. He was leaving the main building when I was coming back here.”
“Okay, we need to get through this shit fast. We may have less time than I thought.”
Now I had no idea what Julian was talking about. Was my dad mixed up with the wrong people? Was my mom potentially caught in the middle of whatever this bullshit was that Julian was trying to tell me? I felt like I was in some movie. This couldn’t really be happening.
Then I opened the binder, and my breath got caught in my throat.
21
At the top of the first page in the binder in big bold print was, Money To Hold Back. “What? My dad was taking money from someone?” I pointed to the page.
Julian reached for the binder and flipped through a few of the pages. “I really don’t know.”
“But it doesn’t sound good.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
We spent several hours going through each box. The binder we found was the only thing that seemed suspicious. Then he stopped in mid-turn of a page, and his face went as white as a ghost. I could read that emotion loud and clear.
“Talk to me.”
“Hold on.” He stood up and grabbed his cellphone. “Yeah, you out there still? Okay, come up and make sure the area is clear.”
“Who was that?” I was starting to feel like a parrot with all the questions I was asking him.
“A friend. We need to get out of here.”
“But—”
“This sheet has me concerned.” He handed the file over. “I think this is where your life changes, Lily.”
I grabbed it and hesitated before opening the thick cover. Inside it looked like a hit list. There were names with lines drawn through the center. Five names did not have the line. “Um, it’s not what I think it is, right?”
“I have a feeling it is.” He looked at his phone and walked over to open the door. “Lily, this is, Otto.”
“Hey.” I knew my greeting was shitty, but at the moment I didn’t care. “Now where are we going?”
“To a safe house.” Julian put the binder and file in his bag. “Okay, I need to turn off this device, so we need to go silent until we get to the car.
I only nodded and reached for the first file with the letter from my mom.
What did she want to tell me?
“Are you sure?” Otto said, buckling his seatbelt.
“Why would I lie?” Julian said sarcastically.
I was in the backseat of Otto’s car. “What about the rental I brought?”
“The guys will return it for you.” Julian turned in his seat.
“Guys?”
He placed his hand on my knee. “I will tell you everything back at the safe house.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled my phone out of my bag. “I need to call Charlie. Does she know everything already?”
“No, but I made it clear you were in danger. She pushed for more but finally stopped trying to get anything out of me.”
I shook my head and hit dial. “Hey, C.”
“Oh thank goodness you’re okay,” Charlie sighed loudly. “You are, right?”
“I’m fine.” I probably sounded terse. “Sorry, it’s been a long night.”
We continued to talk for another five minutes. Before I hung up, Charlie made me promise to call her in a few hours. I knew she was worried, and to be honest, I was, too.
I had my head down when the car came to a stop. Looking up, I saw we were parked in front of a one-story brick house. A woman stepped out, and it took me a moment to register. “Who is that?”
“Go see her, Lily,” Julian said, tapping his finger on the note I found earlier.
I hesitated before opening the door. My body felt weak, my chest felt tight, the snack I had just consumed wanted to make an entrance. I made it as far as the front of the car and had to place my hand on the hood for support. My legs were giving out on me.
The woman ran over to help me up. As she approached the car, I could make out all the features. It was my mom. She had more wrinkles. Her hair was salt and pepper now, but it was her.
“How—”
“Come inside, baby.” She guided me toward the front door where a golden retriever sat perfectly.
“I don’t understand.”
“I know. We have a lot to talk about, Lily,” my mom said, helping me up the steps.
“I don’t understand.” I was fighting back the snack still, but it was determined. My body bent over and I heaved. The dog barked and jumped back. I let go of everything in my stomach and more possibly.
“Oh, baby, come in here.” She led me to the back of the house and into the bathroom.
I got dow
n on my knees in front of the toilet. My stomach was still fighting me. Wrapping my arms around the sides of the porcelain, I prayed it would end soon. Finally, my prayers were answered, and I lifted my head. “Why are you here? You died.”
“Well, no. I had to make others believe that, though.” She placed a washcloth on my forehead. “I’m so sorry for this.”
I pushed her hand away. “No, you don’t get to say sorry now.” Walking down the hall, I glanced into each room. The last room I was about to pass had newspaper clippings on the walls. I pushed open the door and walked inside. The walls were covered with articles about me.
“I haven’t missed a fight yet.”
“Wait, you went to my fights?”
She sat down on the edge of the bed. “Well, if I couldn’t go, I found a way to record it.”
I cautiously sat down beside her, needing her body near me. Holy shit, my mom was alive. Julian was right, my life was about to change in a flash. Mom reached for my hand. “Dad made me believe you were dead. Why would he do that?”
“Because he thought I was dead.” She brought my hand to her chest. “I took a drug that stopped my heart. When I was in the back of the ambulance with your dad, I was given another drug to counteract everything. The monitors were set up so it would show I was still not breathing.”
No joke, I was currently the star of this movie. I wanted out of the scene.
Julian’s big frame took up the doorway. I glanced over at him. “So how do you fit in this equation?”
Mom handed me a glass of water. “You hungry?”
“I bet you are dying to make me something,” I teased. “Okay, let’s use a different word. Excited, that works.”
She smiled, and memories came rushing back. I loved when my mom smiled. The corners of her eyes would crinkle up, and she would make the room shine. “Yes I am, sweetie.”
Julian was sitting next to me. “So, you going to make me guess how you fit into this mystery?”
