Chapter 5: Unit 317
“Where did Lily get the key?””
Jason stood on my mother’s porch with his hand closed around it.
“She said she found it under Grandma’s desk.””
My stomach twisted.
“Diane dragged a seven-year-old across the yard over a key?””
“I think she panicked.””
“You think?””
“Sarah, I'm not defending her.””
“You've been defending her for seven years.””
His face tightened.
“I know.””
Mom appeared behind me.
“Give Sarah the key.””
Jason looked past me.
“You knew about the storage unit?””
“No.””
“Then how do you know it belongs to Ethan?””
“I don't.””
I held out my hand.
“Give it to me.””
Jason hesitated.
That was enough.
I reached for it.
He pulled back.
“Jason.””
“If we go there, we do this carefully.””
“We?””
“Yes.””
“You don't get to make that decision.””
“Ethan disappeared, Sarah.””
“So?””
“So maybe opening whatever he hid is exactly what somebody has spent seven years preventing.””
I stared at him.
For once, I heard genuine fear rather than manipulation.
“Where is Mercer Storage?””
“Tempe.””
Mom stepped onto the porch.
“I'll keep Lily.””
I turned.
“No.””
“Sarah, she shouldn't be anywhere near this.””
“Neither should I.””
Mom's face fell.
“I know.””
Lily appeared behind her.
“Mommy?””
I immediately softened.
She held the stuffed rabbit Mom kept for her visits.
“Are we going home?””
I crouched.
“Soon.””
“Is Daddy coming?””
Jason stepped into view.
Lily's expression changed.
Not fear.
Uncertainty.
Jason saw it too.
He knelt several feet away.
“Hey, bug.””
She didn't move toward him.
“Daddy?””
“Yeah?””
“Is Grandma mad because I'm not yours?””
Jason's face crumpled.
He shook his head.
“No.””
“But she said—”
“She lied.””
His voice cracked.
“You are my daughter. You hear me? Mine.””
Lily looked at me.
I nodded.
Jason wiped his eyes.
“And what Grandma did was wrong.””
“Are you mad at me?””
“No.””
He pressed a fist against his mouth for a second.
“Never.””
Lily slowly approached him.
When she hugged him, Jason shut his eyes.
I hated that I still loved him.
I hated even more that I could see he loved her.
Forty minutes later, Mom stayed with Lily while Jason and I drove separately to Mercer Storage.
The facility sat behind a chain-link fence near an industrial park.
The office was closed.
Jason found Unit 317 on the third row.
The brass key fit.
He looked at me.
“Ready?””
“No.””
I lifted the metal door anyway.
Dust rolled out.
The unit was small.
No furniture.
No boxes of clothes.
Just a metal filing cabinet, a folding chair and a plastic storage bin.
On the wall, someone had taped a photograph.
My wedding photograph.
Jason and me leaving the church.
Across Jason's face, Ethan had written one word in black marker.
ASK.
Jason stared at it.
“What the hell?””
I opened the filing cabinet.
The first drawer contained documents about Mercer Development.
Inspection reports.
Bank transfers.
Property deeds.
The second drawer held photographs of Diane meeting men outside office buildings.
Jason picked one up.
“That's my grandfather’s attorney.””
I opened the plastic bin.
Inside were three cassette tapes and a stack of letters addressed to me.
The first envelope said:
SARAH — IF I DON'T GET TO EXPLAIN.
My fingers shook as I opened it.
Jason stood beside me.
I read aloud.
“Sarah, my name is Ethan Cole. By the time you read this, someone may have told you I abandoned you.””
My throat closed.
“I didn't.””
I continued.
“Your mother was seventeen when you were born. I was twenty. Her parents believed I would ruin her life.
Charles Mercer offered me money to disappear. I refused.””
Jason whispered, “My grandfather?””
The letter continued.
“Two weeks later, I was arrested for theft from Mercer Development.””
I stopped.
Jason took the page.
His eyes raced down it.
“He says the charges were dropped.””
“After eighteen months.””
I took the letter back.
“When I returned, your mother and you were gone. I was told you had moved overseas.””
Mom had never lived overseas.
Not once.
I opened another letter.
This one was dated shortly before my wedding.
Sarah, I found you.
I know you're marrying Diane Mercer’s son.
Please understand that Jason may know nothing about what his family did.
But Diane knows who you are.
My blood went cold.
“Diane knew?””
Jason shook his head.
“She never told me.””
The next paragraph was underlined.
If Diane realizes you are Ethan Cole’s daughter, she will understand that the restitution trust belongs to you.
A sound came from outside.
Metal scraping concrete.
Jason and I froze.
“Did you hear that?””
He stepped toward the opening.
The storage door suddenly crashed downward.
I screamed.
Jason lunged, but it slammed shut before he reached it.
Darkness swallowed us.
Then came the unmistakable click of a padlock.
“Hey!””
Jason hammered against the door.
“Open this!””
Footsteps moved away.
I pulled out my phone.
No signal.
Jason's screen showed the same.
Then a faint red light appeared in the corner of the unit.
A camera.
Someone had been watching us.
Jason grabbed the folding chair and swung it at the door.
“Back up!””
He hit it once.
Twice.
On the third strike, something slid beneath the door.
A photograph.
I picked it up.
It had been taken less than an hour earlier.
Lily was standing at my mother's front window.
May you like
Written across the photograph in black ink were five words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT IT BURIED.
