Chapter 5 - Nothing Is Free.
Daniel drove back to Bell Street with enough anger to make every red light feel personal.
He stopped at a grocery store and bought food, bottled water, blankets, socks, batteries, and three children's raincoats.
Then he stood in the aisle staring at a box of chocolate cereal because Anna used to eat it straight from the carton at midnight.
He put the cereal in the cart too.
The condemned building looked even worse in daylight.
Graffiti covered the lower bricks.
Several windows had been boarded from the outside.
A demolition notice had been nailed beside the entrance since the night before.
Daniel's company logo sat at the bottom.
He tore the notice down.
Inside, the hanging bulb was still lit.
Noah appeared first, holding a broken broom handle like a spear.
He relaxed slightly when he recognized Daniel.
"She's mad at you."
"I expected that."
"She said you lied."
"About what?"
"About not knowing."
Daniel swallowed.
"Where is she?"
Noah pointed upstairs.
Daniel carried the bags to the room beneath the bulb.
Lily sat against the wall with the white takeout container in her lap.
It was empty now, but she had washed it in cold water and kept it.
Ruby slept under the torn blanket.
Lily looked at the grocery bags and then at Daniel.
"We don't want it."
"It's just food."
"Nothing is just food."
The sentence sounded far older than six.
Daniel set the bags down.
"What does that mean?"
"Curtis brings food sometimes."
"Then what?"
"Then he says people owe him."
Daniel crouched several feet away.
"You don't owe me anything."
"Everybody says that before they tell you what you owe."
Daniel had no answer.
Noah moved toward the bags anyway.
Lily glared at him.
"We can eat the bread."
He said it quietly.
"No."
"Ruby's hungry."
"I said no."
Daniel opened one bag and removed the receipt.
He placed it on the floor beside the groceries.
"You can keep the receipt."
Lily frowned.
"Why?"
"So if I ever say you owe me, you can show me I bought it because I chose to."
She considered that with suspicious seriousness.
"That doesn't prove anything."
"You're right."
Daniel took out his wallet.
He found a business card and wrote on the back.
FOOD AND SUPPLIES ARE A GIFT.
NO PAYMENT.
NO FAVOR.
NO DEBT.
He signed it and slid it across the floor.
Lily picked it up.
She looked at the signature.
"That's the same name."
Daniel knew what she meant.
"Yes."
"On the paper that took our apartment."
"Yes."
"So signatures can lie."
Daniel stared at her.
"Apparently they can."
Lily put the card inside the empty white container.
Only then did she allow Noah to open the grocery bag.
Ruby woke at the sound of packaging.
Daniel watched the children divide a loaf of bread as carefully as accountants dividing cash.
He had never felt richer and more ashamed at the same time.
"Lily, I need to ask you something about your mom."
She stiffened.
"What?"
"Did she ever use another name?"
Lily's face became unreadable.
"Why?"
"Because I think I might have known her a long time ago."
"You said you didn't know her."
"I didn't know Rachel Ward."
"That's her name."
Daniel reached into his coat and took out the old sailboat photograph he had borrowed from his mother's mantel.
He placed it on the floor between them.
Lily looked down.
For the first time since Daniel met her, the hard shell around her vanished completely.
"That's Mommy."
Daniel's vision blurred.
Noah looked from the photograph to Daniel.
"You know her?"
Daniel nodded.
"She's my sister."
Lily stared at him.
"No."
"Her name used to be Anna."
"No."
"Lily."
She threw the photograph back at him.
"My mom doesn't have a brother."
"She does."
"She said her family was dead."
The words cut deeper than Daniel expected.
"Maybe she needed you to believe that."
"Why?"
"I don't know yet."
Lily stood.
"You always don't know."
She grabbed the white container and held it against her chest.
"You don't know who signed the paper."
She took a step backward.
"You don't know where my mom is."
Another step.
"You don't know why she didn't tell me about you."
Daniel remained crouched.
"You're right."
Lily's eyes filled with tears, but she refused to let them fall.
"Then stop saying you're family."
A sound came from the hallway.
Not footsteps this time.
A phone vibrating against the floorboards.
Noah reached behind a loose brick and pulled out an old cracked smartphone.
"It's your mom's."
Lily rushed toward him.
The screen showed one incoming call.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
She answered before Daniel could stop her.
"Mom?"
For several seconds there was only static.
May you like
Then a woman's voice whispered one sentence.
"Lily, whatever Daniel Mercer tells you, do not go with him."
