chapter 7
Voss continued.
“Your sister recruited Margaret Whitmore. Margaret recruited Evelyn. Evelyn recruited Lily.”
Arthur turned toward his wife.
“What?”
Evelyn’s face filled with anguish.
Voss handed Arthur a second photograph.
It had been taken seven months before Easter.
Lily sat in a café across from Evelyn.
Alive.
Together.
Talking.
Arthur could barely force the words out.
“You said Lily didn’t know.”
Evelyn began to cry.
“She knew I was alive.”
The betrayal cut deeper than any blade.
“For how long?”
“Seven months.”
Arthur looked toward the courthouse in the distance, where Lily had just become a national symbol of courage.
Voss spoke softly.
“Lily did not stumble upon the ledger.”
Arthur’s heartbeat slowed.
“She was given it.”
“By Evelyn?”
“By me.”
The old man’s smile disappeared.
“Lily volunteered to enter the Whitmore family’s inner circle three years ago.”
Arthur stared at him.
“She married Richard before that.”
“Yes. Which made her uniquely positioned.”
“She stayed with a man who beat her because you asked her to?”
“No,” Evelyn said. “We told her to leave the moment we learned. She refused.”
Arthur turned on her.
“You all used her.”
Lily’s voice came from behind him.
“No, Dad.”
Arthur turned.
She stood at the cemetery gate.
Her bruises had faded, but a thin mark remained beneath her left eye.
She walked toward them alone.
“I used them,” she said.
Arthur could not speak.
Lily stopped beside her mother.
“Richard’s abuse was real. None of that was staged. None of it was part of the plan.”
“Then why stay?”
“Because the Whitmores had buried evidence for decades. If I left too early, Margaret would disappear, the records would burn and hundreds of victims would never know the truth.”
Arthur stared at his daughter.
“You nearly died.”
“I know.”
“You called me because you were afraid.”
“Yes.”
“Was Code Black part of the plan?”
Lily glanced at Voss.
“No.”
The old man’s expression tightened.
Lily continued.
“Code Black was supposed to be dead. The network believed you had destroyed the authentication card.”
Arthur remembered the black case beneath his dashboard.
Someone had serviced his truck six months earlier.
Someone had ensured the case still functioned.
He looked at Evelyn.
“You put it there.”
“No,” she said.
May you like
Voss’s face changed.
For the first time, the old general looked uncertain.
