chapter 8
Arthur examined the authentication card in his memory—the scratches on its edge, the new seal on a device untouched for fifteen years.
Someone else had activated Black Glass.
Someone had sent Lily the final message.
Someone had brought Evelyn, Voss, Margaret, Richard and Arthur into the same open investigation.
Arthur looked at Lily.
“Who told you to make the call?”
“I thought it was Mom.”
“It wasn’t,” Evelyn said.
Voss lifted his cane.
A tiny red light flashed beneath its handle.
Arthur grabbed it, twisted the grip and pulled free a concealed transmitter.
A voice emerged from the device.
Calm.
Altered.
The same voice that had answered the satellite phone.
“Is Sparrow secure?”
Voss went pale.
“That channel belongs to Black Glass.”
Arthur stared at the transmitter.
“No,” he said. “It belongs to whoever controls Black Glass.”
The voice continued.
“Arthur, look beneath the name.”
He turned toward Evelyn’s gravestone.
Beneath the carved words Beloved Wife and Mother, a seam had opened in the stone.
Inside was a thin metal compartment.
Arthur removed a final envelope.
It contained a birth certificate.
His name appeared under Father.
May you like
Evelyn’s name appeared under Mother.
But the child’s name was not Lily.
