Chapter 22 - THE BODY IN THE WATERThomas's body was recovered the following morning.
A gunshot wound.
No identification except his wedding ring.
Nathan refused to view him.
Mara did.
She stood beside the examination table for thirty seconds.
Then asked the medical examiner:
“May I see his left hand?”
The examiner uncovered it.
Mara smiled.
Not because anything was funny.
Because Black Tide had made a mistake.
Thomas had broken his left little finger when Mara was eight.
It had healed crooked.
This man's finger was straight.
She called Reyes.
“My father is alive.”
Twenty minutes later the morgue went into lockdown.
The dead man was identified as Philip Arden, a former Black Tide courier who resembled Thomas.
Keene had wanted them to stop searching.
Instead, he had confirmed Thomas still mattered.
Then Nathan returned with something else.
Eleanor had contacted him.
Alone.
Mara stared at her brother.
“You met her?”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me?”
“You don't get to be the only person who decides who can be trusted.”
It hurt because it was true.
Nathan placed a key on the table.
“Mom says this opens the council archive aboard the carrier.”
“And you believe her?”
Nathan looked at Mara.
“No.”
May you like
Then he smiled faintly.
“I learned that from you.”
