Chapter 2 - The Miles Nobody Could Explain)
The next morning, Amelia waited until Ava left for a yoga class before showing the parking receipt to Walter.
He was in his study reviewing construction reports, his reading glasses low on his nose.
Walter took the receipt without comment.
Then he examined Diane's handwriting.
"Where?"
"Under the passenger seat."
"After Ava used the SUV?"
"Yes."
Walter turned the paper over.
"She came back after two."
"Closer to one-thirty, I think."
"No."
Amelia frowned.
Walter opened a drawer.
From it he removed a small notebook.
"You keep track?"
"I sleep badly."
He flipped through several pages.
"Garage door opened at twelve fifty-eight. Again at four eleven."
Amelia stared at him.
"Ava told me she came back at one-thirty."
"Then Ava lied."
Walter placed the receipt on his desk.
"Did you ask her where she went?"
"She said out."
Walter's mouth tightened.
"Poetry."
Amelia sat opposite him.
"Could it just be a parking garage?"
"It could."
"But you don't think it is."
"I think people who use ordinary parking garages don't usually write instructions telling themselves to avoid the main gate."
He handed the receipt back.
"Don't confront anyone yet."
"Why?"
Walter looked toward the closed study door.
"Because your mother has been asking unusual questions."
"What kind?"
"Questions about company ownership."
Amelia felt something cold move through her.
"Is that unusual?"
"For Diane, no. For Diane to ask our accountant exactly what happens to my voting shares if I'm declared medically incapable, yes."
Amelia stared.
"When did she ask that?"
"Last month."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I thought she was being greedy, not dangerous."
The word dangerous changed the room.
Walter leaned back.
"Two months ago, she also asked Daniel Price for a copy of my medical power of attorney."
Daniel Price had been the Hart family's attorney for more than twenty years.
He had handled Amelia's father's estate after his death.
He had helped Walter reorganize the company.
He had attended birthdays.
Thanksgiving dinners.
Even Ava's college graduation.
Amelia frowned.
"Did Daniel give it to her?"
"He says he didn't."
"You don't believe him?"
"I believe people until they give me a reason not to."
"And has he?"
Walter did not answer immediately.
That was an answer.
He stood and walked toward the window.
"Diane has spent twenty-six years believing this family should operate according to her preferences."
"That's not exactly news."
"No."
Walter looked back at Amelia.
"But lately she's behaving as though she's running out of time."
Amelia took the receipt and put it inside her phone case.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Nothing reckless."
"You know saying that guarantees I'm going to do something reckless."
Walter smiled slightly.
"You sound like your father."
The mention of Thomas Hart still had the power to rearrange Amelia's emotions.
Her father had died eight years earlier in a single-car accident on a rainy highway outside Charlottesville.
The police said he had lost control.
His blood alcohol level was below the legal limit.
No mechanical defect had been found.
It was simply an accident.
At least that was what everyone had been told.
Thomas had been Walter's only son.
After his death, control of Hart Development returned almost entirely to Walter, while Diane retained the substantial assets Thomas had left to her.
Amelia had moved to Washington six months later.
She had needed distance from the house.
From the grief.
From her mother's constant need to control the story of what everyone should feel.
"I wish Dad were here," Amelia said.
Walter's face softened.
"So do I."
That afternoon, Amelia drove the SUV to a coffee shop and worked through job applications.
At five, she returned home.
At seven, Ava asked to borrow the vehicle again.
"No."
Ava laughed.
"What?"
"I said no."
"My car won't be ready until Thursday."
"Then use Mom's."
"She has dinner plans."
"Uber suits you."
Ava's face hardened.
"Very funny."
Amelia returned to her laptop.
At 11:00 P.M., she went upstairs.
At 1:07 A.M., a sound woke her.
The garage door.
Amelia sat up.
She went to the window.
The white SUV reversed into the driveway.
Ava was driving.
Diane sat in the passenger seat.
Amelia looked at the chair where she had left her jeans.
The SUV keys were still inside the pocket.
She pulled them out.
Then she looked at the vehicle again.
Ava and Diane climbed out.
Diane was carrying something rectangular wrapped in a dark blanket.
Ava opened the rear hatch.
Together, they lifted the object into the cargo area.
They closed the hatch.
Then Ava drove away.
Amelia stood frozen.
The keys in her hand were not the only keys.
Someone had made a copy.
She waited until the taillights vanished beyond the gate.
Then she crossed the hallway and knocked on Walter's door.
He answered wearing pajamas and holding his cane.
"What happened?"
"They took it."
"Who?"
"Mom and Ava."
His face sharpened.
"They have another key."
Walter checked the time.
1:12 A.M.
He turned and reached for his phone.
Amelia followed him into the bedroom.
Walter opened an application.
A map appeared.
A blue dot moved slowly along Route 6.
Amelia stared.
"You track the SUV?"
"I track every company-owned vehicle."
"Since when?"
"Since an excavator disappeared from a job site in 2019."
The blue dot continued east.
Then south.
Walter zoomed out.
"They're heading toward Hanover."
At 1:46, the SUV left the highway.
At 2:03, it turned onto an industrial access road.
At 2:13, it stopped.
Walter enlarged the map.
Amelia leaned closer.
The location label appeared beneath the marker.
Walter's expression changed.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
Amelia looked at him.
"What is it?"
He locked the phone.
"Grandpa."
"Go back to bed."
"You know that place."
"Yes."
"What is it?"
He walked toward the window.
"Somewhere your mother has absolutely no reason to be."
Amelia waited.
Walter did not continue.
"Tell me."
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because if I'm right, I need to know whether she's there for something she wants."
May you like
Walter looked at the dark window.
"Or something she wants destroyed."
