Chapter 4 - The Phone Call to Diane
Claire went cold.
“What does my mother know?”
“That is the question we need to ask her.”
The Cadillac turned toward the interstate.
Claire immediately noticed.
“My apartment is the other direction.”
“We are not going to your apartment.”
“Yes, we are.”
“No.”
Claire looked at him.
“I just discovered my mother lied to me for twenty eight years.”
“She lied because I asked her to.”
Roman’s words erased every other thought.
Claire stared.
“You?”
“I arranged the first relocation.”
“You told her to lie about my father?”
“Yes.”
The slap happened before Claire consciously chose it.
Her palm struck Roman’s cheek.
The Cadillac drifted half a foot.
Roman corrected the wheel.
He did not raise his voice.
He did not touch her.
He simply pulled into a parking lot and stopped.
Claire was breathing hard.
“You let me hate him.”
“Yes.”
“You let me think he never wanted me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because children repeat stories.”
Roman finally looked at her.
“A little girl crying because her father abandoned her attracts sympathy.”
“A little girl saying her murdered father stole records from the Rourke organization attracts men with guns.”
Claire’s anger did not disappear.
It changed shape.
Roman touched his cheek.
“You had every right to do that.”
“Don’t make it noble.”
“I’m not.”
He took out his phone.
“I made the safest choice I could think of.”
“That doesn’t mean it was the right one.”
“No.”
The answer surprised her.
Roman unlocked the phone and handed it over.
“Call your mother.”
Claire knew Diane Bennett’s number by heart.
She dialed.
The phone rang twice.
Her mother answered.
“Claire?”
“Mom.”
Silence.
Claire looked at Roman.
“Mom, I need you to tell me the truth about Dad.”
Another silence.
Then Diane whispered, “Is Roman with you?”
Claire’s skin prickled.
“You know him.”
“Claire, listen to me.”
“No.”
“You listen.”
Claire’s voice shook now.
“Two men came into the diner.”
“Roman told me my father was murdered.”
“He told me you knew.”
“He told me the necklace you gave me matters.”
Diane began crying.
“Take off the key.”
Claire’s fingers closed around it.
“Why?”
“Take it off right now.”
“Why did you give it to me?”
Diane’s breathing became uneven.
“Because somebody searched my apartment last Thursday.”
Roman’s head snapped toward the phone.
Claire felt the air leave her lungs.
“What?”
“They didn’t take money.”
“They didn’t take jewelry.”
“They opened one drawer.”
“The drawer where I kept the key.”
Claire stared at Roman.
Diane continued.
“I knew they would come back.”
“I couldn’t call Roman because I didn’t know which phones were safe anymore.”
“So you gave it to me?”
“I knew Roman still watched the diner.”
Claire slowly turned toward him.
Roman’s expression gave away nothing.
Her mother said, “I needed him to see it.”
The anger returned.
“You used me as a signal?”
“I thought his people would get to you before anyone else noticed.”
“They almost didn’t.”
“I know.”
Diane’s voice cracked.
“I am so sorry.”
Roman reached for the phone.
Claire pulled it away.
“No.”
He withdrew his hand.
Claire asked, “What does the key open?”
Diane did not answer.
“Mom.”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Your father gave it to me the night before he died.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“He said if Roman ever came back into our lives, I should give it to you and let you decide whether to open what he couldn’t.”
Roman went completely still.
Claire noticed.
“You never knew about the key.”
“No.”
For the first time since the diner, Roman looked genuinely shaken.
Diane whispered, “Claire, come home.”
Roman immediately shook his head.
Claire ignored him.
“We’re coming.”
Roman waited until she ended the call.
“That was reckless.”
“She’s my mother.”
“That doesn’t make the apartment safe.”
“It makes it where I’m going.”
Roman watched her.
May you like
Claire expected an order.
Instead he said, “Then I’m going with you.”
