Closing Books (25 page)

“Oh, no. Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Eve,” Kate said, slamming the laptop close. “Don’t get involved in the cases. I want to get whoever hurt her, but don’t get involved in the cases. All this happened so many years ago, I don’t want you to be chasing after ghosts like she is.”

“I thought you wanted to catch the son-of-a-bitch?”

“I do.”

“How are you going to get the guy if you don’t help her?”

“There are cameras in her building. Someone must have seen something. There are other ways, we don’t have to get involved. These cases are over a decade old…”

“People like them don’t stop, Kate. For all you know, he may still be killing; just that he’s gotten better and managed to keep it under wraps.”

Kate pursed her lips into a thin hard line, the way she did whenever she disagreed with Evelyn.

“Maybe we’re all wrong about Lydia. Maybe she isn’t obsessed with your parents’ case, maybe she meant it when she went on and on about justice and all,” Evelyn said.

“Maybe. But the girls are dead. No matter what we do, we can’t bring them back.”

“So we should just turn a blind eye because we don’t want to trouble ourselves?”

“Eve—”

“If my caseworker, teacher, or the school nurse had been half as passionate as Lydia is, maybe I would never have gone through what I did. Maybe that was why your father went ahead with the prosecution even though he knew the dangers he might face. People like your father and Lydia would’ve saved me, Amy, and Leah.”

She stared at Kate, and continued when she saw her sigh. “We can’t bring back the dead, but what about those he’s still hurting? There’s a chance he’s still killing.”

Kate scrutinized her face, then shook her head and sighed. “Ty’s going to kill me, but what the hell. If you want to do this, I’ll do it with you.”

Evelyn gave her a grateful smile. “You don’t have to.”
 

“And let you go crazy along with Lydia? Forget it; you’re stuck with me to keep you two in line.”

“You sure?” Evelyn asked.

When Kate’s grandmother started to get confused due to dementia, Kate began suspecting there was more to her parents’ death than the car accident that her grandparents’ had told them.

Kate didn’t know if she should find out the truth and fight for the justice her parents deserved. She had asked Evelyn, and Evelyn was the one who had told her not to chase the ghosts, not to burden herself with things of the past.
 

She knew Kate didn’t want to dive into the case and be reminded of how her parents were ripped from her life. Kate was one who believed in holding on to the good memories; she would rather relive the wonderful times she had with them than to focus on how she had lost them so suddenly.

With her own dark past, Evelyn was certain that nothing good would come out from the past. There must have been a reason for Kate’s grandparents to lie.

Now, after seeing Lydia’s notes and perhaps with the change in perspective, Evelyn could see the reason behind Lydia’s relentless pursuit and, in a way, even respect her for it.

But Evelyn didn’t want to drag Kate through the past if she didn’t want to.

“I wish my parents were still alive, but I don’t blame them for dying. I didn’t want to get involved because no matter what happens, I can’t bring them back,” Kate said. “But you’re right, if he’s still hurting someone now, we can’t ignore it simply because it’s the convenient thing to do.”

That night, Dan and Evelyn ended up having dinner at a restaurant near her workplace. He’d sensed something was wrong the moment she got into his car.
 

She hadn’t said much, only telling him about her day at work and the chest that she had completed.
 

Dan hadn’t heard much of what she was saying. He kept glancing over in her direction, trying to figure out what was wrong. She was all smiles that morning; what could have happened to change her demeanor so quickly?

She sat across the table from him, spinning the phone in her hand.
 

He sighed; maybe she was having second thoughts about moving in with him. He didn’t know what had happened during the day to change her mind, but he wasn’t going to allow her to stay alone until the threat of David Morgan ceased to exist.
 

Going through the motions, he placed his order and waited impatiently for the waiter to repeat the order and leave.
 

He’d already come up with a list of logical reasons why she shouldn’t be staying alone and he was ready to start convincing her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Evelyn stopped spinning her phone and reached for the glass of ice water. She took a sip, but continued to hold the glass to her lips.

He waited for her to begin the speech of how she was safe at her place and how she could take care of herself.
 

Instead, Evelyn placed down the glass and chewed on her lips, her hands returning to play with the phone.

Dan wondered if he had always been an impatient man. He never seemed to have a problem when negotiating with his clients, but waiting for Evelyn to speak her mind was exasperating. “Is this about moving over to my place?”

“No, no of course not.”

He was stumped by her answer. He had only considered that as the reason for her weird behavior, but perhaps it was more serious. Dan ran his hand through his hair and narrowed his eyes at her. “We had a deal. Three months.”

She broke into a smile and stopped twirling her phone. “Okay, I think I’m making it worse. I’m not freaking out about us.” She reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “It’s about the David Morgan thing, and I’m worried that you won’t like what you’re about to hear.”

“Anything would be better than keeping me in suspense.”

“I’ll remind you of what you said.” She grinned and continued. “I saw Lydia’s notes today. She isn’t just working on her parents’ case; I think she’s working to close the cases that her father was prosecuting as well.”

“Okay.”

“I want to help.”

His brows arched and he relaxed against the back of the chair; relieved that her behavior had nothing to do with them, not directly anyway. Then, he smiled. “So you’re worried that I would be unhappy? You’re concerned about what I think.”

She glowered at him. “Did you actually hear what I said?”

“Yeah, and it sounds like you were worried that I’d be angry with you.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, Dan. I was worried that you would disagree or get pissed that I’m sticking my nose into it.”

“I was under the impression that you didn’t agree with what she’s doing.”

“I didn’t. I thought she was just using her so-called justice to defend her reasons for lying to Kate. Maybe it started out that way, but based on her notes, she isn’t just focusing on her parents. Maybe we’re wrong.”

“And you think she deserves a second chance?”

“Yeah, and I don’t know, but I have this gut feeling that whatever David Morgan did, he’s still doing it.”

“And you want to help Lydia stop him?”

“Yes.”

Dan considered Evelyn’s words. He had to hold his tongue and stop himself from telling her that it was way too dangerous. “Did Kate ask you to help?”

“No, I asked her.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to turn away like how my teacher and caseworker did.”

He nodded, not knowing what else to say.
 

She obviously felt strongly about helping Lydia. It could help heal her of the past, but a warning had clearly been issued through Lydia, and he didn’t want to think about the consequences if they all dived in.

It was selfish, but her safety was his priority.
 

She must have sensed his concerns. She gave his hand another squeeze. “I’ll be safe. I’ll stay at your house. You can be my chauffeur, and I promise I won’t go anywhere alone. I’ll keep you and Kate informed of my whereabouts.”

“You came prepared.”

“We went through it in the office.”

“Huh,” he said. “That’s why we’re having dinner outside. You don’t want to be there when Kate gives Tyler her speech.”

She bit her bottom lip as the corners of her lips grew into a smile. “She already told him in the afternoon.
And
, I wanted to tell you this in private.”

“That being the second reason.”

“They were equally important.”

“I’m sure.” He scowled at her. “All right, so how close is Lydia to nailing that guy?”

“I haven’t read through anything in detail.”

“Take your time with dinner, then we’ll go over to Ty’s.”

“Tonight?”

“I want to see what Lydia has and see how we go about being amateur detectives.”

For the first time in a rather long time, Dan had to ring the bell to the mansion. Marianne opened the door and cocked her head toward the stairs. “They’re upstairs in the study room. You kids want anything to eat?”

“Nope. We already had our dinner.” Dan said. “How’s Ty?”

“Was that why the two of you skipped dinner?”

Dan cocked his head over to Evelyn, then exchanged a smile with Marianne before she returned to the other wing.

Taking Evelyn’s hand, they headed up the stairs.

“What information do you want? Or am I supposed to pull everything I can find?”

Evelyn cast a quick glance over at Dan. “Who’s that?”

He shrugged and entered the study room.
 

“Wow,” Evelyn said, standing right by the door.
 

The study room had been completely transformed. The mahogany table had been shifted to the side, the things on the table cleared and replaced with three laptops. Boxes of iPads, with their plastic still wrapped around, were stacked against one of the walls while pieces of paper and photographs were sprawled across the floor.
 

A printer, perched on the edge of the table, continued to churn out paper as they stood dumbfounded.

Though this was the room least used by both Kate and Tyler, neither had been keen to redecorate the room into one they could use. Evelyn knew Kate simply didn’t want to change the room that Tyler’s grandfather used to be in all the time; Kate had spent a lot of time listening to the late Mr. Hayes’s family stories right in this room.

Instead, they’d converted the attic into their study room and workspace, leaving this room intact the way it was.

When Evelyn brought up the subject of changing the room, Kate and Tyler would say they had no use of the room and would change it when there was a need to.
 

Now, the room was in a complete mess. Ryan’s eyes were on an iPad, his finger swiping across the screen. Kate and Tyler were sitting on the only empty spots on the floor. A laptop was on his lap, his fingers busy typing away while Kate watched.

Behind the desk, sitting in front of one of the laptops, was a young man whom Evelyn had never met.

“What are you people doing?” Dan asked, his eyes giving the room another quick scan before stopping on the man seated before the desk.
 

All eyes turned to them, and Kate hopped to her feet. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry! This whole room is a mess!”

“That’s Ben, my Internet guy,” Tyler said when he noticed their stares.

“Something wrong with the Internet? And what’s with all this?” Evelyn said, pointing to the mess on the floor.
 

“Ty is downloading Lydia’s research and interviews onto the new laptops, then he’ll sync with all the iPads there,” Kate said.

“We all get new iPads!” Ryan said, waving the one he was holding. “Early Christmas presents!”

“Thought you didn’t see the point of having one?” Evelyn sat by the door. “And Ben is fixing the Internet?”

“He’s good with finding info on the net,” Kate explained.

Dan grinned at what Kate said. “You mean he’s hacking?”

“That would be illegal, so no, I’m not hacking. I’m just good at finding info people leave behind on the Internet. Things never disappear on the net; you think you’ve deleted it, but it’s still right there. You just need to know how to find it,” Ben said.

Evelyn shrugged and turned back to Kate. “How did you guys get this up in,” she glanced at her watch, then back up at Kate. “In two hours.”

“Ty came back and set it up after lunch.”

“From today onwards, the two of you should avoid going anywhere alone, or even together,” Tyler said. “You’ll be staying over at Dan’s for now, right?”

She nodded.

“Good. Now for the homework,” Tyler said as Kate crossed the cluttered floor and got two boxes of iPads for Tyler. “We’re synchronizing everything, read them once you get the time.”

While Dan went over to help Tyler, Evelyn helped Kate transfer the photos on the floor to the wall. She pinned them up exactly where Kate instructed, with Kate adding additional Post-it notes to them, summarizing the different info and the title of the files where additional information could be found.

Soon, the plain white wall was transformed into a giant web of information.

Evelyn took a step back and looked at the well-organized info.
 

“I’ve already looked through the arson case. Everything had been destroyed. If there were any evidence, it would be long gone. So, we’ll focus on the rape cases and on David Morgan. Ben is working on getting more info on David Morgan, but Lydia already has plenty on the rape cases. She’s interviewed several people. She even listed those who refused the interviews and her thoughts on them,” Ryan said and stood, stretching his back.
 

Evelyn took the iPad that Dan handed her and scanned through the files randomly.

“You take care now,” Ryan said to her as he half-hopped across the room. Then, he turned to Dan. “Call if you need anything. Unless it’s urgent, then call anyone but the cripple.”

That night, Evelyn stuffed some of her clothes and necessities into a bag while Dan watched her. He had offered to help, but she was certain her way was faster.

She was ready in less than fifteen minutes, and they headed off to Dan’s house.