Chapter 3 - A Box at the Bus Depot
The town bus depot had closed eight years earlier, but the old brick building still stood beside the freight tracks. Mara remembered waiting there as a child while her father argued with contractors across the street. The depot lockers had been removed, except for a row behind a chained gate.June sat in the passenger seat wearing Mara’s coat. She had refused the hospital and refused a friend’s spare room. She had agreed only because the depot was close to the river and because Mara promised they would be home before midnight.“You look sick,” Mara said.“I am frightened.”“Of what’s in the box?”“Of what it will make you do.”Mara parked beneath a dead streetlamp. “You gave me the key.”“I gave you a choice.”“You gave me a responsibility.”“Those are not the same thing.”The gate’s padlock had rusted around its shackle. Mara found a gap in the fence and squeezed through. June followed more slowly, one hand against the bricks. At the back wall, a narrow metal cabinet leaned beneath a tarp. Each compartment had a painted number.The brass key fit locker 19.Inside was a black envelope, a yellowed photograph, and a small cassette tape in a cracked plastic case. The photograph showed June at twenty-two, standing beside a woman Mara had never seen. They were outside a three-story office building with a sign reading Barlow Property Services.On the back, someone had written: Evelyn and Rose, before the first lie.Mara held it out. “Who is Evelyn?”June closed her eyes.“Me.”“Your name isn’t Evelyn.”“It was.”The envelope contained photocopies of bank transfers, property deeds, and handwritten columns of numbers. Several pages carried the name Voss Holdings. Others listed apartments, repair contracts, and payments to Pike Legal Services.Mara felt the cold enter her gloves.“This goes back to Dad.”“Before him.”“How long have you had this?”“Thirty-one years.”“Why didn’t you show anyone?”June looked at the photograph. “I tried.”At the bottom of the envelope was a letter addressed to Evelyn Bell. The handwriting was unfamiliar.Evelyn, if you take the money, they will say you agreed. If you refuse, they will use Rose. You know what they are capable of. Keep the ledger safe. Keep the girl away from the Voss name if you can.Mara read the final line twice.“What girl?”June reached for the letter.“Mom.”“You were not supposed to see that yet.”“It says to keep a girl away from the Voss name.”“I was pregnant.”Mara’s thoughts stumbled. “With me?”June looked at her.“Your father was not your father,” she said.The depot seemed to tilt around them.Before Mara could speak, a vehicle turned onto the service road. Headlights swept across the fence.June grabbed her sleeve. “Put everything away.”Mara shoved the papers into the envelope. The car stopped. A door opened.“Mara,” a man called. “Your mother should not be out this late.”Nolan Pike stepped into the headlights.
