Chapter 17 - The Ride She Never Chose
The security footage showed Mom walking toward the curb without her cane. Harper got out, said something, and opened the passenger door. Mom hesitated for only a second before climbing inside.
"She told her I was hurt," I said. "That's the only reason Mom would've gone."
Dad called 911 while Jonah forwarded the footage to the detective who'd taken our first report. They issued an alert for Harper's car and asked us to stay available instead of chasing it. Waiting felt like swallowing broken glass.
Twenty minutes later, my phone rang from a number I didn't recognize. I answered with both hands around the screen.
"Nathan?" Mom's voice sounded thin and strained.
"Where are you?"
"I don't know the road. I see water and old grain silos. Harper said you were burned and needed me. That wasn't true. Grant is here."
A man's voice barked in the background. The call cut off.
Bell recognized the old Bay Street terminal from her description. Officers headed there.
Dad insisted on coming when the detective asked whether someone could identify Mom's voice and belongings. On the ride, he sat beside me in Jonah's car, staring at his hands.
"I kept thinking I could protect everybody by making the problem smaller," he said. "A loan here. A little silence there. Every time I hid something, I made it bigger."
"Why didn't you ask Mom for help?"
"Because she would've told me I was wrong."
"She might've helped you fix it."
"I know that now."
The detective called with an instruction to pull over until officers secured the terminal. Jonah parked beneath a streetlight. We waited in sight of the river, the old silos dark against the clouds.
Then another call came through. This time the voice was Harper's.
"Grant wants the notebook Helen kept," she said. "And he wants Arthur to say he gave me the paperwork. If he gets both, he says he'll let her go."
"Put Mom on," I said.
"I can't."
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"Harper, listen to me. Stop choosing him."
Her voice broke. "I don't think he's going to let either of us leave."
