“Was the pin silver or gold?”
Maeve frowns and then shrugs. “I don’t know, silver, I think?”
I’d been hoping for gold. Gold would be easier to narrow down as it’s a smaller pool of people, but it won’t help me right now. “Then what happened?”
“Well, he told me to hide so I did. I couldn’t understand how I was the cause of what happened to you and I couldn’t believe you were dead, so I hid. And then shit happened and a year later, I was struggling and I had Scott and…” She hesitates. “I had no one. Knew no one. It was dumb, but I reached out to your family.”
“Why?”
Maeve hesitates, her lips slightly parted. “It felt like the right thing to do. I wrote to your mother.”
My brow twitches. “Did she reply?”
Maeve shakes her head. “No. Instead, some guy turned up at my door.”
“The same guy?”
“No. He was different. Taller and skinnier. I remember thinking he looked a bit like the Slenderman. He told me to run. Told me you were alive and you blamed me for what happened a year ago, and if I wanted to save my own life and the life of my baby, then I needed to disappear. Really disappear. I was so shocked to learn you were alive, and I wanted to try and find you and talk to you, but he told me you’d put a bounty on my head and I was so scared for Scott, so I ran.”
“This.” I hold up the letter. “This is where you were staying before you came here?”
She nods.
“Did Slenderman have a pin?”
She nods again. “Same color as the first guy.”
Anger churns in my gut, but it’s no longer directed at Maeve. Someone knew about her and this entire time, they’ve been keeping her hidden. But why? What is there to gain from this?
“The Red Serpents, do you know who they are?” Asking her directly wasn’t my initial plan, but there’s nothing about her reaction to suggest she has any idea who I’m talking about.
“I don’t know.”
“When I woke up and you vanished, I found evidence in your old apartment. Your first one. It looked like you’d been working for the Red Serpents for a few years and it was they who caused the explosion I was caught in. Which painted you as the reason I got blown up.” Among other things.
The shock on Maeve’s face is open and genuine and she surges back to her feet. “You’re not serious! Are you insane? I don’t know who the Red Serpents are but do you really think I would betray you? After everything we had? Everything we shared? Look at me, Levi!” Her own hand hits her chest. “I’m not this monster you think I am. I’m not a spy or a traitor or whatever else you think I am. I’m just a person, okay? I have to pay to keep my kid in school, balance multiple jobs to keep food on the table, take public transport when my car gets impounded, and I get sued for running out on a lease! Does that sound like some mastermind to you? No! It’s regular people stuff!”
She has a point, I have to admit.
Everything she lists wouldn’t ever cross my mind as a struggle. I’ve never been short on money, never had to worry about bills or food, and no one would dare impound my car. Thinking back to my earlier conversation with Chip, his reasoning sounds clearer now. If she were some Red Serpent spy, her actions certainly would have gained her a high position. Instead, she’s here struggling through an ordinary life.
“I’m not going to keep repeating myself,” Maeve says, wiping a few angry tears that leak down her cheeks. “I don’t give a shit if you believe me or not. I’ve got too much to deal with and the only reason I’m still talking to you is because by some cruel twist of fate, you’re the only one who can help me keep my son.” Hervoice cracks at the last word and her trembling fingers move over her mouth. “Don’t you understand? He’s the only thing in this world I care about and this past month has been insane.”
Five years.
I lost five years with her because of someone else’s lies.
Someone out there has kept Maeve from me, and when I find out who sent those men, who scared her out of New York and into a life on the run, I’ll kill them.
“Maeve.” Walking closer, I shove down the anger and focus on the blooming relief in my chest that things are finally becoming clear. “I never wanted you dead, do you understand me? Well… okay, technically, I did want you dead for a few years because I believed you had betrayed me. But after everything you’ve told me, I see now that someone set me up. And they used you to do it. How they found out about you, I have no idea. But I see it clearly now.”
“Oh, do you?” she challenges, not shrinking away from me. “About fucking time.”
“This?” I hold up the letter and crumple it into a ball. “Don’t worry about this. I’ll take care of it. Money is no issue.”
Maeve lifts a hand to her temple and massages. “You’re so used to solving everything with money that you don’t understand, do you?”
I tilt my head in silent question.
