Chapter 2 - The Note and the River
The descent down the concrete stairwell was a blur of gray steps, flashing lights, and the sound of Liam’s own ragged breathing bouncing off the brick walls. He didn't wait for the elevator. He sprinted through the building’s rear exit, the heavy iron door slamming behind him with a crash that echoed through the quiet courtyard.
The snow flurries had begun to fall, tiny white grains that disappeared the moment they touched the damp earth. Liam reached the base of the maple tree, his boots sliding on the frozen grass. He dropped to his knees, his hands reaching out for the white shape.
It wasn't Nora.
It was her white knit cardigan, soaked through with heavy, freezing water, wrapped around a thick, waterlogged block of cedar wood that had been dragged from the riverbank down the street. Tucked inside the folds of the damp fabric was another piece of paper, protected from the elements by a clear plastic sandwich bag.
Liam’s hands shook so hard he almost ripped the plastic as he tore it open. He pulled out the note, his eyes tracking the neat, precise handwriting he had seen on grocery lists and love notes for three years. The ink was dry here, written before she had ever been forced onto the balcony.
Liam,
If you are reading this, it means you listened to Gwen. It means you looked at the numbers and chose to believe I was a thief rather than asking me why I was bleeding.
Those $8,000 weren't for my mother. My mother died in a clinic in Detroit four months ago, Liam. I didn't tell you because every time I tried to speak about her illness, you were busy with the logistics accounts, or Gwen was calling to remind you of your responsibilities to the Vance family.
The money went to the Grand Rapids Mortuary and the State Medical Board. I was paying off the remaining debts from her treatments so they wouldn't come after our credit, so we could still buy the house you wanted.
But tonight, you locked me out. You locked me out in the cold because your sister told you I was poison. You wanted the truth? The truth is that the money is gone, and now, so am I. Do not look for me in the house. Look for me where the water is deep.
— Nora
Liam stared at the paper, the words burning into his eyes until his vision blurred. My mother died four months ago.
The realization hit him like a physical blow to the solar plexus. He hadn't visited Nora’s mother in nearly a year; he had been so consumed by his own work, so wrapped up in the expansion of his firm's regional shipping lines, that he had accepted Nora’s vague excuses about her mother "resting" or "taking time away" without a single second thought. He had let Gwen fill his head with stories of a greedy, manipulative mother-in-law, never once stopping to verify the reality of the woman’s existence.
"Liam! What on earth is going on down here?!"
Gwen’s voice cut through the dark courtyard. She was standing at the rear exit of the building, a heavy wool coat thrown over her nightgown, her flashlight beam cutting through the snow flurries until it landed on him kneeling in the mud.
"Where is she?" Gwen asked, stepping into the courtyard, her boots crunching on the gravel. "Did she run off to her mother’s after all? I told you, she’s a coward. The moment you catch them in a lie, they run."
Liam stood up slowly. The grief in his chest didn't manifest as tears; it transformed into a cold, heavy, and terrifying stillness. He turned to face his sister, the note gripped tightly in his white-knuckled fist.
"Her mother is dead, Gwen," Liam said, his voice flat, devoid of any inflection.
Gwen froze, her flashlight beam wavering slightly. "What? That's... that's just another one of her stories, Liam. She's trying to make you feel guilty so you won't look into the bank accounts."
"She died four months ago," Liam repeated, stepping closer until he was standing directly in front of her. He thrust the note into her chest. "Read it. Read what your poison did."
Gwen grabbed the paper, her eyes scanning the lines under the flashlight beam. For the first time since she had arrived in Grand Rapids, her arrogant, self-assured expression flickered, replaced by a brief look of genuine uncertainty. "She... she should have told us. Why would she keep something like that a secret unless she was trying to hide something else?"
"Because we didn't listen!" Liam roared, the dam finally breaking as he grabbed his sister’s shoulders, shaking her with a violence that made her drop the flashlight into the snow. "Every time she opened her mouth, you interrupted her! Every time she tried to be part of this family, you reminded her that she was an outsider! And I let you do it! I locked my wife on a freezing balcony because I was too much of a coward to stand up to you!"
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He pushed past her, running toward the street. The Grand River was less than two blocks away, its black, fast-moving waters cutting through the center of the city like a jagged scar. If Nora had left the balcony, if she had walked down that trail of water...
He didn't finish the thought. He sprinted into the dark, the freezing air burning his lungs, leaving his sister alone in the shadows of the courtyard.
