Chapter 13
The Name June
Simon refused to explain June until Bell called for an ambulance.
“I am not dying,” Simon said.
“You’re bleeding from the head.”
“I am old. Old men bleed dramatically.”
Elise pressed a towel to the cut above his ear. The rain had stopped. Through the broken study window, the garden shone black and wet.
“Tell me what June is,” Elise said.
“A person.”
“That is not enough.”
“It may be more than you can carry tonight.”
“Mara disappeared tonight.”
Simon looked at her. “Mara disappeared because she wanted you to find her.”
“Then why send June?”
“She didn’t send June.”
Bell set the red card on the desk. “The woman claims Mara asked her to become Elise.”
“Mara asked her to become a witness,” Simon said.
“To what?”
Simon’s eyes went to the binders. “To the moment a person realizes their memories have been edited.”
Elise felt a pressure behind her eyes. “My memories?”
“Not all of them.”
“Which ones?”
“The ones Mara could not survive knowing were false.”
Lena made a sound from the corner. She had been staring at the red card.
“What?” Elise asked.
“I’ve seen that label.”
“Where?”
“On Mara’s archive map.”
Bell turned toward her. “You said you had never seen the map.”
“I said Mara never showed it to me.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
Lena took out her phone. Her hands trembled as she opened a photograph. It showed a wall covered in colored thread. At the center was a black circle marked MOUTH. Seven lines ran outward to seven names.
Elise recognized six.
The seventh was ELISE HART.
“Why is my name there?”
Lena swallowed. “Because Mara said you were the only witness who had not given testimony.”
Bell studied the image. “When was this taken?”
“Last month.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because Mara told me if I did, someone would replace my voice.”
The house lights went out.
In the dark, Simon said, “She was right.”
Something moved in the hallway.
Bell raised his weapon again. Elise heard the scrape of a shoe, then a breath close to the study door.
“June?” she called.
No answer.
The black memory card began to play without being inserted into anything.
Elise’s voice filled the room.
“I remember the night Mara asked me to sign.”
Elise covered her mouth.
The recording continued.
“I remember saying no.”
Then Mara whispered, “That is not what the document says.”
The study door opened by itself.
On the other side stood a child’s red raincoat.
It hung from an empty hook.
Inside its pocket, something was breathing.