"Are you all right?"
"Where are you?"
"At home."
"Are you alone?"
A pause.
"Yes. Why?"
I sent her the photograph.
"Do you recognize this woman?"
There was no answer.
"Mom?"
Her breathing changed.
"Where did you get that?"
"Someone sent it to me. Is that your necklace?"
Another silence.
"Come home," she whispered.
"Tell me who she is."
"Not on the phone."
"Mom, I need you to answer me."
"I said come home."
The call ended.
Bennett took my phone.
"She knows something."
"She's known something for twenty-two years."
"Then we're going to ask her."
He called another officer and gave instructions to check the riverbank. He also requested a unit to remain outside my mother's house.
I wanted to leave immediately, but Bennett stopped me.
"If someone is waiting by the river, they may be trying to separate you from the investigation."
"What if it's my mother?"
"Then she can explain herself somewhere safe."
We drove to her house together.
The porch light was on. The curtains were drawn. A cup of tea sat untouched on the table when we entered.
My mother stood by the window.
She was wearing a gray cardigan, and her hair was tied loosely behind her head. Around her neck was a thin gold chain.
The crescent pendant was missing.
I held up the photograph.
"Where is it?"
She looked at the image and closed her eyes.
"I gave it away."
"To whom?"
"Your father."
"When?"
"Before he disappeared."
I stared at her.
"Then who is wearing it?"
"I don't know."
"You recognized the woman."
"I recognized the necklace."
"That's not an answer."
She turned toward Bennett.
"Officer, I need to speak to my son alone."
"That won't be possible," he said.
"Please."
Bennett studied her face, then stepped into the hallway. He left the door open.
My mother sat down.
"Your father gave me that pendant in 1992," she began. "He said it was a promise. He said that whenever I saw it, I should remember that he would always come back."
"Why did you give it to him?"
"Because he asked me to."
"When?"
"The night he came home after the hospital."
I felt the room tighten around me.
"You saw him after the accident?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
"Why did you tell me he died?"
"Because I believed he was dead."
"But you saw him alive."
"I saw a man who looked like your father. He was badly injured. His face was swollen, and he could barely speak. He came into the house after midnight, stayed for less than ten minutes, and left before sunrise."
"Where did he go?"
"I don't know."
"Did you ask?"
"Of course I asked. He told me that if I wanted you to grow up safely, I had to forget he had ever come home."
I pulled out a chair.
"Did he tell you about Elena?"
My mother's hands tightened around one another.
"He said she was in danger."
"Did he tell you about Daniel Ruiz?"
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
"He said Daniel had found something beneath Briar Glen. Something that could destroy Harrow Residential Group. He said the company had been using the drainage system to move industrial waste away from the construction site."
"Was that what killed Daniel?"
"I don't know."
"Did my father?"
She looked at me sharply.
"Your father didn't kill anyone."
"You said he lied to Elena."
"I don't know what he told that girl. I only know he was trying to protect her."
"From whom?"
"From everyone."
I stood.
"That's not possible. Someone has to be responsible."
My mother looked toward the hallway.
"Robert said the same thing."
"What happened after he left?"
"He gave me the pendant. He said to keep it until someone came looking for the truth. Then he told me that if a woman named Margaret ever contacted me, I should not answer her questions."
"Why?"
"He said Margaret had made a deal."
"With whom?"
"He wouldn't tell me."
I sat down again.
"Mom, is the woman in the photograph Margaret?"
"I don't know."
"Then who could it be?"
My mother stared at the picture.
"There's one person who wore that pendant before me."
I waited.
"Your father's sister."
I frowned.
"My aunt?"
"You never met her. She died before you were born."
"What was her name?"
"Claire."
"Why would someone be wearing her necklace?"
My mother looked at me.
"Because Claire didn't die."
I felt the words land slowly.
"What?"