Page 67

He backs up, hands raised. “I’ll go. I’ll go.”
My fingers are on his chest, backing him out of the room, and I follow behind him, listening to my mother’s frantic calls for him to get away from her.
“Is she like that a lot?” We’re headed down the hall together, and his brow is creased with concern.
“Yes.”Never. Not once.He can’t question what happened. If he’s prompted to dig, I’m in trouble.
“Must be hard.” His hand falls on the small of my back.
“Not going to get easier.” At least that part is true. Even her moments of recognition are plagued with inaccuracies. It’s impossible to have a conversation with her make sense. Sometimes I remember the last good talk I had with her, and I wish someone told me we wouldn’t get to speak like that again. If someone froze time and said,This is the last time you’ll get to do this. The moment would have been seared into my brain, savored for the rainy days to come when all I’d want to do is chat with her.
“The nurse at the front desk said it’s early onset Alzheimer’s.”
Goose bumps rise on my arms, and I step away from the hand on my back. “You asked?”
He opens the entrance for me. “You’re mad?”
“Of course. It’s an invasion of my privacy. I brought you here as an act of trust. You snooping is… that’s a violation.”
“I wasn’t snooping.” His voice tightens. “I wanted to understand what I was walking into.”
“You shouldn’t have been walking into anything.” I yank open the car door. “Because I asked you to wait in the car.”
Lorcan climbs in beside me and gestures to the side of the building. “I was minding my own business, and then I saw a black guy exiting out the side of the building.”
I don’t miss a beat. “That’s racist. Some black guy exits the building and you become suspicious. He’s probably visiting family, or he works here.”
“Call it whatever you want. It was suspicious, so I went in.”
“I was fine.”
“The nurse said the guy I saw wasn’t a registered visitor.”
My heart stutters in my chest. “An employee?”
“Not with how I described him to them.”
“You’ve had a few drinks. Are you sure you saw what you think you saw?”
His gaze is like granite. “Drunk or sober, I can spot something off. That’s my job.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. I didn’t see him.”
Lorcan focuses on the scenery outside the window. “I’ll look into it more. It doesn’t sit right with me.”
A heavy silence sits between us for a moment. “I can look into it,” I say. “They trust me here. I’m more likely to get camera footage and information.”
“I can be quite charming when I want to be.”
A half smile touches my lips as I start the car. “I’m sure. I would—I would rather Finn didn’t know about my mom if that’s okay with you. It’s—it’s something I keep for me.”
He makes a sealing motion with one hand. “Your wish.” He rubs my leg. “I’m sorry about your mum.”
“Me too.” I ease the car onto the highway. “Me too.”
While I drive, I pray I’ve convinced Lorcan to leave the snooping. I can’t have him discovering Murray or Malik. One leads back to the Zhangs and puts Malik in danger. The other leads to the FBI and sinks us all.
Chapter Twenty-Three