Page 141 of The Silent Note

“You ever think this is all for nothing?” Finn asks quietly.

I did. A lifetime ago. Nothing I was doing, not the music, the sex, the drinking—made the emptiness go away.

But then I met Grey.

I snap my attention away from the beautiful woman on my shoulder and focus on my brother who looks like a rope that’s fraying by the second. Soon, it’ll only be a thin thread of string.

“You ever think,” he swallows, “that it’s not that the maze is moving but that there really is no exit?”

I sit up straighter, alarmed. Grey scrunches her face in protest, but I can’t soothe her. I’veneverin my eighteen years of life heard my brother talk like that.

“Finn…” I whisper.

He looks at me, his nostrils flaring.

“… what did dad say?”

Finn sniffs. Rubs the back of his neck. Leans forward.

Before he can speak, the door smashes open.

Grey jolts awake.

Sol stalks into the room, wearing a grim smile.

Finn springs to his feet, looking relieved.

Grey blinks sleepily and then jumps just as quickly into action when she recognizes Sol’s return.

I get up more slowly, stuck on what Finn was about to tell me earlier and wishing Sol showed up abitlater.

“Did you get it? Was it there?” Grey demands, her eyes unnaturally bright and a crease on her cheek from my shoulder.

“Our little errand boy didn’t let us down.” Sol drops a flash drive in her hand. “The key worked and this is what he found in the locker.”

Grey’s voice trembles and tears flush her eyes when she lifts the flash drive to the light. “Finally,” she breathes. “Evidence.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

GREY

Zane calls Cadence and Dutch back down to view the glorious moment when Finn opens the flash drive. I must look nervous because Cadence clutches my hand and squeezes it, giving me a calming smile.

I return it.

The both of us look at the laptop again.

The computer beeps, accepting the device.

This is the moment.

Everything I’ve worked for…

I look up at the empty corner. Sloane’s not here yet. I wish she was. I can’t wait to tell her when she finally shows up again. What should I do with the evidence first? Go to the cops? The media? Should I drop it on social media so it goes viral?

I’ve never gotten this far in my investigation before and the plan I’ve built in my head for years seems all jumbled up now.

The laptop makes a little ‘error’ beep, shaking me from my thoughts.