Page 33 of To the Grave

I pulled out the burner phone I’d bought in Carlton. I’d left my other phone in the fire along with my wallet, but Wolf and Otis had left the burner during one of their drops. I hadn’t seen them — that would have been too risky — but we’d set up a rendezvous spot in the woods in case of trouble, and they’d made regular deliveries of cash and other supplies.

I opened the phone and pulled up one of the pictures I’d taken when I’d finally managed to sneak into Mac’s quarters on the compound.

“I found this.” I slid the phone toward Daisy.

She picked it up and stared. “Mac’s guardianship papers?”

It made sense that she wouldn’t see it. I’d never told her the date of my dad’s death.

“Let me see that, doll.”

Daisy handed the phone to Otis.

“The date’s wrong,” Otis said after looking at it for a minute.

“Or it’s not,” I said.

Wolf held out his hand and Otis passed him the phone. It only took a few seconds for Wolf to take a deep breath, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, which was totally fucking relatable because I’d been going crazy with the knowledge for the past week while I’d tried to decide if it justified my return from the dead.

I only got to do that once. The timing had to be right.

“This is dated after your dad died,” Wolf said.

“Exactly,” I said. “Any idea how my dad would have signed over guardianship to Mac from the fucking grave?”

“Wait,” Daisy said, “you’re saying that your dad’s signature on those papers was addedafterhe died?”

“Yep,” I said. “Tell me how that makes sense.”

Daisy chewed her lip. “A forgery?”

I’d thought about it. Had Mac forged my dad’s signature to pave the way for the courts to assign him as my guardian?

Except that didn’t make sense either.

“If you’re going to forge somebody’s signature on something as important as a custody document, why use a date after the death of the guy signing over custody?” I asked. “Seems like it could cause problems if someone gave it a good look."

“Unless it was the actual date,” Wolf said.

I nodded. “I think it’s real. It has a court seal and everything.”

“Maybe he just didn’t want to be here,” Otis said.

Wolf shot him a familiar look. It was a look that said,I know these things are hard for you but jesus fucking christ take it easy.

Otis shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

“It’s possible.” It wasn’t like I loved thinking about the possibility. If it was true my dad hadn’t died then he’d chosen to leave me behind. He’d given me to Mac like I was a used TV or an old sofa.

Like I was nothing at all.

I’d been wrestling with possibility ever since I’d snuck into Mac’s private quarters and found the custody document, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true.

“Do you think your dad and Mac had some kind of falling out?” Daisy asked.

I wasn’t stupid enough to think that she’d already forgiven me for pretending to be dead — or to think that she ever would — but I was glad we were talking about something else, even if it had to be this.

“I thought about it,” I said. “But then why sign custody over to Mac?”

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