A Day in a Life

Chapter Thirty

Elijah

I STAND AS well, for once doing so in a fluid motion.

“Sydni wait, please.”

She stops, but she doesn’t face me.

“If Cole knows you’re alive, you’re in more danger than I first thought.”

“Danger? How so?”

“If Cole wants to collect the life insurance money, he’ll need to tie up loose ends. You’re a loose end.”

“Cole is not a violent man.”

“He doesn’t need to be. He can hire someone. He wouldn’t do the dirty work himself. No one would ever suspect a thing. Everyone already thinks you’re dead.”

“Are you here because you think I’m in danger?” she asks.

“That’s one of many reasons, yes.” She brings out all of my protective instincts.

Sydni remains quiet, thinking things through.

“The reason your case was reopened was because a church group adopted the area around the bridge—the site of your accident—to keep it clean and manicured. They found your decaying go-bag hidden in a bush. It was the proof we needed to confirm it wasn’t a suicide. The police haven’t released this information. I only know because of my connections and because I was assigned to the case by Risk Policy Collective. You were running away that night, weren’t you? It wasn’t a suicide attempt at all.”

“Yep. You know everything. You don’t need me.” There’s no emotion in her voice. None. She’s turned herself off again, just like when I met her. No emotion equals no pain.

“Please talk to me. Tell me what really happened. I need to know what happened that night. It doesn’t make sense. If it was a car accident because you were distraught, how did the go-bag get into the bushes? Does that mean it was a planned accident? That you wanted everyone to believe you were dead? But you were too weak to get to shore, and you were washed away downriver until Emma found you. She nursed you back to health.”

She turns to face me, her face a mask of heartache. “Is that what you think of me?”

“I honestly don’t know what to think. The person I’ve come to know would never do that to her family. Even if they deserved it.”

“Deserved it? What do you mean?” She’s getting worked up.

“I’ve interviewed every member of your family in an attempt to retrace your steps that fateful day. Not one of them was there for you. Not one. Even your best friend, Penny. I understand what you went through that day. I lived it with you.”

Her face is made of stone as this new knowledge sinks in. Only her eyes blink, long and slow, and her chest rises and falls with emotion. “It seems you know more about me than me. You’re an investigator. Figure it out.” Her low whisper is so much more daunting than if she were screaming at me.

“That’s the thing, I don’t know what really happened. I’m stumped, and I’m never stumped. You’re the only one who knows the truth of what happened that night.”

“Maybe it’s best if the truth dies with me. Just let it go.” Sydni blinks heavily again.

“That can’t happen. I’ll never let Cole collect the money.”

Sydni breaks down again. Overwhelmed, she covers her face with her hands, producing heart-wrenching sobs from her small frame.

I want to hold her so much, I can’t stop myself. I go to her and wrap my arms around her. While she cries herself out, she allows it.

When she comes to her senses, she takes a few steps away from me. “Don’t do that again. I don’t want you to touch me. Do you understand?”

“I do.” I’m again surprised by the pain in my chest. Those words hurt. I might’ve just promised to never touch her, but I haven’t promised to never talk to her. She will hear how I feel about her. Now isn’t the right time, but the right time will come. And it will be tonight. I won’t leave without her knowing how I feel.

Again, she collapses to the floor, her back against the wall. I take a seat across from her, my leg screaming at me, my back against the couch. This time our bare feet are touching. She allows the contact.

The moment feels intimate. We’re so close, and the way she’s staring into my eyes takes me back.

Her words tell me a different story. “What do you want to know? Let’s get this over with. I really want this night to be over,” she says, as though the fight has left her.

“Everything. From the beginning. I don’t understand what happened.”

Sydni lowers her head, then looks me directly in the eyes again. “Fine. You want to know what happened? I’ll tell you. After all, that’s the only reason you’re here, and you deserve something for all your efforts.” The tears have stopped, and her voice has taken on a fierce quality. “I lost my baby girl, and it killed me. If that’s not enough for you to understand how distraught I was, I went home from the hospital to find my husband with another woman. In our bed. It was the worst day of my life. Is that enough for you? Or does there need to be more?”

“I’m so sorry.” That’s enough to destroy the strongest among us.

“Of course, I was leaving Cole. What woman wouldn’t? I wasn’t running away. He didn’t want me. What exactly would I be running from? I was leaving him. I grabbed what I needed and stuffed it in a backpack. I didn’t want anything else from that life. I know I shouldn’t have been behind the wheel. I was weak and exhausted. I planned to find a hotel and rest for several days because…because my family…my family couldn’t help me. No one could. I was on my own.”

I close my eyes. I heard her family and best friend speak of the experience. I know what she went through. I can’t imagine how she felt.

“I wasn’t just crying, I was sobbing. Uncontrollably. I didn’t mean to go off the bridge. It happened so quickly. One minute I was on the road, the next I was in the water. I hit my head on something, I don’t know what. The airbags went off, yet blood was dripping down my forehead. I was stunned and sat there for far too long not knowing what to do. The car started to fill with water, and that put me back into action.”

One more injury. She was dealing with yet one more injury.

“I grabbed my backpack, and I swam to shore holding it above the water so it wouldn’t get wet. I grew up swimming in that river. I knew I could do it. And I did. It took every ounce of energy I had, but I had made it to shore safely, and I was okay.”

“Then what? I don’t understand,” I say, hanging on every word.

“I’m sure you never will. Because that’s when I remembered something I left in the car, something important, something I couldn’t live without. I had to go back. I knew the current might get the best of me, that I might have to walk back for my backpack. So I hid it deep in the bush, just in case I didn’t get back in time. I didn’t want it to get stolen. I was so weak, the weakest I’ve ever felt in my entire life. But I’m a strong swimmer, so I went back in the water, and I made it to my car.”

“For what?” I ask, confused, yet captivated by the truth.

“Something priceless. I found what I wanted, what I needed, what I couldn’t live without. I didn’t want it to get wet, so I held it above the water and tried to get back to the shore.”

“But you didn’t make it?” I ask.

“I couldn’t do it. I was too weak, and trying to swim with one hand was difficult. I finally gave up. It was easier to let the current take me wherever it wanted. I had nothing left inside me, no fight, no battle. I had spent the day begging for help from the people who were supposed to love me. I didn’t find what I was looking for. I realized I had nothing. It was a sobering thought. It left me feeling very much alone in the world. So yes, I let the current take me. But it wasn’t suicide. If I’d had an ounce of strength left, I would’ve used it to get to shore. It was pure luck that I washed up on Emma’s land. She found me, and she nursed me back to health. She loved me. I was the most important thing in her life. Nothing else mattered to her but me. She healed me in more ways than one.”

“I knew there was a reason I liked her,” I mumble.

“Why am I telling you this if you already know my life story? You tell me what happened next.” Sydni challenges me with her fierce stare.

“I don’t know. I’m sorry, go on.”

“When I had regained my health, I decided I needed to start fresh in a new life. Emma agreed. She didn’t have a TV. We hadn’t heard the news. I had no idea what people thought. I mean, I knew they had to be looking for me.”

I nod. “They conducted a thorough search of the river, looking for your body. They assumed you were dead. Everyone agreed you were distraught. Suicide was an easy conclusion.”

“I don’t understand that. My family knew how much I loved life.”

“After losing a baby…it was traumatic…” I offer.

“It was. But searching for support, a little compassion…”

Sydni trails off, so I take over. “When you deserved it but couldn’t find it. That’s what put you over the edge.”

“How do you know that?” Sydni says, her eyes intense.

“Like I said, I tried to retrace your steps. I interviewed every single person you saw that day. I lived that day with you. The more I heard, the more I loved you. I loved you before I even met you.”

“But…you…” She stumbles over her words, shock apparent in her expression. “You didn’t…you don’t know me.”

“True. But there’s so much I do know.”

There’s a wild look in her eyes as she tries to understand what I’m saying to her. “What happened next?”

“Next? I assumed my backpack had been found at the scene of the accident. I thought I had nothing. Emma insisted on helping me. She might live in that shack of a house, but she’s saved her money her whole life. She’s somewhat wealthy. I don’t know how she did it. I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to know. But she set me up with a new social security card under my beautiful daughter’s name, Saige Riley.

“Then Emma sat me down and asked me, ‘When was the happiest time of your life?’ Believe it or not, I said, ‘My honeymoon.’ You see, Cole was still charming in those days. That part of my life was magical. Once we arrived home, his good-guy act ended. It was such an abrupt change, I felt like I was married to a stranger. I didn’t know the self-centered man he became. I’d never met him before, and I didn’t like him. He was mean and controlling. Nothing I did was right.”

Sydni appears lost in unpleasant memories for a moment. Then she continues.

“Then I told Emma the memory of my honeymoon was now tarnished. When I told her it was in the Florida Keys, she said, ‘There’s more than one of those, sweetie.’ She bought me a plane ticket, gave me more cash than I needed, and sent me on my way. She held my cheeks and said, ‘This is your fresh start. Don’t waste it.’ I think she’d be disappointed with what I’ve done.”

I shake my head. “No, never. She loves you.”

“Just how well do you know her?” Sydni blurts.

“We’re basically tea-party buddies.” The first and last tea parties of my life.

Even though Sydni’s expression is a mask of pain, she says, “Her tea parties are the best.”

“And her cookies. The best I’ve ever had.” I sigh just thinking about them. We’re getting off track. “You write to her. That’s how I found you. I saw your letter on her desk. The return address said Saige Riley.”

“I write to her often. I know she’s lonely.” Sydni sighs. “No one knew Saige Riley was going to be my baby’s name. Only Cole. I knew he wouldn’t be looking for me. He didn’t want me. I figured it was safe.”

“In essence, Cole literally blabbed himself out of the eight hundred grand. He helped me find you without even realizing what he was doing.”

“He’s dumber than a rock,” she spits.

I can’t help but laugh. She’s right, though.

“Look, I’m not in hiding, but I also didn’t want my family to find me. I didn’t want Cole to find me. But I thought he’d at least tell my family I was alive, that I was okay, but I wasn’t coming home. It was never my intention for them to think I was dead. To be honest, I wondered why none of them tried to visit me. I assumed they took me at my word—that I didn’t want to see any of them.”

I nod. “I understand.” It all makes sense now. It was so simple, yet so complicated. But there’s one more thing I need to know. “What did you go back to the car for? What was so important that you risked your life for it?”

I lose eye contact immediately. She’s quiet for so long, I don’t think she’s going to answer me.

“Sydni?”

A couple of rogue tears roll down her cheeks. “It was tucked onto my visor.” Her voice is so quiet, I can barely hear her. “It was the only copy I had. It was all I had left of her. The only thing. It was her ultrasound picture. I had to have it. My only picture of my precious Saige Riley.” Her eyes move up to mine, large and liquid.

I wasn’t expecting that answer. Not in a million years. I never would’ve guessed. No amount of investigative work could’ve taken me into her mind and allowed me to know her thoughts. “Did the picture survive?”

“It did. I still had it in my hand when I washed up on Emma’s shore. It wasn’t wet, and it was perfectly intact. I still have it today.”

“Wow,” is all I can say. I’m speechless. It breaks my heart to think of her weak and struggling in the water just to get her precious picture of the baby she’d lost.

I hold out my arms to her, not knowing how she’ll respond. To my surprise, she scoots over, settling between my legs, her back to my chest. I wrap my arms around her as she curls herself into a tight ball.

“You…you complimented my name the first time we met. You knew. You knew it would make me notice you. You knew what it meant to me.” Her soft voice doesn’t sound accusatory. But it’s very much implied.

I need to say it, even if she doesn’t believe me. “I’ve worked hundreds of cases as a police detective, and I’ve worked hundreds of cases as a private investigator. Again, I’ve never fallen for a suspect. I swear. Not once. Until now. And it wasn’t long after I met you that I knew you weren’t a suspect. Even before I met you, I didn’t believe you wanted anything to do with Cole.”

Sydni remains in my arms for at least five minutes, saying nothing, simply accepting my comfort. Then she unfolds herself and gets to her feet again.

I feel the loss keenly.

She looks down at me. “The thing is, I don’t trust you anymore.”

I look down at the floor, studying the pattern of the rug. I feared this would happen. “I understand.”

“Do you really need a cane?”

“Yes, I do.” When she holds out a hand to help me up, I know in my heart I’ve found a rare woman.

When we’re facing each other again, she says, “What will happen to Cole?”

“It’s possible he could serve time for insurance fraud.”

Sydni nods. “How will you prove it? I have no record of my phone call to him. There’s no proof he knew I was alive. It will be my word against his.”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.” I’m still reeling from the truth of that fateful night. Sydni has been the victim all along, although her family is wrong. She doesn’t act like a victim. “But phone records never die. They can and will be found.”

“What about me? I’m living under a fake name with a fake social security card.”

“No one knows that except me, you, and Emma. I’m not going to say anything. Emma’s as good as a locked safe with a lost key. To be honest, I think it will be the last thing on everyone’s mind. All anyone will know is that you’ve been living in Key West all this time.”

“So I’m not going to prison?” she asks, half joking, half serious.

“Not if I have anything to say about it.”

“Thank you. But if it does come up, please don’t mention Emma’s name. I don’t want her involved.”

“I’ll protect her and you with everything I have.”

Sydni stares into my eyes, perhaps looking for sincerity. I think she wants to trust me, but fear is keeping her at bay. Outward signs of distress are obvious. The line between her eyebrows is a deep crevice, and her eyes are red from crying.

It’s the right moment. “I’m in love with you, Sydni Greer. I fell in love with you when I heard your story, the story of a young lady seeking love and support. I wish I could’ve been there to give it to you. Then I met you in person, and I’ve been knocked sideways ever since. You don’t have to trust me or believe me. But there it is.”

After a long silence, she says, “I need some time. Can you give me time?”

“All that you need.” Silently I think, Please don’t take too long. I can’t bear it.

“You’ve thrown me. I don’t know what I think or feel anymore.” She rubs her hands over her flushed face.

“I understand.”

“What happens now?” she asks.

“You don’t have to do anything. You can stay right here and keep on living your life. I’ll take care of it. Although you should probably start going by your real name. I can get you a new social security card. And a driver’s license. Be prepared for your family to descend on you. There might be lots of drama.”

“I’m prepared for them now,” she says, a stoic tone in her voice.

I hope so. “There’s a possibility you could be called to testify if Cole goes to trial. You okay with that?”

“It would be my absolute pleasure, the little snake.” Her eyes shift as though she’s deep in thought. “I need some time alone to process everything. Can I have some time to myself, please?”

“Okay. I’m sorry, Sydni. I’m so sorry for everything.”