Chapter Twenty-Five
She surveyed the room, images of where Eden had been and where she had been weaving in and out of her memory as they had for the past six weeks Isla had been in town.
The room smelled faintly of old fabric and stale cigarette smoke, though the No Smoking sign was very conspicuous on the door.
The thin curtains barely kept the sunlight from creeping in and would be of little help if one needed the cocoon of darkness to sleep.
There were two double beds with matching bedding that was an upgrade from ten years ago.
A small desk set up for someone to work at, but it was lit with not-so-great light, next to a decent-sized flat-screen TV (another upgrade).
She twisted the lock above the doorknob, then flipped the top lock over the latch.
She made sure to catch housekeeping every couple of days before they came in to change the towels and tidy the room.
And the Do Not Disturb sign was always swinging from the doorknob on the other side because no one needed to walk in and see what she had inside.
The sliding glass doors leading to the balcony were across the room, to her right.
The closet was to her left, and the tiny bathroom was as well.
Isla went to the closet and slid its door open, revealing weeks of hard work—a sprawling collage of photos, sticky notes, and taped printouts covering most of the good-sized wall, with room to grow.
She sat on the floor, propped against the bed, as she looked at the back wall of the closet, where photos of the Corrigan family were strategically positioned, their closest associates extending from the Corrigan they were connected with.
She looked at Eden’s photo—her best friend’s wide smile, from years ago, before her mother’s death, when she was happier—away from all the others while Isla had tried to figure out Eden’s connection to the family.
Now Isla knew, and it left her with more questions than she’d had before.
Before, Isla had always wondered what Eden’s connection to this family was.
What had drawn her to Charlottesville when it was not their final destination?
Then, Isla had believed Eden wanted to speak with the Corrigans about her mother’s dismissal from her job as Mr. Corrigan’s assistant.
Isla had wrongly assumed Eden was angry at the family for firing Elise and was looking to blame them for how Eden and her mother had ended up, even her mother getting cancer.
But it wasn’t a wrongful dismissal. It was a freaking love triangle.
Elise had a child with Victor who would have been about Bennett’s age.
An affair, getting both women pregnant at the same time?
Very messy and definitely a reason why Brooke and Victor would have wanted this dirty secret gone.
That couldn’t be it. Eden had told Isla she’d come to live with her mother after living with her father up until then.
But she’d left it at that. Eden had always been vague, and Isla had respected her privacy.
In Isla’s world, every kid had had stories they weren’t ready to share.
Then, what had made Eden suddenly leave the estate after living there all her life—her mother’s illness?
And what had angered Eden so much that after two years she still wanted to confront the Corrigans?
Had it been bad enough for them to get rid of her?
Isla inched closer to the closet. She took Eden’s photo from its location and repositioned it with the rest of the Corrigan offspring in chronological order from youngest to oldest. Holland.
Eden. Bennett. Myles. She considered them all for a long time, along with the small stickies, color-coded and assigned to specific family members, and her careful notes on each.
A Post-it beside Brooke’s photo read, Runs B&C Foundation, philanthropic, PR and marketing savvy. She took that sticky and added, Manipulative, nasty piece of work, classist & obsessed with the image of wealth and perfection. No fan of Myles.
Isla didn’t have to guess why. Brooke suffered from the classic and fabled evil-stepmother syndrome.
She wanted her own children prioritized above any previous or other children her husband had.
She’d do anything for Bennett because he was cultivated in her image.
He was a son and was a perfect candidate for succession.
He was also just as hungry as Brooke was.
Holland was something different, Isla mused. More like Eden—sensitive, genuine.
Victor: CEO—larger than life. How far will he go to protect TCG?
Myles and Bennett had their own sections with the areas of the family business they oversaw, photos, and notes like Left for military—why?
Won’t fight Bennett. Why? These were for Myles.
And for Bennett: Set up Leonard? Erratic.
Resentful. Jealous. Charming. All that after knowing him ten minutes.
Bennett thought he wasn’t, but he was an open book.
A separate corner of the map held Leonard’s obituary and a question mark connecting Bennett to it.
She’d nearly forgotten. She went back to Myles and scribbled, Jackass, rude AF. But then she remembered: Bought me clothes in right size. Very observant.
That was kind of nice of him, she hated to admit. He was always watching. She’d have to be careful with him. She trailed her fingers over the stickies with their corresponding photos.
Jackson: Foundation lawyer, but with whom does his allegiance lie? Brooke or Victor?
Eden: A Corrigan. How does she fit in? What made her leave? Why did she lie to me?
The thoughts were coming back in a rush faster than Isla could write them down.
How does V have E’s bracelet? Date of postmark. She drew three bold lines beneath the words.
Isla marked the day they’d left Daytona on a Greyhound, the day they’d arrived at the Charlottesville bus depot, and the day Eden had disappeared. Now she wrote the date marked on the postmark. Two weeks after their arrival in Charlottesville.
Did Eden go back to Daytona?
Isla doubted that. Unless she’d thought she’d be tracked and wanted to confuse them. There were too many questions. Too many unknowns.
Before she left for the estate, she needed to make sure all her notes were put away.
She’d be gone for longer now, and if housekeeping did decide to enter the room, she doubted they’d go in the closet, but just in case they peeked, she’d make sure to prop the foldable luggage rack against the wall to cover her handiwork.
It was time to check in. She pulled out the burner phone and dialed Rey. He picked up on the second ring.
Rey started in, “What the hell, girl? Hold on, let me dial Nat in. She was about to call the cops, no lie. You know how she goes zero to a hundred in a second.”
Isla couldn’t tell if he was talking about the epitome of calm Nat or himself.
When Nat was connected, Rey continued. “We’ve only been blowing you up all night long.
No calls, no messages since you left to return the keys.
” The frantic tone of his voice made her smile.
It felt good to speak with a friend and to turn off.
“I know. Sorry.” She hadn’t considered that her friends could be freaking out until this moment.
“But I have an update you’re not going to believe.
I’d barely believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself.
Also, these Corrigans are intense. I can’t even explain how much.
” She backed up against the bed and leaned against it as she sat on the floor, refusing to think about the last time the carpet was cleaned.
“I can’t believe it fucking worked,” Rey said while Nat cheered in the background. “The cover held?” he asked incredulously.
“Me coming down here to work some big events with the East Coast branch of Elite Events Services. Great hookup you had with your brother. Oh, and thank him for firing me this morning.”
Rey laughed. “It’ll be the first time he’s ever been thanked for firing someone.
Now I owe Manny big-time. I was able to get access easier because he heads the West Coast branch, which enabled me to create a personnel file for you and get you on the roster over there.
So that means you owe me big-time for this big-ass job we will not be getting paid for,” Rey reminded her.
He waited a beat. “You sure we can’t blackmail these people when you find out whatever huge secret they’re hiding?
They’re good for the money. I checked today for the hell of it, and the man is worth $114. 7 billion.”
“Rey, this is for justice and to fix our screwup with Leonard,” Nat chastised. “We’ve been through this. Get over it.”
Rey whined, “But so much money.”
Isla didn’t want to ask, but had to. “Charli?”
“Still off with a boyfriend at the casinos or wherever she makes them take her to spend their money on her. She’s not thinking about you,” Nat said. “Yet.”
“Well, when she does, you know what to say. And you stay away, Nat. You can’t take her interrogation. She should have been a cop.”
Rey laughed. “And give up the good life of being a kept woman while having a sucker—I mean, intelligent young lady—manage the retirement facility that she’s supposed to be managing?”
Nat cut in before Isla had a chance to retort. “What’s the next move?”
Isla let the dig slide, instead focusing on the wall. She told them everything she’d learned and her major discovery.
Rey breathed, “You’re shitting me.” Isla heard him typing at his keyboard. “Nothing. We’ve already searched under her mother’s last name, Parker. There’s nothing on Eden Corrigan. Not now. Not ten years ago. Not before then. It’s like any information on her was scrubbed. Wiped clean.”
“Like off the face of the earth,” Isla muttered.
Nat asked, “You had no idea? You spent so much time with her and her mother.”
“She never said who her father was. But that’s not unusual, because I don’t talk about my mother. I’ve never met her.” Isla shared the earlier questions she’d had about Eden with them.
“She’s younger than Bennett? She’d be, what, pushing twenty-nine now? He’s thirty, with Myles four years older. So Victor cheated on his wife, Brooke, when Bennett was a baby?” Nat asked.
At the same time, Rey said, “What a stud,” totally impressed.
“Look deeper into the background on the family. Business associations. Rey, could you hurry with finding the origin of the accounts in Leonard’s name? Who knows how long we have before someone tries to take the money out?”
“Working on it,” he said tersely.
“I’ll try to figure out Eden’s trail the day she disappeared and how it traces back to the Corrigans.
There was likely a secret Eden knew. Maybe she confronted one of them and ended up .
. .” She stopped herself short, unable to bring herself to say the word dead.
The fact that there was no body meant there was a chance, though Isla didn’t know if she really believed that.
Not like Victor and Holland seemed to believe.
“They really think she could be alive, living somewhere off the grid?” Nat asked. “I mean, it’s rare but possible. People go missing and end up found years later, living their best lives. Some of them just walk away because they’ve had enough of the lives they were living.”
Isla would hang on to any glimmer of hope, even if it meant Eden had left her behind. But if that was the case, why send a letter from a city they had already left? And what about the bracelet that never left Eden’s wrist?
“There’s something about Bennett that rubs me the wrong way,” Isla said. “On the outside he’s fun and can be charming as hell, but he’s hiding something dark and ugly that’s itching to come out. He’s like a loose cannon.”
“Keep an eye on him, but be careful,” Rey said.
“What about Myles?” Nat said dreamily. “He’s delicious looking. This family has great genes. He’s—”
“A wild card,” Isla finished. “With no personality.” She left out the part where he’d gotten her a change of clothes.
“Watch out for him too,” Rey warned.
“I know,” Isla said, her chest tightening. She changed the subject. “About this article. I have some clips from when we were at UCLA, but could we doctor up a couple more in case I need to prove it? Get a portfolio together? It needs to look legit. Nat?”
“I’m on it,” Nat said before Isla could finish. “I can have it by the end of the day.”
“Only work on the laptop I gave you,” Rey said, back to business.
“And don’t connect to their Wi-Fi. Use the hot spot I gave you too.
Everything will be encrypted, so if they have someone trying to backdoor you, it’ll block them.
But you do need to put my USB drive into one of their computers.
A home and a work, so I can get in easy.
This is just another job, okay? Think of it that way. Leave the emotions out.”
“I know,” Isla said, looking once again at the board.
Someone in that house knows the whole truth, but each of them holds pieces to the puzzle.
“At least I’m in. Right?”
Nat replied, “Sure, but this won’t be easy. You’ll have to be ‘on’ twenty-four seven. Even actors stop filming at the end of the day. You can’t break character. Ever. If they ever suspect you . . .” Nat whistled. “Just don’t end up like your friend, okay?”
“Kinda harsh, Nat.”
While they argued over who was the more insensitive one, Isla fought against the burn behind her eyelids as the weight of her reality began to press down on her. She didn’t want to speak, afraid she’d betray her feelings.
Isla zeroed in on Eden’s smiling photo. Eden, what did you know? And why did you have to disappear to find it?
No matter how terrified she was, she couldn’t let Rey and Nat ever know.