Page 71 of Fury In Death

She smiled a little. “He kept trying to convince me to come back to the States, work for Banner-Wyst. I was actually leaning that way before the accident. I missed him, my parents, Ari, Luke, and she and Steve were going to have a daughter. I’d travel back for that, my plan was to travel back for that, and discuss joining Banner-Wyst.

“He had a breakdown.”

Sorrow still lived there, Eve saw. Lived inside, showed in the eyes.

“He died that day. It’s how I think of it. Everything in him died with his family. His heart kept beating, but he was gone.” She lifted her hands. “I don’t understand what you’re looking for.”

“He left the hospital six years ago.”

“I don’t know how, I don’t know why. We still had hope he’d come back, just wake up—or we pretended to. We’d visit regularly. We’d read to him, talk to him, play music or vids. And nothing. Then my mother called me and told me they couldn’t find him. His bed, empty, his room, empty. They searched the building, the grounds, and nothing.”

She lifted her hands again. “All we could think is he’d come out of it, confused, bewildered, maybe frightened. We looked, of course, so did the police. We hired a private investigator. And nothing. I think . . . I think he remembered, and he went away somewhere to end it. He loved Ari so much, and Luke was, well, just everything to him. I think he didn’t want to live. I—”

She broke off, then pressed a hand to her mouth. “Oh God, oh God, did you find a body? Did you find Steve?”

“No.”

When Olivia closed her eyes, Eve pressed on. “Your parents moved to Chicago three years ago, three years after your brother appeared to have vanished.”

“Yes.” When Olivia opened her eyes again, they had a sheen of tears. “They needed a break from it. Every time they left the house . . . They might see someone—I did it, too—and for a minute, they’d think it was Steve.

“Or just being here, a restaurant, a park, somewhere that had memories. It’s painful. They’re coming back before the holidays. They missed us, especially the twins. So they’re moving back to New York.”

“You’re stating here that your brother hasn’t contacted you, or them, in six years.”

“Not a word. I can’t believe, if he were alive, and aware, he wouldn’t.”

“We have two dead bodies that convince me your brother is both alive and aware.”

Olivia blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“At the time of the explosion, at the time of his wife and son’s death, Lawrence Chu and Ezra Dent were both given large payments, which both took pains to hide in secret accounts.”

“I . . .”

The pocket doors crashed open. “Mom! She’s making those sounds again.”

“Not now. Grayson, Natalia, not now. Look at my face.”

The boy took a look, sighed. He closed the doors again, quietly.

“I never thought I’d want marriage, children. Not like Steve.” Her voice quavered, but she went on. “He and Ari, they tumbled right into it, loved every minute. Not for me, I thought. I met Hector right after Steve’s breakdown. I still didn’t think . . . and then I did.

“I know what Steve lost. I loved them, too, so much, but until I had Hector, until I had my babies, I didn’t really understand. I know what he lost.”

She took two careful breaths. “Are you implying that those two men might have had something to do with the explosion? It was ruled accidental.”

“Someone with the reach and knowledge of Banner-Wyst could, it seems to me, make it seem like one. What was your brother working on, Ms. Redman?”

“I honestly don’t know. I think it was something exciting, but I don’t know what. I know the last time we talked, the last time I spoke to my brother—and Ari and Luke—they were over the moon about the new baby coming, about the house they’d bought. We mostly talked about family things, and what I was doing—not work, just doing, seeing. And he said . . .”

She took a moment, steadied herself. “I remember because it was the last time we were able to talk to each other. He said everything was amazing. At home, at work. They were going to raise their kids in a house half a block from a park. He owed the company for that, for being able to have what he always wanted, and more. And for being able to work on something that would make a difference, a huge difference to so many.

“And he said: ‘Come home, Livvy. Come home. Be part of it.’ ”

“Did you ask part of what?”

“No. No, I didn’t. I said I’d be home for the baby, and we’d talk about it.”