Page 182 of Hidden Tide
“When did Simon contact you?”
“The next day. He said Marcus had stolen from Donald Cross and disappeared with the money.”
“Did you believe him?”
“At first.”
“What changed?” Ben asks.
“Simon gave my father Marcus’s watch.”
Ivy closes her eyes.
Simon didn’t bring proof Marcus was alive.
He brought a warning.
Elliot’s voice cracks.
“My father said we would never speak Marcus’s name again.”
“What did Simon make you do?” Ben asks.
“Watch the Sinclair family.”
“For six years?”
“Longer.”
Thomas lowers himself into a chair.
“Arthur knew.”
“He didn’t know everything,” Elliot says quickly. “He thought Donald Cross was searching for shipping records James stole from Blackwater.”
“When did you learn about the prisms?” Marquez asks.
“Two months ago. Simon showed me a photograph of Willow’s watch and told me to bring it to him.”
Willow wraps her arms around herself.
“You came into my restaurant.”
“I waited until you went into the dining room. Your office door was open.”
“You stole the watch.”
“I took it apart in the employee restroom and put it back before you noticed.”
“Why did you ask me about it?”
“I needed to know if you had opened it recently.”
“You could have asked Simon to kill me.”
“No.”
The force in Elliot’s answer surprises all of us.
