My dad must’ve heard Jade talking because he says, “Put me on speaker, Garret.”
I put the phone on speaker. “Go ahead.”
“Jade, you have to understand that people such as William and myself are contacted by strangers claiming to be relatives all the time. William is just making sure you are who you say you are. I would do the exact same thing. It doesn’t mean he thinks you’re lying. It’s just something we’ve been taught to do from a young age.”
“He said I looked like Sadie. Why would he say that if he thought I wasn’t related to him?”
My dad explains. “I’m sure he wants to believe you. It’s just a different world for us. We have to keep our guard up. When William calls me, I will assure him that everything you said is true. And obviously Grace will as well. It’s unfortunate that William didn’t talk to her in the first place. How did William find out about you anyway?”
“He took over Arlin’s finances and noticed that money had been transferred into an account for me last spring.”
“What did you tell him about Royce?”
“I told him what Royce did to my mom.”
“Everything, or just part of the story?”
“I told him about the rape and then Garret told him how Royce drugged her and killed my grandparents.”
“What else does he know?” my dad asks.
“What do you mean?” Jade stares at the phone, confused.
“Garret, how much does William know?”
My dad’s referring to what happened at our house the day Royce was shot. William doesn’t know Jade was there that day. Nobody knows that, except the people who were actually there; the clean-up crew, the doctors, my dad, and me. And Grace knows because Arlin told her.
“He doesn’t know about that,” I say to my dad.
“Are you sure? You said you walked in late.”
Shit, that’s right. I hope Jade didn’t tell him.
“Jade, did you tell William anything about the day I was shot?”
“No. Why?” She looks even more confused.
“I’ll let you tell her,” my dad says. “Does William know about my involvement?”
“No.” Garret glances at me. “I told him you didn’t find out about Jade until after Royce was dead.”
“I have to go. Someone’s calling on the other line. It’s probably William.”
“When you talk to him, ask him about Walt, the guy he’s had following Jade. I don’t trust that guy.”
“Garret, I need to answer William’s call.”
“Yeah, okay, bye.”
Jade’s looking at me. “Why are you so freaked out about your dad? Why is it a secret that your dad knew about me?”
“Let’s talk about this at home.” I go and open the door. “I don’t like being in this room.”
She grabs my arm. “Wait. Why can’t William know I was at your house when you were shot? Are you saying William doesn’t know what happened that day? But the organization covered it up. So what did they tell the members? What did your dad tell them?”
“Jade, we can’t talk about this here.” I give her a look that I’m not kidding around. Someone could be listening. Walt could’ve planted microphones in the room. Knowing that’s a possibility, I shouldn’t have been talking to my dad in here.
“Come on.” I take Jade’s hand and we walk across campus back to the car. She’s quiet on the drive home and so am I. I don’t want to talk about this in the car.
When we get back, I drop our backpacks on the floor and lead her to the couch to sit down.
“Nobody knows, Jade. Not William. Not any of them. If they knew Royce came to my house to kill you that day, they would’ve known you were connected to him somehow. They would’ve found out you were a Sinclair. And we couldn’t have them knowing that.”
“Why?” Before I can answer Jade says, “Because they’d do something bad to William. The organization makes you disclose all information and Royce didn’t tell them about my mom or me. So if they found out, they’d have to punish him. And since Royce and Arlin are gone, they’d punish William.”
“How did you know all that?”
“Arlin told me. At the time, I didn’t put it together. But now I get it. I see why your dad couldn’t tell the organization the truth about that day.”
“It’s not just William’s safety my dad was worried about. It was your safety as well. My dad didn’t want them knowing you’d witnessed what happened that day. The cleaning crew. The doctors. The cover-up in the media. If the organization found out you’d seen all that, they would’ve—” I stop before I say it.