My Sister's Tears Stole My First Life, Not My Second novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Mother's Voice

Gage got the question out before I did.

"Left her what?"

"Her voice," Simon said.

I held the church photo flat against my coat.

"The tape is blank," I said. "Tinsley erased it."

"Not the tape." He shifted the laptop under his arm. "Your mother's suite ran on our system. The lights, the curtains, the reminders on the wall tablet. She used the voice memos. A lot."

"And you kept them?"

"The building keeps everything. Nobody ever asked for them." He looked at me. "On Monday my people pulled the suite's logs to see who locked that door. They found three years of your mother talking to the room."

The pastor touched my elbow.

"Take him home, honey," he said. "That's not a thing for a church parking lot."

We drove back to Pine Street, Gage's truck in front and Simon's black car crawling behind it.

It was cold, but I didn't want to be inside.

I sat on the glider.

Simon sat on the top step with the laptop on his knees.

Gage leaned in the doorway with his arms crossed.

Simon turned the screen toward me before he touched anything.

A list of files with dates. Hundreds of them.

"Most are nothing," he said. "Grocery lists. Lights off. I flagged the ones you'll want. You pick what we play, and when, and whether I'm out here when you do."

"Stay," I said.

He clicked the first one.

A hiss.

Then a woman cleared her throat, right next to my ear.

"Reminder. July fourth. Every year."

A pause, and the creak of someone sitting down on a bed.

"Remind me to keep looking."

That was all.

Her voice was lower than I'd thought. A little hoarse, with Boston in the vowels.

The date said nine years ago.

Simon clicked the next one. July fourth again, a year later.

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