TAYLOR LOOKED AT JEREMY, SITTING NEXT TO HER. HE WAS quiet, seemingly lost in thought. He’d called the American consulate in Athens and they were arranging for Taylor to meet with her mother, who was being held at the Athens police station. Eva had apparently refused to talk to the police thus far, but she promised she’d tell them everything if they allowed her a visit with her daughter. Was her mother some sort of spy? It seemed ludicrous, but then again so did the idea that her mother was alive. What had she done to get arrested?
She thought back to the last time she’d seen her mother, when Eva had come in to wake her up for school and asked what she’d like for breakfast. Taylor had mumbled something about not being hungry and wanting to sleep for ten more minutes. When she’d finally dragged herself out of bed and gone downstairs, her mother had handed her a homemade muffin.
“You need to eat. Breakfast is the most—”
“Yeah, I know.” She’d heard it a thousand times. “I’ll grab something at school. I’m going to be late.” And she’d run out the door without so much as a hug or kiss, totally unaware that that would be the last conversation they would ever have.
Anger filled her once again as she remembered the awful days of sorrow and mourning that followed her mother’s “death,” and she clenched her hands in tight fists, tempted to ask Jeremy to turn the plane around. But she decided she’d listen to what her mother had to say and then she’d tell her how horribly unfair her actions had been. This was her opportunity to say all the things she needed to say, to tell her mother what she’d missed out on, what her void had done to Taylor’s life.
“I feel like I could jump out of my skin,” she said to Jeremy.
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now. It’s so strange. But it’s a good thing. Your mother could be alive!”
“That’s the thing. I should be ecstatic, and there’s a part of me that is . . . but I can’t reconcile the fact that she let me think she was dead all these years. And why did she call me now? Has she become some sort of criminal? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well, we know it has something to do with the coins. She must have the last ten.”
Taylor thought a long moment. “That doesn’t make sense. Our family only had ten and Crosse has those. You think she somehow tracked down the last ten?”
“It won’t do us any good to speculate. We’ll know soon enough. Try to get some rest before we touch down.”
She looked at him, astounded. “Rest? Seriously? We could be walking into some sort of trap. What are we even doing? Maybe Jack was right. This is crazy.”
Jeremy’s tone was measured. “We’ve done our best to vet the situation. Father Basil vouched for her, and she knew your secret code. I know it’s hard, but try to have faith.”
“I’ll do my best,” she said, and closed her eyes.