ATHENS, GREECE
THE DOOR TO THE CELL OPENED AND THE GUARD BARKED AT her. “You have twenty minutes, and we’ll be watching.”
Eva held her breath as a beautiful young woman walked in, followed by a man she didn’t know. She’d been transfixed by the pictures of Taylor she’d found online, but they didn’t do her daughter justice. She felt another sharp stab of pain at all she’d missed. “Taylor?”
“Mom?”
She opened her arms and Taylor seemed to hesitate for a moment before falling into them. They hugged tightly and she felt Taylor’s shoulders shaking as she cried. After a bit, Taylor pulled back.
“But we buried you. You died.” Taylor’s voice was quiet. “How can you be alive?”
“How can I explain everything in the short amount of time we have? It was never up to me. They took me.” She stopped and looked at the man, registering his familiar features. “This must be Jeremy.” She smiled and held a hand out. “Maya’s son.”
“You know about me?” Jeremy asked.
“Father Basil told me everything. My poor sister—she would be so happy to see that you ended up on the right side of things. You have her smile, you know.” Eva could see that Jeremy was getting choked up.
He reached out and took her hand. “I wish I had known her.”
“She was a beautiful soul.”
Taylor cleared her throat. “We don’t have much time. I need to understand something. Why did you let us think you were dead all these years?”
Eva took a deep breath. “I was taken from the mall that day by a man who worked for the church. He told me that if I didn’t do what he said, those who wanted the coins would keep sending people to torture me until I revealed the location of the coins I’d hidden, and he convinced me I’d be putting your life in danger if I didn’t let them fake my death.”
“Why didn’t you let me know you were okay?” Taylor asked in a shaky voice. “And why are the police holding you here?”
Eva could see Taylor was getting angry now. Sighing, she spoke quietly. “My passport had my real name on it, but since I’m legally dead, it set off alarm bells.” She rushed on. “Taylor, you have to know . . . I didn’t want to leave you. I had to choose to keep you and the coins safe or go against the church’s orders, and they’d told me I’d be risking your life and everything I held dear if I didn’t leave. But it almost killed me. I’ve been living on the island of Ikaria all this time with my Uncle Yiannis.” She lifted a hand to stroke Taylor’s cheek, but her daughter pulled away.
“So that’s it. You’ve been living in Greece for the past twenty-four years, oblivious to everything that’s happened to me. Do you have any idea of what your murder did to me? It almost ruined me. And now you call me for help? What gives you the right?”
“I know you don’t owe me anything, but I needed to warn you. Your son is in danger—as long as the coins exist, we all are.”
“In danger from whom?” Taylor asked, her voice shaking.
“Damon Crosse.”
Taylor stood up. “Damon Crosse is dead. Did you know he was my father when you ran off and hid in Greece?”
“No. I didn’t know that when I was forced to leave. I only recently learned about everything that happened to you after your first husband’s death. But listen: you are still not safe. Crosse wants Evan.”
“Crosse killed himself,” Taylor said.
Eva shook her head. “He only made it look that way.”
“What?” Taylor and Jeremy spoke in unison.
“Father Basil found out that Damon Crosse faked his own death because the medical examiner who helped Crosse told him,” Eva continued.
Taylor’s face had gone completely white. “Damon Crosse is really alive?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Where is he?”
Eva gave her a dismayed look. “No one knows. All we know is that he took tetrodotoxin, a drug that mimics death, to fool the EMTs, and that the ME administered an antidote when Crosse arrived. Then he sent another body to be cremated.”
“This is unbelievable! All this time . . . we thought we were safe . . . but he’s alive. Where is he hiding? What is he waiting for?” Taylor put a hand up to her mouth. “I need to warn Jack.”
Jeremy shot up from the table and clenched his fists. “I can’t believe this! Why didn’t Basil tell me?”
“It’s safer if Crosse believes no one knows he’s alive. We don’t want him to go even deeper into hiding. If we have any chance of finding him, the fewer who know, the better. Father Basil only told me to convince me to go back to America.”
“So . . . Crosse still has the coins,” Jeremy said, thinking aloud. “That’s why I never found them. Now he has twenty of them.”
Eva shook her head. “No, that’s just it. He doesn’t have twenty.”
“What?” Jeremy asked.
“Those weren’t the real coins. I took the real ones with me when they faked my death. We replaced the ones in the shower . . . and I’ve been guarding them all these years.”
“So you outwitted him!” Taylor said.
Jeremy frowned. “He must know by now that they’re not real. He’ll be furious. But that means he only has ten.” He looked at Eva. “Where are your coins now?”
Eva looked up subtly at the cameras in the corner of the cell, hoping her daughter and nephew would understand it wasn’t safe for her to talk about them. “I don’t know. I lost them. You have to find Basil when you get back to America. I don’t know how long they’ll keep me here.”
“We have an appointment with a lawyer in a few hours. Father Basil set it up. We’ll do our best to get you released,” Taylor said.
The door opened and the guard was back.
Eva grabbed Taylor in a tight hug and whispered in her ear. “They’re in the lost baggage room. My Little Pony.”
The guard pulled them apart and shoved Eva against the wall.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Taylor yelled.
“No touching,” the guard said.
“Go. I’ll be okay,” Eva said.
“Mom, we’ll get you out of here. Stay strong.”
As she left the room, Eva was filled by a strong and overwhelming sense that this would truly be the last time she ever saw her daughter.