Page 140 of Run
CHAPTER 45
ETHAN
We walk into the bar hand-in-hand after attending the Zach Bryan concert downtown. Lizzie and Knox insisted we stop by “real quick,” which we know will turn into all night. As we approach our usual back corner, we see them sitting with Dee and Tommy, and Tommy’s lady of the hour. Sophie and Gino appear to have just arrived, as they’re pulling up stools, before Gino takes orders for a round of drinks and goes to fetch them.
“How was the show?” Knox asks.
“It was great, man. He’s really—”
Ari cuts me off, squealing and waving her hands around as she gives a full play-by-play of the concert. Since weather is finally warming up, it’s the first outdoor show we’ve been to this season.
Ari’s face is almost back to normal, with the bruising and swelling having disappeared over the past few weeks. However, the sadness and trauma that remains in her tight smile and guarded eyes will take longer to heal. It always has.
Gino comes back with drinks for him and Sophie, as well as Dee and, surprisingly, Knox. I tip my chin at him. “What’s the occasion?”
“Just thought I’d have a beer tonight.” He picks it up and clinks it with Gino’s bottle.
“How come you’re not drinking?” I ask Lizzie, and she stays quiet.
A moment passes before Ari says, “You’re not drinking.” It’s not a question, but a statement.
“Ohmygod, you’re not drinking!” Sophie squeals. Lizzie bites her bottom lip and nods, and all the girls erupt into shrieks.
Huh?
“What am I missing?” I look around at all our friends.
“Dude.” Gino swats me. “I think she’s with child.”
“Eww!” Dee shouts across the table. “Who even says that?”
“Wait! You’re pregnant?” I take a step back.
Ari swings around and rolls her eyes at me. “Yes! Duh!” She pushes past me and heads around the table to give Lizzie a hug.
“You did this, I presume?” I extend my hand toward Knox, and he takes it.
“Sure did,” he confirms with a megawatt smile, keeping one hand against the small of Lizzie’s back.
“Congrats, man.” I shake his hand and slap his shoulder. “I’m happy for you.”
I settle back against the table and chat with Tommy, who is definitely a weird dude, as we all celebrate and visit and piss the night away. When Soph and Ari go to the bathroom, Lizzie saddles up next to me.
“So, I haven’t had much luck finding Ari’s mom.” She’s keeping her voice down, knowing that Ari doesn’t know I asked for her help. “I checked the birth records at City Hall and at all the town halls in the county. I even went a little further west, but nothing.”
“Damn.” I scratch my fingers over my scalp. “Well, look, I really appreciate you putting so much time into it.”
“I did discover one thing, though,” she says, and I raise an eyebrow. “Ari’s old house—Lena and Axel’s house—belongs to Lena. And it’s paid off. She owns it outright.”
I frown.
“It looks like she bought the property from Axel not too long after she and Ari moved in with him. Maybe he needed money or couldn’t pay the mortgage. Who knows? But the property is in her name. She made double mortgage payments for a good twelve years before paying it off. And there was a document in the property records she filed that said upon her death, to contact someone.”
Lizzie reaches into her pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper. She opens it and reads the name. “Shirley Wilcox. Now, I didn’t dive too deep, but with a quick online search I found that Shirley Wilcox is a sixty-eight-year-old woman who lives about an hour west of here, past Albion, and she has a forty-four-year-old daughter named Bonnie Wilcox. Do either of these names ring a bell?”
I shake my head. “Not at all. As far as I know, Lena has an aunt out west—like the Midwest—and that’s it. No other family. That’s why she stuck with Axel all this time.” I look toward the bathroom but don’t see Ari coming. “Why would she want this person to be contacted?”
Lizzie frowns. “I think Lena may know more than you think.”
