Chapter 5

Mom suddenly clamped a hand over her mouth.

She doubled over until her forehead nearly touched her knees.

I stood beside her.

I remembered saying that.

My aunt had been outside the door, telling me to hand over the phone.

I'd thought Mom only wanted me to admit I'd been wrong first.

So I'd changed "could we?" to "you can scold me when we get back."

But Mom hadn't replied.

She'd gone to ask my aunt.

My aunt had sent a photograph of a medicine box and said I'd taken it. That my fever was going down.

The same box Dad had taken from my bedside drawer.

Dad asked, "Did she send anything else that night?"

The investigator scrolled down.

I hadn't sent another message that evening.

My aunt admitted she'd taken the phone afterward. She said I'd been about to call another number. She'd put it away because she was afraid I'd "talk nonsense."

That night's footage from the residential complex showed her leaving with a glittering sequined bag.

She hadn't returned until daybreak.

She hadn't taken medicine with her.

Or me.

"I thought she'd look after her."

Dad's voice grew quieter.

"She's my sister."

The investigator looked at him.

"So when your child asked you directly for help, you didn't check?"

Dad's chin trembled.

"I did call back."

He hastily took out his phone, his fingers slipping across the screen.

"I called the next day. And the third day."

The calls were there.

He'd called my number.

When he couldn't reach me, he'd called my aunt instead.

Then came her message.

【Don't spoil her.】

His reply:

【All right. I'll leave it to you.】

The investigator placed the calls beside my pleas for help.

"After receiving these messages, did either of you contact anyone else to check on her?"

Dad went still.

Mom stayed bent over.

For a long time, no one spoke.

Before they left, the investigator asked them to confirm one more video.

The "good morning" sent from my account on Thursday morning.

The original file had been filmed on Monday.

A spot of blue watercolor marked my cuff.

Mom touched the screen.

"I recognize these clothes."

She murmured it.

"She never liked wearing anything with a dirty cuff."

She lowered her head.

"I knew something felt wrong. Why didn't I ask one more question?"

"Later, I really couldn't stop worrying. That's when I asked him to change the train tickets…"

They'd come home early in the end.

But I'd already said everything I could.

Dad went out and crouched in the corridor.

Mom stood beside him, opening her phone over and over.

She sent my account a voice message.

"An'an, Mommy won't scold you anymore."

It went through.

No little voice message appeared beneath it in reply.

Chapter 8

8

Dad printed every transfer he'd sent my aunt.

Five thousand yuan for looking after me.

Six thousand for living expenses and medical care.

And all the extra money he'd sent afterward.

He used to say there was no need to keep such close accounts with his own sister.

Now he separated the payments with two different-colored pens.

"What she bought with her fee is her business."

He pointed at another column.

"But this was marked as An'an's food and medicine money. I want to know where it went."

The police checked the invoices, restaurant records, and transfers.

The nutritious meals my aunt had reported cost a hundred and ninety-eight yuan each.

What arrived was a thirty-eight-yuan budget meal.

At her request, the restaurant issued inflated invoices and sent her a hundred and twenty yuan back per order.

In her chat with the owner, she'd been quite clear.

【Send the nicely arranged set every few days. I need to film it. The usual the rest of the time.】

【Don't put the real receipt in the bag. My sister-in-law asks too many questions.】

Dad stared at those two lines.

His pen stayed still so long that the ink spread into a little circle on the paper.

Mom asked, "So the meals in her videos weren't there every day?"

The investigator nodded.

"Some footage was reused several times. We've also checked the actual deliveries with the restaurant."

There was another expense claim for six hundred and eighty yuan.

The screenshot she'd sent said she'd taken me to a doctor and bought medicine.

Dad had transferred the money that day.

The checks showed that the appointment had been canceled and the fee refunded to my aunt.

She'd sent Dad the screen from before she canceled it.

Soon after the refund, she'd bought a pair of shoes.

Mom enlarged the photograph.

I recognized them too.

Pointed toes.

Thin straps.

On Tuesday night, those shoes had paused outside my door.

Then walked away.

I didn't understand everything about money.

But I knew that whenever Mom sent some, she'd ask:

【Is it enough? Tell me if you need more. Don't let An'an go without.】

My aunt always replied:

【As if I ever could.】

Dad went back through his messages with me.