Before I could even press the buzzer, the door opened. A woman with gray hair and sharp eyes stood there.
“Ayira?” she asked.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Come in quickly,” she said.
The moment we stepped inside, she locked the door with three separate deadbolts. The sound of those locks clicking gave me a small sense of peace.
The office smelled like old paper and strong coffee. There were framed degrees from prestigious universities on the walls.
“Put the boy on the couch,” Sarah said.
I lifted Toby gently and laid him down. Sarah poured two mugs of coffee and pointed to a chair.
“Tell me everything from the moment you got to the airport,” she instructed.
The words came out in jagged pieces as I described the fire and the key. I showed her the texts from Dominic on my phone.
She listened without interrupting me once. When I finished, I was breathing hard.
“Your father asked me to watch out for you because he knew Dominic was a fraud,” she said.
She walked to a metal filing cabinet and pulled out a thick folder. “Three years ago, your father hired a private investigator,” she revealed.
“What did they find?” I asked.
Sarah opened the folder. “Debt. A staggering amount of it. Your husband has a gambling problem with very dangerous people,” she said.
