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“I had a business meeting with Jared Shannon.”

“As in Jared Shannon, the founder of QC Solutions?”

“That’s the one. Trying to get some investors for this project that I have.”

I was trying to be as vague as possible yet attempting to make it important at the same time. It was futile because James didn’t have that much money nor did he have any good connections that could’ve been useful to me, but I couldn’t help it.

James widened his eyes and nodded. Suddenly he looked as if he just remembered something important.

“Hey, didn’t his mother work for your family?” he asked. As a frequent guest at Maple Grove House, he knew most of our staff. When we were kids, we would sneak into the kitchen to steal something that had been “forbidden before dinner.” James would always tag along and enjoy the fruits of our raids, which we would happily devour, hiding somewhere in the park.

“Yeah, he sort of reminded me about that,” I said.

“He did? That’s strange.”

“Why?”

“Well, I would think he’d try to avoid the subject, but it’s been years and I suppose it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“What subject?”

“Oh, that incident with his mother. Don’t you remember? She was fired. She was accused of something. Stealing, was it?”

“What? I don’t remember her being fired.”

“Well, it was just before … you know, Charlie’s disappearance,” James said, scratching his beard and releasing some questionable particles from its depths. “So it wasn’t that important to remember I imagine.”

“Still, it’s interesting why he never mentioned that,” I said mostly to myself, thinking out loud.

“Anyway, how have you been? Do you still date that girl I saw you with last time?” James asked, changing the subject for which I was thankful.

We talked all the way until my stop, reminiscing about our university days, talking about our families, James’s tense relationships with his mother, who kept him around but didn’t want to give him the reins to the estate, and discussing my poor choices in women. Even though I couldn’t stop thinking about Jared, I tried to keep him out of our conversation. James, never a nosy fellow, didn’t ask me anymore about my meeting. When it was time for me to get off the train–James’s stop was the next one–we agreed to catch up in the City next week. I forgot about that promise as soon as I got off the train.