Fool Me Once

Paranoid about being too exposed out in the open, Corey takes Maya to a private back room in Leather and Lace, his makeshift command center. He insists that he’s no anarchist, instead giving whistleblowers a platform to tell the truth about corrupt government or private institutions, aiming to “strengthen them by forcing them to do the right thing, the just thing” (170). Claire contacted him after Maya’s video leaked, afraid that he was going to release the audio that would be much more damning to her sister personally than the military. Corey agreed but also saw an opportunity—a person on the inside of Burkett Enterprises. Joe, too, contacted Corey after Claire’s death. Corey suggests that both were leaking intel about financial crimes and both were killed for it. People in Asia are dying from fraudulent drugs manufactured by EAC Pharmaceuticals, one of the Burketts’ holdings, and the family hides fabricated data behind accusations against the local doctors who administer the drugs. However, Maya doubts that Joe would go against his family, and the Burketts would be loath to kill one of their own even to cover up fraud.

Corey thinks that Claire found something even bigger. The last time they spoke, she gave him the first piece of evidence: monthly payments to a Tom Douglass, 57, a former private eye now in security. Maya accuses Corey of staying silent because the murder of one of his sources would reflect badly on him and perhaps someone from within his organization exposed Claire. Maya suggests that he’s a hypocrite, keeping secrets when it suits him. He responds that he doesn’t need “lectures on morality” from her (179). Maya tries another tack, asking why the Burketts were paying Douglass. Anything visible runs through Howell’s firm, covered by attorney-client privilege. Unable to dig up anything tangible on Douglass, Corey suggests that Maya try.

Maya drops in at Douglass’s office in Livingston, New Jersey, but he hasn’t been seen in weeks. Maya then questions his wife. Their home is decorated in a nautical theme, including a plaque with a silver anchor bearing an inscription in Latin: “Semper Paratus.” Mrs. Douglass tells Maya her husband is away and that she has no idea what he does for the Burketts, nor would she tell Maya even if she did. She rushes Maya out of the house.

Maya blows off steam with her veteran friends at their gun club. Maya and Shane catch up; the guys regularly seek out a female perspective on their relationships since war strains even the best marriages. Maya likens it to a horror movie in which no one believes veterans like her that a house is haunted. At the gun club, “they all [see] the ghosts” (190).

Maya tells Shane that Caroline found payments from the Burketts to Kierce, dating from before Joe’s death. Shane is skeptical that a clean cop like Kierce could be bribed, and he asserts that Caroline, a “first-class flake” (192), is playing Maya. He asks about the bullet on which he ran tests, but Maya still won’t tell him that it proves that the same gun killed both Claire and Joe. Shane lets it lie for the time being, as Maya brings up Caroline’s other topic of interest: Andrew. She confides Joe’s declaration that Andrew died by suicide and guesses that Caroline is having trouble accepting both of her brothers’ deaths. Then it hits Maya—the nautical décor in the Douglass home was not Naval. Shane translates the Latin phrase, “[a]lways ready,” the motto of the Coast Guard, which would have had jurisdiction over Andrew’s death. Maya needs another favor from Shane: Find out if Douglass was involved with Andrew’s investigation.

When her daughter tells her that she’s scared, Maya lets Lily sleep with her, laying her on Joe’s side of the bed. She watches Lily peacefully until Alexa calls, asking if they’ll be at Soccer Day in the morning, which is a town-wide carnival that fundraises for local athletics. Though she and Eddie are still on bad terms, Maya decides not to deprive Lily of her cousins. Maya’s PTSD is severe that night, and the doorbell wakes her up from a nightmare.

Worried when she doesn’t immediately come to the door, Shane uses his key and scoops up Lily, terrified, from the top of the stairs. The girl had been woken up by Maya’s episode. Distraught, Maya tells Lily that she just had a nightmare and then lightens the mood with news of the carnival. Shane doesn’t believe Maya when she brushes away his concern. Maya lies and says that she’ll contact Dr. Wu when “this is over” (204)—the mystery that she can’t articulate surrounding Joe’s death.

Shane relays that Douglass was indeed the Coast Guard officer in charge of Andrew’s investigation, which was officially ruled an accidental drowning with alcohol involved. Maya immediately calls Mrs. Douglass, saying that she knows why the Burketts were paying him. She doesn’t share the reason with Shane, still keeping him in the dark for his protection.

Shane also vetted Kierce and reasserts that he wouldn’t take a bribe. In the process, Kierce informed Shane about the incident with Isabella. Unable to deflect, Maya comes clean about the video of Joe and her argument with Isabella. They talk through possible scenarios, like Joe faking his own death. Maya, however, is adamant that Joe is dead but that someone is messing with her.

Maya hands Lily over to her exuberant cousins at Soccer Day. Eddie looks good, sober, in the bright sunshine. Maya again feels like an outsider. She tells Eddie that Claire was not cheating on him, but his relief is short-lived when he learns that her involvement with Corey likely led to her death. He can’t understand why Claire didn’t tell him, but Maya knows that her sister’s silence saved his life. She asks if he can recall any unusual behavior, but neither Douglass nor Andrew ring a bell for him. Maya asks him to go over Claire’s files with fresh eyes. Looking at their playing children, both Maya and Eddie are struck by their innocence. However, Maya is preoccupied by the blissful ignorance of those around her; she is keenly aware that the repercussions of her actions in war rippled through their community, contaminating her family. Eddie tells Maya to go to Lily, but she can’t bring herself to carry her darkness to her daughter.

Mrs. Douglass returns Maya’s call, asking her to come by as soon as possible. Eddie realizes that Claire’s E-Z Pass (electronic toll payment system) showed hits on the turnpike exit near Livingston. On the way to Mrs. Douglass, Maya blasts songs from a playlist that Joe made her, the lyrics romantic and dark, hinting at the death of one’s true love. It’s her “small bliss” that helps “clear her mind” (221). She recalls a trip that she took with Joe to Turks and Caicos, 48 hours after they met at the gala. Maya never expected to fall in love but remembers “whirling helplessly in Joe’s vortex—drink, song, travel, sex” (222). This suited her just fine, as her military career took precedence over any relationship, no matter how passionate. However, Joe stepped up when Maya accidentally became pregnant with Lily, and her life took a new trajectory when they married in spite of her efforts to remain a soldier at heart.

When Maya arrives, Mrs. Douglass fearfully pulls her into the house. She thinks that her husband was bribed, rather than employed, by the Burketts. Maya posits that he covered up the truth about Andrew’s death and crafted a false report that it was an accident. When Maya asks to speak to Tom, Mrs. Douglass tells her that Tom has been missing for three weeks.