CHAPTER 7: THE NIGHT I WAS BORN
The police took Jason to the station for questioning.
My mother and Chloe were allowed to remain at the house while officers completed their initial interviews.
Emily went to the hospital.
I followed.
Robert stayed with me.
I sat beside Emily’s bed in a private examination room.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
I had hundreds of questions.
None of them felt safe to ask.
Finally, I placed the photograph on the blanket.
“Start at the beginning.”
Emily looked at it.
“Your mother and I were best friends.”
“My mother said you were Dad’s sister.”
“She told people many different things.”
“Were you related to Thomas?”
“No.”
“Then why do you share his last name?”
“I changed it years later.”
“Why?”
“Because he helped me disappear.”
I waited.
Emily took a breath.
“Twenty-nine years ago, your mother worked as an assistant for Daniel Carter.”
“Who was he?”
“A financial investigator.”
“For the government?”
“Sometimes. Mostly for private banks.”
“What happened to him?”
“He discovered a laundering network involving several wealthy families.”
“Was my mother involved?”
“Not at first.”
The answer was too careful.
“Then when?”
Emily looked toward the door.
“Daniel trusted Margaret. He loved her.”
My chest tightened.
“They were together?”
“Yes.”
“Was he my biological father?”
“Yes.”
I stared down at my hands.
All my life, people had told me I had Dad’s eyes.
Now I knew I didn’t.
Emily continued.
“Daniel planned to testify against the people he was investigating. Two days before he was supposed to meet federal agents, he died in a car accident.”
“Accident?”
“The brakes failed.”
I already knew the answer.
“It wasn’t an accident.”
“No.”
“Who killed him?”
“We never proved it.”
“What does this have to do with Thomas?”
“Thomas was Daniel’s closest friend.”
The room went quiet.
“He knew your mother was pregnant. After Daniel died, he believed Margaret and the baby were in danger.”
“So he married her?”
“Not immediately.”
Emily’s fingers tightened around the blanket.
“The night you were born, two men came to the hospital.”
My skin turned cold.
“They were looking for Daniel’s files. They believed Margaret had them.”
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course she did.
“Thomas helped her escape,” Emily said. “He registered himself as your father and took both of you out of the city.”
“Why did my birth certificate change?”
“To protect you.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“At first, because the people searching for those files were still alive.”
“And later?”
Emily looked toward me.
“Later, because Margaret realized the files were worth money.”
I felt sick.
“She sold information?”
“Pieces of it.”
“To whom?”
“The same families Daniel had planned to expose.”
I stood and walked toward the window.
“Thomas knew?”
“Not for many years.”
“When did he find out?”
“Three years ago.”
The same year he transferred the house to me.
The same year everything began.
“What did he do?”
“He confronted Margaret.”
“And she started stealing from him.”
“Some of the money was stolen. Some was payment.”
“Payment for what?”
“Silence.”
I turned.
“Whose silence?”
“Thomas found evidence that Daniel’s death was connected to a company called Vantage Holdings.”
I recognized the name.
Vantage was one of the largest development firms in the state.
Its chairman appeared at charity events with senators and judges.
“What does this have to do with Jason?”
Emily’s face hardened.
“Jason’s father works for Vantage.”
I felt the air leave my lungs.
“What?”
“He is their chief financial officer.”
Jason had told me his father was retired.
“Did Jason know who I was?”
“I don’t know how much he knew. But Chloe did.”
“Why?”
“Margaret told her.”
I sat down again.
“She told Chloe everything but told me nothing.”
“Margaret trusted Chloe because Chloe wanted the same thing she wanted.”
“Money.”
“Control.”
That sounded more like my mother.
I thought of the storage boxes.
“The original files. Where are they?”
Emily looked at me.
“Thomas hid them.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“But he left clues.”
“Yes.”
“Why did my mother bring you to the house?”
“She didn’t. I went there.”
“Why?”
“Thomas contacted me before he died. He told me that if anything happened to him, Robert would eventually find the second will.”
Robert looked surprised.
“He never contacted me about Emily.”
“He didn’t want you watched.”
“What happened at the house?”
“I confronted Margaret. I told her I was done hiding.”
“And Chloe attacked you?”
“She tried to take the photograph and my phone. Jason arrived after Margaret called him.”
I looked toward Robert.
“We need to find the files before Vantage does.”
Emily nodded.
“And before Margaret destroys them.”
My phone vibrated.
A text from Chloe.
Mom is gone.
Another message appeared.
She took Dad’s journal.
I reached for my purse.
The journal was missing.
I had left it on the dining room table while we went into the basement.
A third message arrived.
This one contained a photograph.
My mother stood beside a burning metal barrel.
Dad’s journal was in her hand.
May you like
Below the image, Chloe had written:
She says the truth dies tonight.
