Chapter 13 - THE FATHER MICHAEL CHOSE
Michael refused to call Voss a monster.
Walter understood why.
Daniel did not.
"He stole Grandpa's life."
"He also packed my lunches."
"Dad—"
"He taught me to drive."
Michael's voice broke.
"He sat beside me when my mother died."
Walter said quietly:
"Both things can be true."
Michael looked at him.
Walter knew something about loving flawed men.
Voss had disappeared from Michael's life in 1996 after claiming he had cancer.
There was no death certificate.
Michael never checked.
That embarrassed him.
Walter did not judge.
Families accept the explanations they need.
Voss contacted them first.
A message arrived on Michael's phone.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THE REST.
An address followed.
Michael wanted to go.
Daniel said absolutely not.
Walter said nothing.
That annoyed both.
Finally Walter admitted:
"I want him too."
Not for justice.
Not entirely.
Part of Walter wanted to hurt Voss.
He said it aloud.
That mattered.
Margaret arranged for federal investigators connected to the reopened case to monitor the meeting.
Michael entered an abandoned bowling alley alone.
Voss waited at lane twelve.
He looked eighty.
Small.
Nothing like the villain Daniel expected.
Michael stopped ten feet away.
Voss said:
"Son."
Michael slapped him.
Voss took it.
"You don't get that word."
"I know."
"Did you kill Thomas?"
"No."
"Did you steal his life?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Voss looked toward the dark lanes.
"Because your mother asked me to."
Michael stared.
Voss continued:
"June knew Thomas was alive."
"Then why—"
"Because Thomas told her not to choose him."
Michael's face crumpled.
Voss whispered:
"He knew what he'd become."
Then a suppressed gunshot cracked through the building.
Voss fell.
Someone else did not want him finishing the story.
(To be continued)
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