PART 9 — THE CHILD EVAN NEVER KNEW ABOUT

“My first what?”
Evan’s voice was barely a whisper.
Nobody answered.
Not me.
Not Thomas.
Not Raymond.
Not Deputy Carver.
Because none of us knew.
I stared at the phone in my hand like Glenn might call back and explain what he had just detonated in the middle of my family.
He didn’t.
Evan looked at me.
“Mom.”
“I don’t know.”
His face tightened.
“Don’t.”
“I swear to you.”
“Dad had another child?”
“I don’t know.”
“With who?”
“I don’t know.”
He laughed once, sharp and hurt.
“You didn’t know about Kelsey either.”
That landed exactly where he meant it to.
I sat down.
“No.”
Thomas Bell looked uncomfortable.
Too uncomfortable.
I noticed.
So did Evan.
He turned toward him.
“You know something.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Not enough.”
“That means you know something.”
Thomas sighed.
“Gene told me about an accident.”
My chest tightened.
“What accident?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Stacey, this was before I knew you well.”
“Tell me.”
He hesitated.
“Gene said there had been a baby.”
Evan stopped breathing.
I felt like the hospital room had lost all its air.
“What baby?”
Thomas lowered his voice.
“A son.”
I gripped the side of the chair.
“When?”
“Before Evan.”
My mind raced backward.
Gene and I had been married almost four years before Evan was born.
There had been a pregnancy before him.
One I never carried to term.
But that wasn’t a son who died after birth.

I whispered, “No.”
Thomas looked confused.
“What?”
“I miscarried.”
Evan stared at me.
“You never told me.”
“It was very early.”
I rubbed my palms together.
“Eight weeks.”
“That can’t be what Glenn meant.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
My stomach turned.
“Then Gene had another child with someone else?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Possibly.”
Evan stepped closer.
“Possibly?”
“He never told me the mother’s name.”
Raymond said quietly, “We need facts before assuming anything.”
Evan snapped, “My whole family has been built on things nobody told me.”
I didn’t blame him.
Thomas looked at me.
“Gene once told me he had done something unforgivable when he was young.”
“What?”
“He said a child died because he made a terrible decision.”
I felt cold.
“What decision?”
“He never explained.”
Evan leaned over the bed.
“When did he tell you?”
“About twenty-five years ago.”
“After Kelsey found him?”
“Yes.”
That mattered.
Gene had just discovered one hidden child.
Maybe it forced him to remember another.
I asked, “Did Glenn know?”
Thomas nodded slowly.
“I think so.”
“Then that’s what he’s using.”
“Yes.”
Deputy Carver stepped closer.
“He wants you emotionally unstable.”
I looked at him.
“He’s doing a wonderful job.”
Carver ignored the sarcasm.
“He wants you focused on family secrets instead of the transfer.”
Raymond nodded.
“If he can make you afraid of what might be revealed, he may think you’ll cooperate.”
Evan stared at me.
“What if there is something?”
I looked at my son.
“Then we find out.”
“And if Dad did something horrible?”
“Then we find out that too.”
He swallowed.
“You won’t defend him?”
I looked toward Thomas’s hospital window.
For three years I had been defending Gene because the dead don’t get to answer accusations.
But love wasn’t the same as blindness.
“No.”
Evan looked surprised.
“I loved your father.”
I stood.
“I still love the man I knew.”
“But if there were things I didn’t know, loving him doesn’t mean lying about them now.”
Evan’s shoulders dropped slightly.
That was all I could give him.
Truth.
Whatever it turned out to be.
Deputy Carver’s phone rang.
He stepped into the hallway.
A minute later, he returned.
“We may have a location on Glenn.”
Every person in the room straightened.
“Where?”
“A warehouse outside Lafayette.”
My heart jumped.
“Near the land?”
Carver nodded.
“About twelve miles away.”
Thomas looked alarmed.
“I know that building.”
“You do?”
“It used to belong to Bell-Harbor.”
Raymond frowned.
“Used to?”
“We leased it years ago.”
“To who?”
Thomas looked grim.
“Glenn.”
Evan clenched his jaw.
“Kelsey could be there.”
“Possibly.”
Carver pointed at him.
“You are not going.”
Evan immediately said, “Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“That’s my sister.”
The word hung in the room.
My sister.
Evan heard himself say it.
His face changed.
He barely knew Kelsey existed.
Still, something in him had already rearranged.
Family is strange that way.
Carver said, “If Glenn is holding someone, this becomes a law enforcement operation.”
Evan stepped closer.
“You expect me to sit here?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
I touched his arm.
“Evan.”
He turned.
“Mom.”
“If you go there, Glenn gets another person to threaten.”
That stopped him.
I continued.
“He already has Kelsey.”
“He wants me.”
“He does not need you too.”
Evan looked furious.
But he understood.
Carver left to coordinate with deputies.
Raymond stayed with Thomas.
Evan and I stepped into the hallway.
For the first time all night, we were alone.
He leaned against the wall.
“I don’t know who Dad was anymore.”
I stood beside him.
“Neither do I.”
“Did he love us?”
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You sound sure.”
“I am.”
“How?”
“Because secrets and love can exist in the same person.”
“That doesn’t make the secrets okay.”
“No.”
“But one doesn’t erase the other.”
He looked down.
“I hate that answer.”
“So do I.”
He rubbed his face.
“Was he happy?”
“With us?”
“Yes.”
I thought of Gene dancing terribly in our kitchen.
Teaching Evan to drive.
Sleeping in a chair beside Lainey’s crib the first night we babysat her because he was convinced she would stop breathing.
“Yes.”
I smiled sadly.
“He was.”
Evan nodded.
Then whispered, “What if Glenn’s telling the truth?”
“About the dead child?”
“Yes.”
I swallowed.
“Then we learn the truth.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
My whole body tensed.
Evan saw it.
“Glenn.”
“Probably.”
We called Carver back before answering.
He returned quickly.
“Speaker.”
I answered.
“Hello?”
For several seconds, all we heard was breathing.
Then a woman whispered:
“Stacey?”
It wasn’t Glenn.
“Kelsey?”
“Yes.”
Evan stepped closer.
“Where are you?”
Her voice shook.
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
Then we heard a metallic sound.
Chains maybe.
Or a door.
Kelsey whispered faster.
“Glenn left the room.”
Carver mouthed, Keep her talking.
I asked, “Can you see anything?”
“Warehouse.”
“Windows?”
“Small ones.”
“Signs?”
“No.”
“Road noise?”
She listened.
“Trucks.”
Carver nodded.
That fit the industrial area.
I asked, “Do you have the control certificate?”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
My heart jumped.
“Where?”
“With me.”
“Don’t give it to him.”
“I know.”
Then her voice cracked.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
“This isn’t the time.”
“I need to say it.”
“You can say it when you’re safe.”
“No.”
She started crying.
“I helped him years ago.”
I closed my eyes.
“What did you do?”
“I gave him access to Gene’s trust information.”
Evan listened silently.
“I thought Glenn was helping me.”
“What changed?”
“I found the transfers.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“And you stayed with him?”
“No.”
She sounded angry now.
“I left.”
“Then why did he keep using your name?”
“Because he already had everything.”
“Identification.”
“Tax records.”
“Old signatures.”
My stomach turned.
The same pattern he used on me.
Kelsey continued.
“When I confronted him, he threatened to expose Gene.”
“What exactly did he know about Gene?”
Silence.
“Kelsey.”
Her breathing changed.
“He knows about Daniel.”
Evan looked at me.
“Daniel?”
Kelsey whispered, “The boy.”
My heart pounded.
“Who was Daniel?”
Another sound came through the phone.
A door somewhere.
Kelsey panicked.
“He’s coming back.”
“Tell me who Daniel was.”
She whispered fast.
“Gene’s son.”
“With who?”
“My mother.”
Everything stopped.
I felt the wall behind me.
Evan’s face went white.
Kelsey continued before I could speak.
“Daniel was my younger brother.”
That meant Gene hadn’t fathered one child with Diane.
He had fathered two.
I could barely speak.
“How?”
Kelsey was crying.
“My mother never told him about either of us at first.”
“When Gene came to Florida for the DNA test, she told him everything.”
“Daniel was already dead by then.”
Evan whispered, “How did he die?”
Kelsey heard him.
“Is that Evan?”
“Yes.”
Her voice broke.
“I’m sorry.”
“Kelsey.”
Evan leaned closer to the phone.
“How did my brother die?”
The word brother seemed to hurt him.
Kelsey took a breath.
“Boat accident.”
My mind flashed to the photograph Brooke described.
Gene.
Glenn.
Kelsey.
Another man.
On a boat.
I whispered, “What happened?”
Kelsey answered slowly.
“Daniel was seventeen.”
“He was drinking.”
“He took a small boat out during a storm.”
“Where was Gene?”
“He wasn’t there.”
I closed my eyes.
Then Glenn had lied.
But Kelsey continued.
“Not when the boat sank.”
My eyes opened.
“What does that mean?”
“Gene had met Daniel earlier that day.”
Evan asked, “Why?”
“Daniel found out who his father was.”
My chest tightened.
“He confronted Gene.”
“And?”
“They fought.”
“What kind of fight?”
“Words.”
Kelsey started crying harder.
“Daniel begged Gene to acknowledge him.”
I felt sick.
“What did Gene say?”
“He said he needed time.”
Evan closed his eyes.
Kelsey continued.
“Daniel thought Gene was rejecting him.”
“He stole the boat.”
“And went out alone.”
I whispered, “Then Gene didn’t kill him.”
Kelsey said nothing.
“Kelsey?”
“He didn’t stop him.”
That hit differently.
Evan frowned.
“What?”
“Gene saw him leaving.”
“How do you know?”
“Glenn was there.”
My blood ran cold.
Of course.
Glenn.
Always standing just close enough to someone else’s pain to turn it into leverage.
Kelsey continued.
“Glenn said Gene could have stopped Daniel.”
“He said Gene let him go because he was afraid Stacey would find out.”
I shut my eyes.
Was that true?
I didn’t know.
Kelsey whispered, “Gene blamed himself for the rest of his life.”
That sounded true.
A person can be innocent of murder and still carry guilt heavy enough to bend them.
Suddenly a man’s voice exploded through the phone.
“What are you doing?”
Kelsey screamed.
The phone dropped.
We heard movement.
A crash.
Glenn shouting.
Then his voice came closer.
“Stacey.”
I gripped the phone.
“If you hurt her—”
“Enough.”
“Let her go.”
“Bring the papers.”
“You already know my answer.”
“Then listen carefully.”
Something scraped across the floor.
Kelsey cried out.
Evan lunged toward the phone as if he could reach through it.
Glenn said, “You have forty minutes.”
“For what?”
“To come to Bell-Harbor Warehouse Three.”
Carver’s eyes sharpened.
We had the exact location.
Glenn continued.
“Alone.”
I looked at Carver.
He shook his head.
I said, “Fine.”
Evan stared at me.
Glenn laughed.
“Bring the assignment document.”
“I will.”
“And your passport.”
“No.”
“Then I start hurting her.”
My stomach twisted.
“Glenn.”
“Forty minutes.”
He hung up.
Carver was already moving.
He spoke into his radio and hurried away.
Evan turned on me.
“You are not going.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“I didn’t say alone.”
His face changed.
Raymond stepped into the hallway.
“What happened?”
I told him.
He immediately said, “You cannot sign anything.”
“I know.”
“Even under coercion, we don’t know what damage he can create before it’s challenged.”
“I know.”
Thomas called from his room.
“Stacey.”
We stepped back inside.
He looked pale.
“What did Glenn say?”
I told him.
Thomas’s eyes widened.
“Warehouse Three?”
“Yes.”
“There’s something you need to know.”
“What?”
“That building sits on the trust property.”
I stared at him.
“So?”
“Underneath it is the original records vault.”
Raymond frowned.
“Records vault?”
“Harold built it in the seventies.”
“For what?”
“Deeds.”
“Trust documents.”
“Ownership certificates.”
My heart started pounding.
Thomas continued.
“If Glenn has access to the vault, he may not just be after Stacey’s signature.”
“What else?”
“The original corporate ledger.”
Raymond went still.
“That could be dangerous.”
Evan frowned.
“Why?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Because whoever controls the ledger and the certificate can create an apparent chain of ownership.”
“Apparent?”
“Long enough to sell.”
My stomach dropped.
“He has a buyer.”
Thomas nodded.
“That’s what I think.”
“For twelve million?”
“Possibly more.”
Raymond asked, “Who?”
Thomas shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Then he remembered something.
His face changed.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“Gene once rejected a company.”
“Which company?”
“Midwest Meridian Logistics.”
Raymond immediately recognized the name.
“They’ve been buying industrial land all over the corridor.”
Thomas nodded.
“They offered Gene eight million five years ago.”
I stared at him.
“You said a developer offered 1.8.”
“Different parcel interest.”
“The full company is worth much more.”
“How much?”
Thomas swallowed.
“With current zoning?”
He looked at me.
“Maybe eighteen million.”
Evan stared at him.
“So Glenn isn’t trying to steal twelve million.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Not anymore.”
My phone buzzed.
A text.
Unknown number.
One image.
Kelsey tied to a chair.
And beside her stood Glenn.
But there was another man in the photograph.
Tall.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
Raymond stared at the screen.
His face changed.
“You know him?”
He nodded slowly.
“Who?”
“That’s Charles Dane.”
I looked at the fraudulent transfer papers.
Wexler & Dane.
My blood turned cold.
“The law firm?”
Raymond nodded.
“Senior partner.”
Evan whispered, “So Glenn didn’t trick the lawyers.”
“No.”
Raymond stared at the photo.
“The lawyer may be part of it.”
Then another message arrived.
A photograph of a contract.
Purchase Price:
$18,400,000.
Buyer:
MIDWEST MERIDIAN LOGISTICS.
Seller:
BELL-HARBOR HOLDINGS.
Authorized representative:
STACEY ANN MILLER.
My name was already typed at the bottom.
All they needed was my signature.