Chapter 12 - The Truth About My Father Was Worse Than His Death
For fifteen minutes, I believed Travis was panicking.
Confused.
Maybe manipulating me.
Then he sent the photograph.
My father.
Alive.
Taken seven months earlier.
Standing outside a train station in Quebec.
Older.
Thinner.
Beard.
But unmistakably Robert Cole.
My knees gave out.
I sat on the kitchen floor.
Naomi crouched beside me.
“What happened?”
I handed her the phone.
She stared at the image.
“That could be altered.”
“It could.”
Another message arrived.
A video.
Seven seconds.
Robert walked toward a black car.
Turned.
Spoke to someone outside frame.
His voice was faint.
But I knew it.
I had spent twelve years trying to remember that voice accurately.
I knew it.
My father was alive.
Or someone had constructed the most elaborate deception I had ever seen.
Travis called again.
I answered.
“Explain.”
“Helen says Dad didn’t die.”
“That’s impossible.”
“She says the body was cremated immediately.”
“I know.”
“No autopsy.”
“I know.”
“She says Malcolm arranged the hospital paperwork.”
My entire childhood cracked open.
“What happened at lunch?”
“Helen doesn’t remember all of it.”
“Then how do you know?”
“She kept letters.”
“From Dad.”
“Recent letters?”
“Yes.”
“How recent?”
“Last year.”
I could barely breathe.
“Why would Dad fake his death?”
“To escape.”
“From who?”
“Mom.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That makes no sense.”
“Apparently he planned to expose Northstar.”
“Malcolm warned him Evelyn knew.”
“Dad believed she would retaliate against us.”
“So he disappeared?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“Helen says the heart attack was real.”
“Dad collapsed.”
“He survived.”
“Malcolm arranged for the family to be told he died.”
“Why would Malcolm help him?”
“Because Dad threatened to expose Malcolm too.”
“Helping Dad disappear bought Malcolm silence.”
My head pounded.
“So Dad abandoned us for twelve years to protect us?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is he?”
“Canada sometimes.”
“Europe.”
“Helen isn’t clear.”
“Does Mom know he lived?”
Travis hesitated.
“I think she found out recently.”
“When?”
“Maybe before Sophie died.”
That connected something.
Sophie’s message.
If he still has Robert’s copy, this ends today.
She may not have been meeting someone who possessed Robert’s records.
She may have been meeting Robert.
My father.
“What if Sophie knew?”
Naomi whispered.
I looked at her.
She had reached the same conclusion.
I asked Travis.
“Did Helen say Sophie contacted Dad?”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
“When?”
“Before the crash.”
Everything changed.
Sophie had discovered my father was alive.
And she had not told me.
Again, someone had decided I needed protecting.
Again, the lie had cost us everything.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“An old hunting cabin.”
“Whose?”
“Granddad’s.”
I knew it.
Near Fairplay.
Two hours away.
“I’m coming.”
“No police.”
“Not negotiable.”
“Malcolm may be watching law enforcement.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
“Lila stays protected.”
“She already is.”
I looked toward the two deputies outside June’s house.
Naomi shook her head.
“You are not going alone.”
“I know.”
We informed Ruiz.
She nearly exploded when she learned Travis had contacted me.
But she agreed to a controlled approach.
No marked vehicles.
No sirens.
Travis opened the cabin door shortly after two in the morning.
He looked terrible.
Helen slept in a chair beside the fireplace.
Wrapped in blankets.
For a moment, seeing her removed the anger.
She looked tiny.
Fragile.
Nothing like the woman who had helped notarize lies that reshaped my life.
Travis closed the door.
“You brought police.”
“Yes.”
“Of course.”
Ruiz entered.
Helen woke.
Her eyes moved from person to person.
Then stopped on me.
“Robert?”
My heart broke.
“No.”
I crouched beside her.
“I’m Adrian.”
She blinked.
“Robert’s boy.”
“Yes.”
She touched my cheek.
“You have his eyes.”
I swallowed.
“So does Travis.”
Helen looked toward my brother.
Her expression changed.
“No.”
One word.
Travis froze.
“No what?”
Helen looked confused again.
Then whispered:
“Malcolm’s eyes.”
The room went completely silent.
Travis turned away.
He had suspected.
Now an old woman with failing memory had said it aloud.
Ruiz gently began asking questions.
Helen drifted between years.
Some answers made no sense.
Others were precise.
Northstar?
“Malcolm’s little box.”
Evelyn?
“She liked boxes that hid money.”
Robert?
“Too good for her.”
Aaron Vale?
Her eyes filled.
“Poor Aaron.”
“What happened to Aaron?”
“Malcolm said he went away.”
“Did Malcolm kill him?”
Helen shook her head.
“Not Malcolm.”
“Who?”
She whispered something.
Ruiz leaned closer.
“What?”
Helen repeated it.
“Caroline.”
Nolan Voss’s wife.
The intermediary who hired the mechanic.
My stomach turned.
Caroline had been involved twelve years earlier too.
“What did Caroline do?”
“Drove him.”
“Where?”
“To the property?”
Helen nodded vaguely.
“Malcolm said only scare.”
“Evelyn said no witnesses.”
Ruiz’s expression changed.
“Evelyn said that?”
Helen stared toward the fire.
“No witnesses.”
Then she began crying.
It was not enough for prosecution.
Not alone.
But it was enough to point investigators.
Travis handed over the letters.
Most were from Henry.
Two from Robert.
One dated seven months earlier.
Helen,
I cannot keep doing this.
Sophie’s death changed everything.
I thought staying dead protected the boys.
Instead, it left Evelyn unchecked.
Adrian deserves the truth.
I am returning before the trust distribution.
Do not tell Malcolm.
He is no longer afraid of me.
The letter ended with an address in Montreal.
Police contacted Canadian authorities.
The apartment was empty.
But neighbors recognized Robert’s photograph.
He had lived there.
Until six weeks earlier.
Then vanished.
Six weeks.
Around the time Evelyn began pushing aggressively on the trust.
At dawn, Travis finally told me what he knew.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at him.
“For which part?”
He had no answer.
“The Christmas thing?”
“The lies?”
“Framing me?”
“Helping Mom use Lila?”
“Knowing Dad might be alive?”
“I learned that yesterday.”
“Everything else?”
His eyes dropped.
“I thought you always won.”
I almost laughed.
“What?”
“Granddad loved you more.”
“Dad loved you more.”
“Sophie was smarter than everyone.”
“You got the division that mattered.”
“Then Granddad changed the trust.”
“And I thought if I didn’t fight, I’d spend the rest of my life being your useless little brother.”
“You’re thirty-six.”
“I know.”
“You used a six-year-old because you were jealous.”
He flinched.
“When you say it that way—”
“There is no other way.”
He covered his face.
“I’m sorry.”
“Good.”
“You should be.”
Ruiz walked toward us.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“The officers guarding June’s house just reported a power outage.”
My heart stopped.
“What happened?”
“Backup power is running.”
“Rebecca?”
“Inside.”
“Lila?”
“Inside.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Ruiz’s phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Her face changed.
“What?”
I demanded.
She ended the call.
“Someone breached the perimeter.”
My body went cold.
“How?”
“Rear fence.”
“Deputies found footprints.”
“Did they get inside?”
“We don’t know yet.”
I was already moving.
Ruiz caught my arm.
“Adrian.”
“My daughter is there.”
“Officers are clearing the house.”
I pulled free.
Then my phone rang.
Rebecca.
I answered.
Nothing.
“Rebecca?”
Breathing.
Then a man’s voice.
Smooth.
Calm.
Familiar.
“Adrian.”
Malcolm.
Every muscle in my body locked.
“Where is Lila?”
“She’s safe.”
“If you touch her—”
“Stop.”
“Listen carefully.”
I heard Rebecca crying somewhere behind him.
Then Lila.
“Daddy?”
My heart nearly stopped.
“I’m here, sweetheart.”
“Daddy, there’s a man—”
The phone moved.
Malcolm returned.
“Bring the Northstar archive from Helen’s cabin.”
“What archive?”
“Do not waste time.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Travis does.”
I looked at my brother.
His face went white.
He did have something.
Malcolm continued.
“Midnight.”
“Old Cole Ridge mill.”
“No police.”
“And Adrian?”
“Yes?”
“If I see a cruiser, you will spend the rest of your life wondering whether being right was worth losing your daughter.”
The call ended.
I turned to Travis.
“What archive?”
He said nothing.
I grabbed him.
“What archive?”
He reached inside his coat.
Pulled out a small metal key.
May you like
Then whispered:
“Helen showed me where Granddad hid the real records.”
