Chapter 14 - The Last Thing Jason Hid
The study door slammed shut.
Robert killed the lights.
Police were two minutes away.
Too long.
Footsteps crossed the hallway.
Slow.
Unhurried.
Mom looked terrified.
I had never seen that before.
Not even when the forged will surfaced.
“Who is Michael?”
She whispered, “Thomas’s older brother.”
“You said he disappeared.”
“He did.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas found out.”
“Found out what?”
The footsteps stopped outside the study.
Robert raised a heavy brass poker.
Rebecca grabbed the letter opener.
I held Dad’s ledger.
Ridiculous weapon.
The doorknob turned.
Locked.
A man’s voice said:
“Hannah.”
My chest tightened.
He knew my name.
Mom covered her mouth.
“Hannah, open the door.”
Robert whispered, “Do not.”
The man laughed softly.
“Robert. Still dramatic.”
Robert’s face changed.
“You know him.”
“Yes.”
The man said through the door:
“Thomas always did like lawyers more than brothers.”
My skin went cold.
Michael.
Police sirens sounded outside.
The footsteps retreated.
A back door slammed.
Robert unlocked the study.
Officers flooded in.
They found the garage empty.
One vehicle gone.
Mom’s Mercedes.
On Dad’s desk, though, someone had left an envelope.
My name.
Inside:
A photograph of two newborn girls.
No labels.
No bracelets.
One wrapped in pink.
One yellow.
On the back:
ASK LINDA WHICH ONE SHE TOOK.
I looked at Mom.
She sank into Dad’s chair.
“I don’t know.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just confessed.”
“I confessed to taking a baby.”
“Me.”
“I thought it was you.”
My head throbbed.
“That sentence makes no sense.”
“Because Thomas told me years later I may have taken Rebecca.”
Rebecca froze.
“What?”
Mom nodded.
“Michael switched the identification bands before Sarah and I woke.”
“Why?”
“To hide paternity.”
Robert’s face tightened.
“Whose?”
Mom looked at me.
“Thomas’s.”
I stopped.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“Not you. Maybe Rebecca.”
Rebecca stepped back.
“No.”
“Sarah and Thomas had an affair.”
Robert closed his eyes.
Dad.
The saint I had built in my head shifted.
Not shattered.
Changed.
Mom continued.
“Before Thomas and I married. Sarah got pregnant. I got pregnant too.”
Two babies.
One possibly Dad’s.
One Mom’s.
Michael switched them.
Then Mom took one.
Everyone lying about whose daughter belonged to whom.
I felt sick.
“Why would Michael switch them?”
“Money.”
Of course.
“What money?”
“Your grandfather’s trust.”
Robert answered.
“The Brooks trust passed through biological lineage.”
I stared.
“So Michael wanted control of which child qualified.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca whispered, “And Dad?”
Thomas.
“Did he know?”
Mom looked down.
“Eventually.”
“When?”
“After your grandfather died.”
“Then why not tell us?”
“He was trying to prove it.”
Dad’s note.
MICHAEL IS THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS WHICH GIRL IS WHICH.
I sat.
Rebecca sat too.
We looked at each other.
Same age.
Different faces.
Potential sisters.
Potential strangers.
My phone buzzed.
Jason.
Police had his phone in evidence.
This was scheduled send.
A file attachment.
One final audio.
Dad’s voice.
“Jason, if you want to make one decent choice, give this to Hannah.”
Jason:
“What is it?”
Dad:
“Proof.”
Then Mom’s voice in the background.
“Thomas?”
Dad whispered:
“Hide it.”
The recording ended.
Attached document.
DNA laboratory report.
THOMAS BROOKS / REBECCA LANE.
PATERNITY PROBABILITY: 99.9998%.
Rebecca covered her mouth.
Dad was her biological father.
I stared at the screen.
Then another page.
THOMAS BROOKS / HANNAH BROOKS.
PATERNITY EXCLUDED.
My throat closed.
Rebecca was Dad’s daughter.
I was not.
Mom whispered:
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at her.
Then at the photograph.
If Rebecca was Dad’s biological daughter, then who was I?
A third file appeared.
Encrypted.
Password hint:
THE NIGHT HANNAH CAME HOME.
Robert whispered:
“Thanksgiving?”
Mom went white.
“No.”
I looked at her.
“What night?”
She said nothing.
I stepped closer.
“What happened the night I came home?”
Mom’s voice cracked.
“The first night.”
My stomach dropped.
May you like
“You mean the night I was born.”
CUT.
