“Okay,”
Lucas said quietly. Nathan wanted to hug him, wanted to tell him the truth, that he was his father, that he’d been looking for him without even knowing it, that he loved him already. But he couldn’t. Not yet. It was too much, too soon.
“Lucas, can you do me a favor?”
Evelyn asked.
“Can you go back upstairs and play quietly in your room for a little while? The grown-ups need to talk about some important things.”
“Are you sure everything’s okay?”
Lucas asked, worry in his voice.
“I promise,”
Evelyn said, kissing his forehead.
“Everything is going to be okay.”
Lucas nodded and went back upstairs. They heard his bedroom door closed. Evelyn stood up and turned to Nathan.
“You really think your father will help us?”
“I don’t know,”
Nathan spoke honestly.
“But we have to try. Do you have a phone I can use?”
Evelyn got her old cell phone, a cheap one with a cracked screen, and handed it to Nathan. Nathan dialed a number he hadn’t called in 3 years. The phone rang once, twice, three times. Then a man’s voice answered.
“Hello?”
“Dad,”
Nathan said.
“It’s me, Nathan. I need your help.”
30 minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Evelyn jumped, her hand flying to her chest.
“Is that the police?”
Nathan looked out the window.
“No. It’s my father.”
He opened the door. Standing on the porch was a man in his 60s with gray hair and kind eyes. He was tall like Nathan, but his shoulders were a little bent, like he carried heavy things for too long.
“Nathan,”
the man said. Then his eyes moved to Evelyn and his mouth fell open.
“Evelyn? Is that really you?”
“Hello, Mr. Cole,”
Evelyn said quietly. Nathan’s father, Richard Cole, stepped inside like he’d seen a ghost.
“But you’re we thought you were dead.”
“I know,”
Evelyn finished. Richard looked at Nathan.
“Son, what’s going on?”
“That’s what we need to talk about,”
Nathan said.
“Dad, sit down. This is going to take a while.”
They all sat in the small living room, Nathan and Evelyn on the couch, Richard in the old armchair. And Nathan told his father everything. He told him about finding Evelyn alive, about Lucas, about confronting his mother and hearing her confession, about the threats she made to Evelyn 8 years ago, about the staged death. Richard listened to everything without interrupting. His face got paler and paler as the story went on. When Nathan finished, Richard sat in silence for a long time. Then he said.
“I knew she was capable of many things. But this I never imagined.”
“Did you know?”
Nathan asked.
“Did you know Evelyn was alive?”
“No,”
Richard said firmly.
“I swear to you, son. I had no idea. When Patricia told me about the accident, I believed her. I mourned for Evelyn. I thought she was really gone.”
He looked at Evelyn with sad eyes.
“I’m so sorry for what she did to you. For not knowing. For not protecting you.”
“It’s not your fault,”
Evelyn said softly.
“Did Mom ever say anything?”
Nathan asked.
“Anything that might have been a clue?”
Richard thought hard.
“Not about Evelyn specifically. But there were things. Strange things.”
“Like what?”
Nathan leaned forward.
“About a month after Evelyn’s supposed death, I noticed large amounts of money being withdrawn from our joint account,”
Richard said.
“When I asked Patricia about it, she said she’d made some investments. I didn’t question it at the time.”
“How much money?”
Nathan asked.
“$50,000,”
Richard said.
“Then another $20,000 a few weeks later.”
Nathan and Evelyn looked at each other.
“That could be the payments,”
Nathan said.
“To the men she hired to cover up what she did.”
“Do you still have access to those records?”
Evelyn asked Richard. Richard shook his head.
“After the divorce, most of our accounts were separated. But.”
He paused.
“But I kept copies of everything. Every bank statement, every transaction. Just in case.”
“In case of what?”
Nathan asked.
“In case she tried to hide assets during the divorce,”
Richard explained.
“I didn’t trust her, so I documented everything.”
Hope flared in Nathan’s chest.
“Dad, do you still have those documents?”
“Yes,”
Richard said.
“In a storage unit across town. I kept them locked up in case I never needed them.”
“We need them,”
Nathan said urgently.
“We need them now. If we can prove Mom made those payments, we can prove she was involved in faking Evelyn’s death.”
Leave a Comment