“Eleanor wasn’t confused a day in her life.”
“Marlene.” Joanne’s voice cracked. “Stop.”
Halsey lifted the envelope from his desk.
He held it out to me across the wood, past Marlene’s shoulder, like a man handing a candle through a doorway.
“Daniel, take this. Read it somewhere quiet. Don’t respond to anyone until you’ve read every line.”
“You can’t just give him that,” Marlene said, reaching to snatch the envelope.
“Don’t respond to anyone until you’ve read every line.”
I took the envelope before she could grab it.
“I can,” Halsey said. “And I have.”
I gathered the photographs, the birth certificate and the bracelet then I tucked the sewing machine under one arm and fled before Marlene could get any more ideas.
“I’ll see you in court,” Marlene said as I passed her.
“Maybe,” I answered.
I took the envelope before she could grab it.
Then I walked out into the parking lot with a dead woman’s sewing machine, a sealed letter against my ribs, and Marlene’s voice chasing me down the hall.
***
I sat in my old car in the lawyer’s parking lot, the letter trembling in my hands.
Eventually, I broke the seal and removed the letter inside.
Daniel, I have one final job for you.
I have spent sixty years looking for someone, and now I ask that you continue the search.
Daniel, I have one final job for you.
All I have to help you with your search is inside the sewing machine.
Find him for me, Daniel. I could not.
Do this, and everything I had is yours.
I put the letter back in the envelope and unfolded the birth certificate.
Eleanor was listed as the mother.
The father was some man named Michael that she’d never mentioned.
Then I saw the name of the child on the birth certificate and my blood ran cold.
Find him for me, Daniel. I could not.
I reached into my glove box, where I still kept all my important papers from the time when I’d lived in my car.
Then I rushed back into Halsey’s office.
Marlene was still leaning over Halsey’s desk, voice sharp.
“He has no right to any of it,” she snapped.
I walked past her and placed the birth certificate on the desk.
I rushed back into Halsey’s office.
Then I placed the photographs beside it.
The photo on top showed a young Eleanor holding a swaddled baby.
Marlene went quiet.
“Your aunt had a son,” I said. “She spent sixty years looking for him. She asked me to find him, but it turns out, I already know what happened to him.”
Joanne stared at the photograph. “What?”
“I already know what happened to him.”
Halsey opened a drawer and removed a thick file.
“Eleanor hired investigators three separate times,” he said quietly. “Each search ended the same way.”
Marlene’s face tightened. “Don’t.”
Halsey ignored her. “Letters went missing. Records disappeared. Information was withheld.”
Joanne slowly turned toward her sister. “Marlene?”
“Each search ended the same way.”
“I was protecting the family,” she said.
“No,” Halsey replied. “You were protecting an inheritance.”
The room fell silent.
Then Halsey turned to me.
“Daniel,” he asked in a low voice. “You said you already know what happened to Eleanor’s son. How is that possible?”
