Mara stopped the cassette.<\/p>\n
For nearly a minute she remained kneeling on the concrete floor, one hand resting on the recorder, listening to her own pulse.<\/p>\n
My son deserves to know who his father is.<\/p>\n
Her father\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
Robert Bell\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
Except the sentence made no sense.<\/p>\n
If Daniel was Robert\u2019s son, then there was nothing to argue about.<\/p>\n
Unless Robert was saying exactly the opposite.<\/p>\n
Mara rewound the tape.<\/p>\n
She pressed play again.<\/p>\n
Static.<\/p>\n
Evelyn:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot tell him the child is yours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas:<\/p>\n
\u201cHe deserves to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert:<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. My son deserves to know who his father is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara listened again.<\/p>\n
And again.<\/p>\n
On the fourth time, she noticed something she had missed.<\/p>\n
Robert did not say my son deserves to know someday.<\/p>\n
He said my son deserves to know who his father is.<\/p>\n
Not Daniel.<\/p>\n
A boy.<\/p>\n
Already old enough to understand.<\/p>\n
But Daniel had been five in 1989.<\/p>\n
Mara had been seven.<\/p>\n
Her stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
She let the cassette continue.<\/p>\n
Thomas spoke next.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou made me promise six years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert answered, \u201cAnd you broke it the first chance you got.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t break anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou came to my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she called me.\u201d<\/p>\n
A sharp sound followed.<\/p>\n
Maybe a hand striking a table.<\/p>\n
Evelyn said, \u201cStop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am tired of being blamed for choices you made.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert\u2019s voice rose.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stay away from my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI built that company with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t about the company.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. It\u2019s about Mara.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara froze.<\/p>\n
The storage unit seemed to contract around her.<\/p>\n
Her own name.<\/p>\n
Not Daniel.<\/p>\n
Thomas said it again.<\/p>\n
\u201cMara has a right to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tape clicked.<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Then Evelyn began crying.<\/p>\n
Mara pressed STOP.<\/p>\n
She stood too quickly and struck her shoulder against the filing cabinet.<\/p>\n
Pain shot down her arm.<\/p>\n
She barely noticed.<\/p>\n
For years she had assumed the secret concerned Daniel.<\/p>\n
Evelyn\u2019s note explicitly mentioned him.<\/p>\n
Thomas had warned her not to involve him.<\/p>\n
Robert had spoken about a child and paternity.<\/p>\n
Every clue had pointed toward her brother.<\/p>\n
Now the tape had turned toward her.<\/p>\n
Mara paced to the open storage door.<\/p>\n
Outside, sunlight reflected off rows of metal roofs.<\/p>\n
A forklift beeped somewhere behind the main building.<\/p>\n
Ordinary sounds.<\/p>\n
That offended her.<\/p>\n
The world should not sound ordinary while her childhood was being dismantled.<\/p>\n
She called Thomas.<\/p>\n
He had written his number on the back of a business card pushed under Evelyn\u2019s front door after leaving the previous night.<\/p>\n
He answered after two rings.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou found it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not a question.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew about the tape.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Thomas Vale my father?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Mara shut her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnswer me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is a terrible answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is also the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told my parents I had a right to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKnow what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat your mother and I had been together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore Dad?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long before?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words landed harder than a confession.<\/p>\n
Mara leaned against the storage wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy birthday is April second.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can count.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor thirty-seven years?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor thirty-nine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou thought I might be yours before 1989?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew there was a possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you ask?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn said Robert was your father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you believe her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s convenient.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was cowardly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The immediate admission disarmed her.<\/p>\n
Thomas continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert knew before you were born.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew Evelyn and I had been involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas she married?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were separated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara pressed her fingertips against her forehead.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents were separated?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor four months.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey never told us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would have to ask them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice softened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara looked at the recorder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you come back in 1989?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never left town voluntarily.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe newspaper said you vanished.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas exhaled.<\/p>\n
\u201cListen to the rest of the tape.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause if I tell you first, you\u2019ll hear everything through my version.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least your version would have words.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tape has words.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou recorded it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara felt colder.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas did not answer immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone who should not have been there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Mara could ask more, a shadow crossed the open doorway.<\/p>\n
She turned.<\/p>\n
Daniel stood outside Unit 214.<\/p>\n
His expression hardened when he saw the phone in her hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou lied to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara ended the call.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did you find me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMom\u2019s storage bill was in the desk.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked toward the boxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew about this unit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew one existed. Not the number.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel stepped inside.<\/p>\n
His eyes landed on the recorder.<\/p>\n
Then the cassette.<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething Mom left.\u201d<\/p>\n
He moved toward it.<\/p>\n
Mara blocked him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMara.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me about the deposit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did last night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told me after I confronted you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re angry. Fine. But whatever is on that tape concerns both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed toward the boxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom paid for this unit for twenty-seven years. Dad\u2019s toolbox is here. Thomas disappeared because of something that happened to both of them. Whatever this is, it is family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is my father?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel went still.<\/p>\n
He did not ask what she meant.<\/p>\n
That frightened her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Dad died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEleven years?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI found a letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara stepped backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Dad\u2019s hospital bag.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t addressed to anyone. It was probably something he wrote and never sent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wrote that keeping the truth about you had destroyed three lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara\u2019s throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know what truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew enough to hurt you and not enough to explain why.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou made that decision for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
His answer was quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
For once Daniel did not defend himself.<\/p>\n
That made Mara angrier.<\/p>\n
She reached for the recorder.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we listen now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tape resumed.<\/p>\n
Robert\u2019s younger voice filled the storage unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cMara is my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas answered, \u201cThen prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGet out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA blood test.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t your decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt became my decision when Evelyn called me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn said, \u201cI called because of the money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas laughed once.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe money. Of course.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert said, \u201cYou took it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cForty-two thousand dollars disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou transferred it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn interrupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth of you stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe account was emptied with Robert\u2019s authorization code.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew the code.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas:<\/p>\n
\u201cSo did Evelyn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Mara and Daniel exchanged a look.<\/p>\n
Then a fourth voice spoke.<\/p>\n
Female.<\/p>\n
Soft.<\/p>\n
Close to the recorder.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re forgetting about me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara frowned.<\/p>\n
Daniel leaned closer.<\/p>\n
Robert said, \u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman replied, \u201cMaking sure none of you change the story later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn sounded frightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cRuth, turn that off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara\u2019s head snapped toward Daniel.<\/p>\n
Aunt Ruth.<\/p>\n
Their mother\u2019s younger sister.<\/p>\n
Ruth had recorded the confrontation.<\/p>\n
The tape continued.<\/p>\n
Ruth said, \u201cNot until Thomas tells them what I saw.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas answered, \u201cThis has nothing to do with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you see?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruth:<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas wasn\u2019t at the bank on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n
A chair scraped.<\/p>\n
Then Ruth added:<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel whispered, \u201cJesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara stared at the recorder.<\/p>\n
The $42,000 deposit.<\/p>\n
Their mother.<\/p>\n
The money.<\/p>\n
Thomas being blamed.<\/p>\n
But Ruth had not finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd she wasn\u2019t alone,\u201d Ruth said.<\/p>\n
Robert demanded, \u201cWho was with her?\u201d<\/p>\n
The tape crackled.<\/p>\n
A truck roared somewhere in the background.<\/p>\n
Then Ruth said a name.<\/p>\n
Mara replayed the section because she could not believe it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSamuel Wynn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel stepped back.<\/p>\n
Carter Wynn.<\/p>\n
The private investigator Daniel had hired.<\/p>\n
Wynn.<\/p>\n
Mara looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Carter related to Samuel?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s face had gone pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cSamuel Wynn was his father.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tape abruptly ended.<\/p>\n
Not with silence.<\/p>\n
With a gunshot.<\/p>\n
Mara stopped the cassette. For nearly a minute she remained kneeling on the concrete floor, one hand resting on the recorder, listening to her own pulse. My son deserves to … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10880,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10860\/revisions\/10880"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}