Chương 11
His reply came before the light changed.
No.
Claire’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
Mara read the screen.
“That was rude.”
“Thank you, ethics committee.”
“What’s that?”
“Nothing.”
At the next intersection, Claire saw Peter’s SUV turn left two cars ahead.
She called him.
“I’m behind you.”
“I’m heading to Richard’s.”
“Do you know the address?”
“Denise gave it to me.”
“Of course she did.”
“Claire.”
“What?”
“I found something else.”
The light changed.
Claire followed him through.
“What?”
“There was an envelope with Dad’s lawyer papers.”
“Another test?”
“No.”
Peter’s voice sounded different now.
Not frightened.
Ashamed.
“It was addressed to Daniel.”
Claire’s foot eased off the accelerator.
“Did you open it?”
“It was already open.”
“By whom?”
“Dad.”
“How do you know?”
“Because there’s a note on the envelope.”
“What does it say?”
Peter did not answer immediately.
His turn signal began blinking ahead of her.
“Peter.”
“It says, ‘Not yet.’”
Claire followed him onto Richard’s street.
“Is the letter inside?”
“Yes.”
“What does it say?”
“Most of it is Dad trying to explain why he had the test done.”
“And?”
“And he says the result didn’t tell him who Daniel’s biological father was.”
Claire looked at Mara.
Mara was watching the houses pass.
“Keep going.”
“He says he asked Whitcomb to locate Michael.”
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
Claire’s mouth went dry.
“And?”
Peter’s brake lights came on.
“He found him.”
Claire slowed behind him.
“Where?”
Peter stopped at the curb three houses from a small ranch home with a porch light burning.
“He lives forty miles away.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Dad wrote down his phone number.”
Claire pulled in behind Peter.
A man stood on Richard’s porch.
Even at that distance she recognized Daniel.
Another man faced him from the open doorway.
Richard had gone gray since Claire last saw him at Frank’s funeral, but he still held his shoulders with the same rigid forward tilt.
Daniel was speaking.
Richard shook his head.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Stay in the car,” Claire told Mara.
“You always say that right before I don’t.”
“Tonight, try shocking me.”
Claire got out.
Peter was already crossing the lawn.
Richard saw him first.
His expression changed.
Not surprise.
Recognition of a disaster he had spent years expecting.
Daniel turned at the sound of Claire’s door closing.
For one second his face softened.
Then he saw Mara through the windshield.
“What the hell, Claire?”
“She’s safer with me.”
“You brought her here?”
“You disappeared.”
“I went for a walk.”
“To your uncle’s house at ten forty at night.”
Richard flinched at the word uncle.
Daniel saw it.
So did Claire.
Daniel turned back to him.
“Tell me.”
Richard’s hand remained on the doorframe.
“I already did.”
“No, you told me to go home.”
“Yes.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only useful thing I have for you tonight.”
Peter reached the porch.
“Daniel, Dad left you a letter.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What?”
“I found it after you left.”
“Give it to me.”
“It’s at my house.”
Daniel laughed once without humor.
“Of course it is.”
Richard looked from one brother to the other.
“Frank wrote him a letter?”
Peter nodded.
Richard closed his eyes.
The reaction was small but unmistakable.
Claire stepped nearer.
“You knew Frank had tested Daniel.”
Richard opened his eyes.
“I knew he was asking questions.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“You talked to him?”
Richard looked at Daniel.
“Yes.”
“What did he ask?”
Richard’s grip tightened on the doorframe.
“The same thing you’re asking.”
Daniel took one step forward.
“And what did you tell him?”
Richard looked past him toward Mara sitting in Claire’s car.
When he answered, his voice had lost its resistance.
“I told Frank I wasn’t your father.”
Daniel did not move.
For a moment, the porch light hummed louder than any of them.
Then he said, “You’re sure.”
Richard’s mouth tightened.
“Yes.”
“Because you had a test?”
“No.”
“Then how are you sure?”
Richard looked at Claire as though she had somehow brought the question with her.
“I’m sure.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the answer I have.”
Peter climbed the first porch step.
“Richard, this stopped being your private business when Dad started paying a lawyer to find people.”
Richard’s eyes snapped toward him.
“He found Michael?”
Daniel turned so quickly his shoulder struck the porch post.
Claire watched Richard’s face lose color.
“You know him,” Daniel said.
Richard stepped backward into the doorway.
“I knew him.”
“Where is he?”
“Daniel.”
“Where is he?”
Mara opened the passenger door behind Claire.
Claire turned.
“Stay in the car.”
“I need the bathroom.”
Of all the things Mara could have said, it was so ordinary that nobody answered.
Richard stared at her.
Mara stood beside the open car door with her coat hanging from one hand.
“I really do.”
Claire nearly laughed, and the fact that laughter was even possible made her feel briefly insane.
Richard rubbed his forehead.
“Come inside.”
Daniel blocked the doorway.
“No.”
“Your daughter needs a bathroom.”
“My daughter?”
Richard’s expression changed.
Daniel saw that too.
He stepped aside slowly.
Mara walked past the adults, then stopped beside Daniel.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
She went inside.
Richard pointed down the hall without looking away from Daniel.
“Second door.”
Mara disappeared.
Claire remained near the porch steps.
The night smelled faintly of somebody’s fireplace and wet leaves.
Across the street, a television flickered blue behind blinds.
Richard said, “Michael was my friend.”
Daniel’s laugh was short.
“Apparently everyone was everyone’s friend.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Turn forty years into a joke because you can’t stand hearing it.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“You don’t get to tell me what I can stand.”
“No.”
Richard glanced toward the hallway.
“No, I probably don’t.”
Peter held up his phone.
“I can call him.”
Claire looked at him.
“What?”
“Dad wrote down Michael’s number.”
Richard came fully onto the porch.
May you like
“Don’t.”
Daniel stared at Peter’s phone.
