Part 28 (2/2)

”Richard Morris and I did not look anything alike,” said Chan through gritted teeth. ”Now shut up. We're wasting time. You're going to be sorry.”

Tess felt oddly fearless despite his threats. She knew his secret. She could see it in his eyes, which avoided meeting hers. ”How long have you known that Nelson Abbott was your father?” Tess asked. Tess could see that her question had broken his concentration, was preventing him from resuming his search. She knew he would make her pay, but she didn't care. Every second that pa.s.sed, Erny had a better chance of getting away. At least one of them would escape.

”Shut your mouth. Who told you that?” Chan cried.

”n.o.body told me. Earlier today I saw a picture of Nelson as a young man.”

Chan clenched the muscles in his jaw. ”Oh, you're suggesting that my mother slept with the gardener?” he asked in a voice dripping with sarcasm. ”I don't think so.”

But it was all coming together in Tess's mind. The resemblance in the photo. The treasured valentine from M. to N. She needed to know for sure. ”What was your mother's name?” she asked.

”My mother's name? What business is that of yours?”

”What was her name?” Tess demanded.

”Meredith. Her name was Meredith. Are you happy now?”

”In the barn, I found a valentine. An old one, that your mother gave to Nelson long ago.” Tess's heart was thumping, but she could not afford to let him terrify her into silence. For Erny's sake, she had to keep him talking. She was bound up in tape and otherwise helpless. It was all she could do. Besides, this man was Phoebe's killer. And she had to know the rest. ”That was what Nelson came to tell you at the newspaper, wasn't it?” she persisted. ”That he realized you had to be Phoebe's killer because of the DNA. It had to be you because he knew you were his son.”

”Shut up!” Chan shouted. He glared at her as if he could kill her with his bare hands. ”Just shut up. You don't know what you're talking about.”

Tess summoned all her courage and continued. ”Nelson always believed that Lazarus killed my sister. It never crossed his mind that it might be you. Until he learned about the DNA results. He must have known all these years that you were his son.”

Chan snorted. ”No. He says he always suspected. But he didn't know it for sure.” Chan fell silent but she could see him mentally reliving his last conversation with Nelson. Finally, he sighed. ”My nana threw her out when she found out my mother was pregnant. Nana never knew that Nelson was the father.” Chan's laugh was scornful. ”She would have fired him. h.e.l.l, she would have castrated him. Nana didn't put up with much.”

”She never told you any of this?” Tess asked.

”My mother?” Chan snorted derisively and then stared, unseeing, through the winds.h.i.+eld. ”No. She never told me about Nelson. She never told Nelson, either, but he always suspected. But not me. h.e.l.l, I thought Richard Morris was my father until the day of his funeral.”

”When was that?” Tess asked gingerly.

Chan shook his head. ”When I was fourteen years old. My mother was furious at me that day because I refused to wear a tie. She started screaming about how I had to pay my respects to Richard for all he'd done for me. How he'd treated me like his own.”

Chan shook his head in amazement at the memory, even after all these years. ”I was stunned. I said to her, 'What do you mean, like his own?'

”'Oh, you were two years old when I married him,' she told me. 'I was all alone in the world,' she said. 'Your grandmother put me out of the house and cut off all funds 'cause I was pregnant and planned to quit college and have the baby. I had to take work as a clerk in a department store. Not many men with a house and a good job like Richard's would have taken on a woman with a two-year-old,' she said.”

Chan sighed and shook his head, as if he had fallen into a funk. Then he turned and looked at Tess in amazement. ”When I thought about what my life had been...I couldn't speak for a while. Finally, I said to her, 'What about my real father?'

”She said he was married. That he didn't even know about me. Besides, she said, 'You didn't need him. You had Richard.'

”That's when I...lost it. My whole life I had gone along with it...suffered. And then to find out...”

To her amazement, Tess saw something glistening in Chan's eyes. He sighed several times and then he shook his head, as if to shake off the memory. ”So I said to her, 'Did you know that Richard was a pervert? That Richard made me do s.e.x acts with him ever since I was little?'”

Tess grimaced at the sight of the outrage in his eyes. She felt a genuine pity for him. ”Is that true?”

”Of course it's true!” he cried. ”And you know what my mother said? She looked at me and said, 'Don't talk like that about Rich. He always took good care of us and now I don't know what I'm going to do.' That's exactly what she said. 'He took good care of us.'” Chan's eyes were furious. ”Luckily, she got cancer and died about six months later.”

”G.o.d,” said Tess. ”That is a terrible story.”

”It's not a story,” said Chan. ”It's my life.”

”I didn't mean-”

Chan drew himself up. ”All right. That's enough. Where's that f.u.c.king roll of duct tape?” He got out of the car and began to rummage through the backseat. ”I'll shut you up once and for all.”

Tess turned her head and looked out the car window at the trees and the smoky autumn sky. She thought about all the misery that had brought them to this point. Chan, once a victim, had created victims of his own. All that stifled anger, erupting into violence. It was as sad as it was horrifying. Gazing through the open car window, knowing that Chan was about to come back and muzzle her, Tess suddenly saw a movement in the woods, beyond the lake. Her heart stopped for a moment as she tried to make it out and then, when it moved again, she recognized what she was seeing. Erny. He was crouched by the dark trunk of a flame-colored tree and he was looking at her. Their eyes met and his frightened gaze locked onto hers. Tess stifled a gasp and then she a.s.sumed an expression so stern it was almost a glare. She jerked her chin up as if to indicate the direction of the road and mouthed the words ”run-go.” Erny, crouched in the gra.s.s, read her lips with wide eyes.

He didn't understand, Tess thought with a sinking heart. He's hovering there, waiting for me to get free. At this rate we'll both be killed. And then, in the midst of her despair, she saw him lift his hand and point in the direction of the road. He jabbed his finger twice toward the front gates and then pointed to his own chest.

A wave of relief pa.s.sed through her. Tess closed her eyes for a moment and gave thanks. Then she opened her eyes wide, held his gaze, and nodded her head sharply. Erny hesitated a moment, and then he disappeared behind the tree.

In the next moment, Tess heard a ripping sound. The pa.s.senger door opened, obstructing her view, and Chan Morris leaned in and plastered a large rectangle of silver duct tape over her mouth. Tess tried to gasp, but couldn't. She closed her eyes and prayed for Erny to keep running.

CHAPTER 32.

Jake and Julie embraced and Dawn beamed. ”It's all right now, it's okay,” Jake said, although it was questionable whether he was talking to himself or to his wife. Julie struggled to hold back tears as she clutched his back, her small diamond ring winking in the light of the inn's foyer. Kenneth and Ben stood by awkwardly, witnessing the family reunion.

”How did you manage it?” Kenneth asked the young attorney. ”Dawn was really worried.”

”Well, it took a while to track down the guy who was mixing Jake's paints at the paint store in North Conway. But we found him.”

Kenneth nodded. ”Lucky he had you to help him. I'm Kenneth Phalen, by the way. I...I'm a friend of Dawn's. I used to live here. A lifetime ago.”

”Ben Ramsey.” The two men shook hands.

”Let me get one of those,” said Dawn to her daughter-in-law.

Julie reluctantly let go of her husband. Jake gave his mother a brief, fierce hug. Then he released her and turned to Ben. ”I owe you, man,” he said.

”Glad I could help,” Ben demurred, smiling. ”We should tell Tess you're back.”

”Tess isn't here,” said Julie.

Ben's disappointment was visible in his face. ”She's not? Was there some news about Erny?”

”No, there wasn't and I'm worried sick,” said Dawn. ”We've been trying to call her for the last hour and there's no answer on her cell phone.”

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