Page 119 of Tattered (Lark Cove 1)

“Just give me five minutes before you run off. Please.”

I sighed and turned, following him down a few doors to his office. As much as I wanted to get the hell out of this house, I needed to get this over with and hear whatever he had to say.

We entered the office and Dad went straight for his mahogany desk. This was the one room in the house that Mom wasn’t allowed to redecorate every few years, so it was the same as it had been when I was a kid.

There were dark bookshelves on every wall. A liquor cart sat in the corner. His desk rested on a Persian rug in the middle of the room. A leather couch faced a gas fireplace. The smell of his last Cuban cigar lingered in the air. Every time I walked into his office, it brought back memories of me doing my homework on the couch while he worked every evening.

Dad had always worked, and until tonight, I hadn’t thought anything of it. As kids, if we’d wanted to spend time with him, it was in this room.

Was that how Charlie had felt this last week? I’d brought her and Thea here for a vacation but had basically abandoned them in favor of work. Did they feel like second place to my job?

Shit. Was I becoming my father? I loved the man. I admired him. But he wasn’t the type of dad to coach soccer games, read bedtime stories or play in forts. If I wanted all of that with Charlie, things had to change.

I had to cut back at work.

“I need to check on Thea and Charlie,” I told him.

“This won’t take long.” He slid a file folder to the edge of his desk, then ran a hand through his hair. It was a habit I’d also picked up from him long ago. Granny had always told me that when I did it, I looked just like Dad. “Read that.”

I picked it up, opening it to a large photo of Thea working at the bar. What the hell? “Where did you get this?”

“I hired an investigator to look into Thea.”

“You’re kidding me.” The corner of the cover’s folder crumpled in my fist. “Why? Isn’t it enough that I trust her?”

“Logan, be reasonable. Your mother wasn’t entirely wrong earlier. You don’t know this woman.”

“But you do?” I held up the file. “I’m not looking at this.” I tossed the folder on the desk. I trusted Thea to tell me about her past when she was ready.

“Then I’ll tell you what it says.” I turned to leave, but his words stopped me. “She was dumped as a newborn. Did you know that? She was found in a Dumpster in Harlem, strung out on heroin. According to the notes in her hospital records, she went weeks without a name because they didn’t think she was going to live. I guess one of the nurses finally named her.”

My dinner almost came up, but I swallowed it down and let Dad continue. I should walk away. I should leave this for Thea to explain. But I couldn’t move my feet.

“She grew up in an orphanage in Brooklyn. From what the investigator could tell, that place should never have been left open. But it looks like the director had some sort of connection with the city to keep her funding. From what he could dig up, he thinks most of the money she got went into her own pocket.”

Dad came around the desk, swiping up the folder as he approached. He rifled through it and held out a picture.

I took it from his hands, finding Thea immediately in a group of ten young children. She was the smallest, probably close to Charlie’s age, and standing on the concrete steps of an old brick building. Her pants were three inches too short. Her shirt was too small. And damn she was thin. So thin it made me want to scream.

A large woman, the director most likely, was standing off to the side. Her smile was wide while the kids were all forcing it.

Thea had learned that fake smile much too young.

“The director kept about ten kids on average in that orphanage. I’m guessing that was done strategically. Enough kids to keep the place open, not so many to take away from her own profits. She let some turnover happen, just so she could say she was

trying to get kids adopted. Not too much though. The investigator found out that three different families tried to adopt Thea when she was a baby. Each time their applications were denied.”

The temptation was too much and I yanked the file from Dad’s hands. He stood by watching as I thumbed through grainy pictures, school records and notes from the investigator.

As the pictures progressed, there were fewer and fewer children in them. Except for Thea’s face, consistent in them all. “Was she by herself?”

Dad nodded. “We’re not sure, but I suspect the director made some sort of arrangement to keep the orphanage open until all the kids turned eighteen. They probably didn’t want to uproot the kids who’d lived there all their lives. Thea was the youngest, so it closed down after she graduated. She lived there alone for about a year.”

I stared at the last picture in front of the orphanage. Only Thea, the director and Hazel were pictured on the steps. “Was Hazel in on it?”

“The cook? No.”

My shoulders sagged. I wouldn’t have been able to tell Thea if Hazel had betrayed her. I wouldn’t have had the guts to take Charlie’s gran away from her.