AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I was hungry, too."
I didn't have much of an appetite, dreading the conversation that I knew was coming, but I managed to eat my eggs and sip some coffee. And then my phone buzzed. "It's the investigator," I said, putting the call on speaker as I answered. "Hello, Jeremy. Do you have any news?"
"Yes. The charity that was sending Mr. Beckham's mother money doesn't exist. There is no nonprofit group by that name anywhere in this country. No evidence of a business license, a bank account, nothing. It's a fabrication."
"My mother was just sending his mom cash on her own?"
"That's the only explanation I can come up with. However, I've also gone through your mother's financial accounts, and there is no evidence that she has any money beyond what she takes in from her job. The purchase of her house sixteen years ago was made with a cash down payment, of about three hundred thousand dollars, but I have no idea where she got that, unless she took it from your father. The life of Kim Landry ended in that hurricane in New Orleans. The life of Laura Hawthorne began about nineteen months after that."
"Who was she for those nineteen months in between?"
"No idea. But at some point, she purchased a new identity. And this identity was incredibly detailed. She was given new identification that matched new fingerprints, a fake history that included a degree in music from a university in Colorado. That's how she was able to get a job at the school where she works."
His words blew me away. "How does one even do that?"
"If you have enough money, and/or powerful connections, it can be done." Jeremy paused. "I also don't think it was the first time she changed identities. I looked up her past before she married your father. You said she went to community college in San Diego, but I can't find any record of her at any school in that city. In fact, Kim Cooper came to life about a year and a half before she married your father. I was able to trace some credit cards in that name, but then that life ended after she disappeared in New Orleans."
"That’s crazy. How can she keep changing identities? And why does she do it?"
"Good questions. I checked with a friend of mine who is with the US Marshals to find out if it's possible your mother was in witness protection."
My heart leapt against my chest. "That would explain how she could become someone else."
"Yes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get anyone to confirm that she was. I did point out that she's now lying unconscious in a hospital, so if she is supposed to be under protection, someone has messed up. I was told again that they couldn't provide me with any information."
I thought about that. "If she were in witness protection, that would explain why she faked her death, why she stayed away all these years, why someone tried to kill her now," I said. "People go into protection when they testify against someone, right?"
"That's one of the reasons. Their life is usually in danger by something they do to aid the government. I'm going to keep digging," Jeremy said. "Any word from your father? He hasn't come back to his hotel room. I know the police are keeping an eye out for him as well."
I hesitated, not sure what I wanted to reveal at this moment. "I'm still waiting to talk to him," I said. It was partly true. "Is there anything else, Jeremy?"
"I did some research into the death of Kade's father."
I licked my lips as I looked across the counter at Kade, whose expression had turned to stone. "What did you find out?"
"The robbery occurred after an event at a private estate, owned by billionaire real-estate developer James Holden. The crew took jewelry worth about ten million dollars at that time, probably double that now, two paintings valued at over a million dollars each, and about five-hundred thousand dollars in cash."
"That's a lot of cash."
"It is. The police believe the crew got access to the estate before the party started and hid away until after the event ended, as there was no evidence of forced entry. It was also believed that it could have been an inside job as the private security firm had the alarm codes. There was some speculation that Kade's father was part of it, since he was supposed to have left with the other security personnel. One theory suggested he gave the crew access, but there was a disagreement, and he ended up getting shot."
"No fucking way," Kade said loudly.
"I guess Kade is there. A heads-up would have been nice, Brynn," Jeremy said dryly.
"That didn't happen, Jeremy," Kade said, moving closer to me and the phone.
"I'm just telling you what I saw in the police report," Jeremy said. "Apparently, your father had been arrested for petty theft when he was in his late teens and was involved in a gang."
"That was when he was a kid, running with a bad crowd. He got his life together. He did not let that crew into the house."
I saw the anger in Kade's eyes, as well as a hint of uncertainty. We both wanted to believe in our fathers, but now we had questions.
"I'll keep looking into it," Jeremy said. "Anything new on your end?"
"A lot," I said with a sigh. "Someone tried to kidnap me last night. The police have him in custody, but he was hired off the dark web. Maybe you can check in with Inspector Greenman and see if you can help."
"Of course. Are you all right? I just spoke to your brother-in-law; he didn't mention anything about a kidnapping."
