Chapter 5: The Man Who Came Looking for Me
I didn't sleep that night.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the photograph of my mother beside David Bennett. I heard my father's confession. I reread the words about love and blood until they stopped looking like sentences and became something sharp lodged beneath my ribs.
At six in the morning, I went downstairs.
Dad sat alone at the kitchen table, still wearing yesterday's clothes. A cold cup of coffee rested between his hands.
He looked up when I entered.
"Emily.""
I stopped in the doorway.
"Did you know he came here?""
Dad lowered his eyes.
"No.""
"Vanessa said David visited three years ago.""
"I heard her.""
"And you're not going to explain?""
He pushed the coffee away.
"Your mother and David had a complicated relationship. When she became pregnant, she wasn't certain who your biological father was. David left Atlanta before you were born.""
"Why?""
"Your mother said he couldn't handle the situation.""
"Did you believe her?""
Dad took a long breath.
"I wanted to.""
That answer hurt because it sounded honest.
I pulled out the chair across from him.
"What happened when I was born?""
"Your mother and I agreed not to pursue a paternity test. I signed your birth certificate. I raised you. I never thought of you as anything other than my daughter.""
"But you always knew there was a chance.""
He nodded.
"Your mother and I promised each other we'd never let that uncertainty affect you.""
I looked at him carefully.
"Did you ever resent me?""
His head snapped up.
"Never.""
"Not even when Mom was sick? Not when money got tight?""
"Emily, look at me.""
I did.
"You were the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't need a DNA test to know that.""
Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
"Then why did Mom leave all these secrets?""
Dad looked toward the window.
"I think she was afraid. She'd spent years trying to keep everyone happy. Sometimes people convince themselves that hiding the truth is the same as protecting the people they love.""
I thought of Vanessa's forged will and the money missing from my accounts.
"That sounds familiar.""
Dad winced.
Before he could respond, the doorbell rang.
We both froze.
I glanced at the clock.
Six fifteen.
Nobody visited at six fifteen in the morning.
Dad stood and walked to the front door. When he opened it, a tall man stood on the porch holding a worn leather folder.
His hair was graying at the temples. He wore a charcoal jacket over a pale blue shirt, and his gray eyes moved from Dad's face to mine.
For a moment, he looked as if he might turn around and leave.
Then he said, "Marcus.""
Dad's shoulders stiffened.
"David.""
The man swallowed.
"Is Emily here?""
I stepped forward.
"I'm Emily.""
He looked at me for a long time.
Something in his expression broke.
"You look like your mother.""
I gripped the doorframe.
"Are you David Bennett?""
He nodded.
"Yes.""
"Did you come here three years ago?""
His eyes shifted toward Marcus.
"Yes.""
"Why?""
David looked down at the folder in his hands.
"Because I found out someone had been accessing an account your mother created for you. I wanted to warn your father.""
Dad frowned.
"You never told me that.""
"I tried. Vanessa answered the door.""
I felt my stomach tighten.
"What did she say?""
David opened the folder and removed a folded sheet of paper.
"She told me Laura had changed her mind about you. She said you didn't want anything to do with me, and that Marcus would call the police if I came back.""
"I never said that," I whispered.
"I know that now.""
He held the paper toward me.
It was a copy of a bank statement.
At the top was a trust account number. Near the bottom was a transfer of $190,000, dated three years earlier.
The recipient's name was Vanessa Reed.
I stared at the page.
"She took the money three years ago?""
David nodded.
"Not all of it. That transfer was only part of what I discovered.""
Dad took the statement from me.
"How did you get access to this?""
"Laura had named me as a secondary contact on a separate custodial account. She told me to monitor it if anything happened to her. I couldn't access the money, but I could receive certain notices.""
"Why didn't you contact the police?""
"I tried contacting the bank. They told me the account holder had authorized the transfer. When I came here, Vanessa showed me a document claiming Laura had legally removed me from the arrangement.""
Daniel's words returned to me.
Attempts to alter the trust.
My mother had anticipated this.
"Why didn't you come back?"" I asked.
David's face tightened.
"Because Vanessa sent me a letter with your name on it. It said you didn't want to meet me and that you'd been told I abandoned your mother.""
"I never wrote that.""
"I know.""
"Then why did you believe her?""
He looked ashamed.
"Because I had already made the mistake of walking away once. I thought I had no right to force myself into your life.""
Dad stepped outside onto the porch.
"You should have come to me.""
"You're right.""
"You let my daughter grow up believing she had no choice about knowing you.""
David's voice grew quiet.
"I know.""
I looked between the two men.
One had raised me, and the other had spent eighteen years as a stranger. Both looked as though they were carrying regrets heavy enough to crush them.
But only one person had taken my money.
"David," I said, "what else did you discover?""
He opened the folder again.
"There were three accounts connected to Laura's estate. One was your college fund. Another was the inheritance trust. The third was an investment account she established shortly before she died.""
"How much was in the third account?""
"Originally? A little over $300,000.""
Dad stared at him.
"What?""
David nodded grimly.
"I believe most of it was transferred out over several years.""
My knees weakened.
"By Vanessa?""
"I suspect so. But there's something else.""
He removed a photocopy of a document bearing my mother's signature.
Unlike the forged will, this signature looked uneven and shaky.
"Laura sent this to me shortly before she died," he said.
"She told me to keep it safe until you were old enough to understand.""
I read the first line.
To my daughter, Emily Reed, I leave the right to recover every asset improperly removed from my estate.
Below it was a list of account numbers.
And one of them belonged to a bank I'd never heard of.
David tapped the final entry.
"This account is still active.""
Dad leaned closer.
"How much is left in it?""
David looked at me.
"According to the last statement I received, $428,000.""
I stared at him.
"Then why did Vanessa steal my college money?""
David's expression darkened.
"Because she may have believed that account was the only place your mother had hidden the evidence.""
He turned the document over.
On the back was a handwritten note.
If anything happens to me, the person who knows the truth is not Marcus. It is the woman who helped me sign the first trust papers.
Dad frowned.
"Who was that?""
David hesitated.
Then he gave us a name.
"Patricia Cole.""
I knew the name.
Patricia had been my mother's closest friend and the woman who'd stood beside her at the hospital during her final week.
She'd also been Vanessa's maid of honor at her wedding to Dad.
And according to David, she had disappeared from Atlanta less than a month after my mother died.
Before anyone could speak, my phone vibrated on the kitchen counter.
An unknown number.
The message contained six words.
*Emily, don't trust David. Ask Patricia what happened.*
May you like
A second message appeared.
*Your mother didn't die the way you were told.*
