Joanne stared at the photograph. “What?”
“I already know what happened to him.”
Halsey opened a drawer and removed a thick file.
“Eleanor hired investigators three separate times,” he said quietly. “Each search ended the same way.”
Marlene’s face tightened. “Don’t.”
Halsey ignored her. “Letters went missing. Records disappeared. Information was withheld.”
Joanne slowly turned toward her sister. “Marlene?”
“Each search ended the same way.”
“I was protecting the family,” she said.
“No,” Halsey replied. “You were protecting an inheritance.”
The room fell silent.
Then Halsey turned to me.
“Daniel,” he asked in a low voice. “You said you already know what happened to Eleanor’s son. How is that possible?”
“You were protecting an inheritance.”
I pointed to the name on the birth certificate.
“Thomas. R.” Then I pulled out my own birth certificate and set it on the desk. I pointed to my father’s name. “Thomas. R. Born on the same day as Eleanor’s son. It can’t be a coincidence.”
