Chapter 11 - The Silver Case
The silver case contained copies of documents Arthur had hidden for five years.
Photographs from Parcel 17.
Payment records.
Private correspondence.
And one item Teresa had never seen.
A sealed pathology report.
The report belonged to one of the bodies discovered beneath East Harbor.
Female.
Approximately thirty years old.
Cause of death: undetermined.
Estimated time underground: eighteen years.
A partial DNA profile had been generated before the remains vanished.
Arthur had secretly kept a copy.
Clara read it in Teresa’s motel room.
Cole stood beside her.
Julian had remained in the hospital under police guard.
Teresa sat on the bed wrapped in a cheap motel blanket.
“I never opened that envelope.”
“Why keep the case?” Clara asked.
“Insurance.”
“Against Arthur?”
“Against everyone.”
Clara looked at the DNA profile.
Something about the numbers bothered her.
“You had children tested after this?”
Teresa frowned.
“What?”
“Did Arthur ever ask Julian for DNA?”
“No.”
Clara looked at Cole.
“Can we compare this?”
“To Julian?”
“Yes.”
Teresa stood.
“Why?”
Clara ignored her.
Cole took a photograph of the page.
“It’ll take time.”
“Push it.”
Teresa stared at Clara.
“What are you thinking?”
“I don’t know yet.”
The motel telephone rang.
All three froze.
Cole motioned for Teresa not to answer.
It rang again.
Then stopped.
Thirty seconds later, Clara’s phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
You’re finally asking the right question.
Clara typed:
Who was the woman?
The answer came.
Ask Arthur who Julian’s mother is.
Clara slowly raised her eyes toward Teresa.
Teresa saw her expression.
“What?”
Clara turned the phone around.
Teresa read the message.
Her face became strangely calm.
Too calm.
Cole saw it.
“Mrs. Vance?”
Teresa sat down.
Clara whispered:
“You knew.”
Teresa closed her eyes.
“Not at first.”
Clara’s stomach turned.
“Julian isn’t your biological son.”
Teresa began to cry.
“No.”
The word seemed to hollow out the room.
Cole asked quietly, “Whose son is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Clara stared.
Teresa wiped her eyes.
“We adopted him privately.”
“Legally?”
Teresa hesitated.
May you like
Arthur’s sins had trained Clara to recognize that pause.
“No.”
