Chapter 5 - The Man Who Comforted JasperMalcolm remembered Adrian Cole kneeling beside five-year-old Jasper after the funeral.
“Your mommy loved you more than anything.”
Jasper had cried into his shoulder.
Adrian had attended family dinners.
Christmas.
Asher’s christening.
He had brought toys.
Cards.
Meals.
Malcolm trusted him enough to make him temporary guardian in an old version of Jasper’s estate plan.
Now Malcolm wanted to vomit.
Grant obtained Bright Harbor records.
Complaints.
Sealed lawsuits.
Adoption irregularities.
Children moved between foster homes unusually quickly.
Birth records amended.
Guardianships changed.
Money flowing through consulting companies.
Nothing alone proved a criminal network.
Together, it looked rotten.
Then the exhumation result came.
The dead woman in Eleanor’s grave was not Eleanor Hale.
Dental records had been falsified.
DNA showed no match.
But investigators found one hit.
The dead woman was identified as Melissa Granton, age twenty-seven.
Former employee of Bright Harbor.
Reported missing one week before Eleanor’s crash.
Malcolm stared.
“She worked for Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“Why was she wearing Eleanor’s jewelry?”
“We don’t know.”
“Did Eleanor kill her?”
Grant’s eyes narrowed.
“That’s a serious question.”
“She disappeared while another woman died in her place.”
“We have no evidence Eleanor caused the death.”
“Then how?”
Grant slid another report over.
Melissa died before the car caught fire.
Blunt trauma.
No graphic details.
But homicide.
Malcolm leaned back.
“Someone killed Melissa, dressed her as Eleanor, put her in the car.”
“Likely.”
“And wanted everyone to believe Eleanor died.”
“Yes.”
“So Eleanor escaped.”
“Maybe.”
“Or she was part of it.”
Grant didn’t answer.
Malcolm hated that possibility.
He loved Eleanor.
But the dead had been buried.
The living had lied.
Three years changed what loyalty meant.
He returned to Winifred.
“You knew Melissa?”
“No.”
“Eleanor did?”
Winifred hesitated.
“She mentioned someone named Missy.”
“Melissa.”
“Probably.”
“What did she say?”
“That the girl tried to help.”
“With what?”
“The children.”
Again.
“What children?”
Winifred shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Malcolm slammed his hand against the table.
“You have sixty thousand dollars, Eleanor’s medication, current photographs, and you want me to believe you know nothing?”
Winifred flinched.
Then her expression hardened.
“Do not speak to me as if I created this.”
“You struck my baby.”
“Yes.”
“And I will answer for that.”
“Then answer for the rest.”
She looked at him.
“The money came from Eleanor.”
“Why?”
“For Jasper and Asher.”
“What?”
“She told me to take them.”
Malcolm went cold.
“Take them where?”
“Georgia.”
“Why?”
“She said today was the last safe day.”
Malcolm stared.
“Safe from what?”
Winifred lowered her voice.
“From you.”
Silence.
Malcolm leaned back.
“She thinks I’m involved.”
“She doesn’t know.”
“Doesn’t know?”
“Eleanor said someone inside your company signed documents using your authority.”
“Forged?”
“Maybe.”
“She thinks I helped?”
“She thinks either you helped…”
Winifred paused.
“…or someone has been using your identity for years.”
Malcolm thought of the prescription.
Eleanor’s identity being used.
Dental records falsified.
Could the same thing be happening to him?
“What was in the suitcase besides money?”
“Documents.”
“What documents?”
Winifred looked down.
“Birth certificates.”
Malcolm frowned.
“Whose?”
“Jasper’s.”
“And?”
She did not answer.
“And whose?”
“Asher’s.”
“That’s normal.”
“No.”
Winifred lifted her eyes.
“Not the birth certificates you have.”
Malcolm’s stomach tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“They list different mothers.”
He stopped breathing.
“Different mothers?”
“Yes.”
“For Jasper?”
“No.”
“Then Asher.”
Winifred nodded.
Malcolm’s mind went blank.
Claire had given birth to Asher.
He had been there.
He had held her hand.
He watched doctors take the baby.
“What mother does the other certificate list?”
May you like
Winifred whispered:
“Eleanor.”
Related Stories
