Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO WANTED THE SWALLOWMartin Vale was not hard to find.
That made Damon more nervous.
He was fifty-four and ran Vale Coastal Development, a company involved in waterfront property throughout New England.
Photographs online showed an expensive suit, silver hair, charity dinners, city officials, and ribbon cuttings.
Ruby looked at Damon’s phone.
“That’s him.”
Damon turned.
“What?”
“He came to our motel.”
“When?”
“About two weeks ago.”
“Did he speak to you?”
“No. Mom told me to stay in the bathroom.”
Damon felt his blood run cold.
“What did you hear?”
“They argued.”
“About?”
Ruby squeezed her hands together.
“Mom said, ‘You already took enough from me.’”
Tessa sat beside her.
“And what did he say?”
Ruby searched her memory.
“He said something about evidence.”
Damon looked at the paper again.
Martin Vale’s name had been hidden inside the necklace Damon gave Elena.
Which meant Elena had modified the pendant after disappearing.
The necklace was not valuable.
Whatever Vale wanted, it was connected to what the necklace represented.
Or to something Elena believed Damon would understand.
Tessa warned him not to investigate alone.
Damon agreed.
Then immediately started investigating.
His old friend Caleb Mercer worked as a private investigator specializing in insurance fraud.
Caleb did not like Damon’s story.
“I can check Vale publicly,” he said. “Corporate filings. lawsuits. property records. That’s it.”
“Fine.”
“And you stay away from him.”
“Fine.”
“You’re saying fine like you’re lying.”
“I’m offended.”
“You should be.”
The next morning brought another development.
Police discovered Elena had used cash to buy a bus ticket from Boston back toward Maine.
But she never boarded.
Security footage showed her entering the terminal.
Then leaving quickly after noticing someone.
A man.
The image was blurry.
Caleb enlarged it.
Damon recognized the build.
Ruby recognized the coat.
“That’s the man from our motel.”
Vale.
Ruby whispered, “Mom was running from him.”
Claire Benton immediately requested that Ruby’s location be kept confidential.
Damon’s concern deepened into anger.
But Ruby’s greatest fear was simpler.
“Does this mean Mom is alive?”
Claire answered carefully.
“It means we still have reason to look.”
That night, Ruby woke from a nightmare and found Damon asleep in a chair outside the guest room.
He had promised not to leave without telling her.
He had apparently taken the promise literally.
Ruby sat on the floor beside him.
Damon woke.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Fair.”
“Do you think you’re my dad?”
Damon leaned back.
“I think it’s possible.”
“Do you want to be?”
The question broke something inside him.
He could have answered emotionally.
Instead he answered correctly.
“If I am, I want the chance to do right by you.”
Ruby studied him.
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
Damon smiled sadly.
“No.”
He took a breath.
“Yes.”
Ruby looked away quickly.
Then asked, “Can we find out?”
“Yes.”
The DNA test was scheduled for the following morning.
But before they could get there, Caleb called.
“Damon, I found something.”
“What?”
“Martin Vale knew Elena’s father.”
Damon frowned.
“Elena’s father died when she was sixteen.”
“That’s what she told you.”
“Yes.”
“His name was Richard Fenwick?”
“Yes.”
Caleb went quiet.
“Richard Fenwick didn’t die when Elena was sixteen.”
Damon stood.
“What are you talking about?”
“He went to federal prison.”
“For what?”
“Fraud. Embezzlement. And he had a business partner.”
Damon already knew the answer.
“Martin Vale.”
“Exactly.”
Then Caleb added the part that changed everything.
“Richard Fenwick died in prison eight years ago.”
Damon looked toward Ruby’s bedroom.
Eight years ago.
Just months after Ruby was born.
May you like
And before dying, Richard Fenwick had sent one letter.
To Elena.
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