For several seconds after Rebecca turned over the Polaroid, no one moved.<\/p>\n
E.T.<\/p>\n
Two initials written beneath the image of the blue canvas bag in Russell\u2019s red pickup.<\/p>\n
My mother had been Evelyn Turner.<\/p>\n
There was no clever interpretation to soften that.<\/p>\n
Russell stood beside the kitchen table staring at the photograph as though the truck might suddenly explain itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat picture was taken behind Uncle Walter\u2019s garage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Walter leaned closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you tell?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Polaroid showed only a slice of chain-link behind the truck, but Russell pointed to a bent section near one post.<\/p>\n
\u201cI backed into that fence when I was sixteen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked annoyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told me Thomas did that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI lied.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIncredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell gave him a flat look.<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you like to compare lies?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter sat back down.<\/p>\n
I kept staring at the initials.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother moved the package.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know that,\u201d Rebecca said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has her initials.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo does every object she ever labeled.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t helping.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not trying to help. I\u2019m trying to keep us from deciding before we know.\u201d<\/p>\n
She sounded like Daniel.<\/p>\n
That hurt unexpectedly.<\/p>\n
My husband had possessed the infuriating ability to slow a room by asking whether anyone actually knew what they claimed to know.<\/p>\n
I picked up the Polaroid again.<\/p>\n
The handwriting did not immediately strike me as my mother\u2019s.<\/p>\n
But three block letters were hardly enough for comparison.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo we have anything else she initialed?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca started toward the boxes.<\/p>\n
Walter stopped her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something in his voice made us all turn.<\/p>\n
He held out his hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me see it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
I gave him the photograph.<\/p>\n
He tilted it toward the kitchen light.<\/p>\n
Then his face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter rubbed one thumb lightly beneath the initials without touching the ink itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat may not stand for Evelyn Turner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else would it stand for?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvidence transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room fell silent.<\/p>\n
Rebecca was first to respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cFederal notation?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said you were cooperating with the FBI,\u201d I said. \u201cWould they mark photographs like this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes evidence bags, notes, surveillance photographs. Different agents used different shorthand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sound uncertain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell folded his arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were certain enough five minutes ago that the blue package was federal property.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now you suddenly remember E.T. could mean evidence transfer?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter\u2019s mouth tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t looked at FBI paperwork from 1981 in decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat conveniently explains a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stepped between the accusation and the answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are your old federal records?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt my house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is the rest?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward the box from the bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of it disappeared when the blue package did.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course it did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter accepted the contempt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe operation against Mercer was bigger than anything you\u2019ve seen so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow big?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMultiple states.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell pulled out a chair and sat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen stop feeding us pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked suddenly tired.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think I enjoy this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you spent your entire adult life deciding which truth everyone else could survive.\u201d<\/p>\n
That landed.<\/p>\n
Walter lowered his eyes.<\/p>\n
Russell continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother thought her first child was dead because your family decided reality would embarrass them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou let Mercer blackmail her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou worked with federal agents while pretending nothing was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then you watched Mary and me get separated because everybody was scared of the consequences of telling the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked at his nephew.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s voice dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you don\u2019t get to control the pace anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
The old man nodded once.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll right.\u201d<\/p>\n
He reached for the cassette player but did not touch it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe operation started in spring 1981.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst Mercer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst Mercer and three men he worked with. Gambling, stolen property, interstate transport, bribery.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas my father involved?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot at first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut later?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert had helped with the 1979 burglary. That made him vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd to federal charges.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour agents wanted Dad to cooperate too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter took a breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert Turner was an informant?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor six days.\u201d<\/p>\n
The specificity chilled me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened after six days?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe backed out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt anger stir again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe discovered what Robert had agreed to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told him Mercer would retaliate against Mary Louise.\u201d<\/p>\n
I could almost hear my mother saying it.<\/p>\n
Not me.<\/p>\n
Our daughter.<\/p>\n
Always the threat attached to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas she wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
That stopped my anger from becoming simple.<\/p>\n
Walter continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cMercer had already started watching Mary. The fairground photograph proves that.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the picture of my seventeen-year-old self beside him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho took it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably one of Mercer\u2019s people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell pointed toward the blue-bag Polaroid.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd this one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFederal agent?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMercer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re doing wonderfully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter ignored him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blue package was supposed to be placed in Mercer\u2019s possession during a controlled exchange. Marked bills. A recorder hidden in the lining. Documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat documents?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCopies of payment records that would make him believe somebody inside the operation was betraying the government.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA trap.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy keep it at your garage?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Mercer trusted places more than people. My garage was somewhere he understood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he discovered the package.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe discovered something existed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca said, \u201cBut not where it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen someone moved it into Russell\u2019s truck.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd took a photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho had access to the truck?\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody at the garage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not useful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was 1981. Half the time the keys stayed under the seat.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really were stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI keep admitting that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked toward the bank documents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere may be an inventory sheet.\u201d<\/p>\n
We searched the leather folder.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Then Rebecca found a narrow pocket sewn into the folder\u2019s interior.<\/p>\n
Inside was a folded photocopy so thin the paper almost tore when she removed it.<\/p>\n
Across the top:<\/p>\n
OPERATION RIVERGLASS.<\/p>\n
Russell looked at Walter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the operation?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beneath the title was an evidence inventory.<\/p>\n
Marked currency.<\/p>\n
Cassette recorder.<\/p>\n
Microphone.<\/p>\n
Two federal affidavits.<\/p>\n
Photographs.<\/p>\n
One sealed envelope containing original correspondence.<\/p>\n
Then:<\/p>\n
Transfer designation: E.T.<\/p>\n
I looked at Rebecca.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were right.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot Grandma.\u201d<\/p>\n
For one second, relief moved through me.<\/p>\n
Then I noticed another line.<\/p>\n
Transfer custodian: R. Turner.<\/p>\n
My father.<\/p>\n
I read it twice.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad was supposed to move the package.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said he backed out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why is his name here?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause that paperwork was prepared before he withdrew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he ever take custody of the bag?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cBriefly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow briefly?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich night?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAugust seventeenth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The evening Russell and I sat beside the river planning a future.<\/p>\n
The day my mother showed Russell the marriage agreement.<\/p>\n
The day before my father nearly killed him.<\/p>\n
Everything was converging.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did Dad keep it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn your basement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe metal box.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe letters weren\u2019t in it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome letters were. The federal package was hidden behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered Russell saying my mother had sent him to confront my father and hoped he would discover Mercer\u2019s correspondence.<\/p>\n
Had she also known federal evidence was there?<\/p>\n
\u201cDid my mother know about Riverglass?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter\u2019s answer took too long.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou keep doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGiving us the next piece only when another document corners you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to remember events from forty-five years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. You\u2019re deciding how much damage each answer will cause.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat habit kept people alive once.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid it?\u201d<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
The room went quiet.<\/p>\n
I heard the clock above my stove.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter leaned forward with both hands wrapped around the head of his walking stick.<\/p>\n
\u201cRiverglass failed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe figured that out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo arrests from the operation. No successful exchange. Two witnesses disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s expression hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne was a bookmaker named Neil Sutter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the other?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn FBI source named Thomas Bell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDead?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNever found.\u201d<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere they connected to my family?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot directly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why does this matter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Mercer believed Robert was responsible for the failure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was barely cooperating.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat made him believable as the leak.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat again.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Mercer threaten him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRepeatedly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Dad attacked Russell because he was already terrified Mercer thought he betrayed him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part.<\/p>\n
Always part.<\/p>\n
Russell noticed too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the rest?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert caught you in the basement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you weren\u2019t alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou remember entering alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
Memory was not a film.<\/p>\n
It was fragments held together by certainty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was with me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter said, \u201cMargaret.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
He shook his head immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe followed you there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew Evelyn had shown you the marriage agreement. She knew you were furious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would remember my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had a concussion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember Robert coming downstairs. I remember shouting. I remember the tire iron.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you remember what happened immediately before he hit you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell opened his mouth.<\/p>\n
Nothing came.<\/p>\n
Walter looked at him gently for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou saw Margaret holding the blue package.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell went still.<\/p>\n
My own breath caught.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe took it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had gone into the basement before you arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn asked her to.\u201d<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
Not my mother moving the bag into Russell\u2019s truck.<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
At Evelyn\u2019s request.<\/p>\n
I felt the implications forming.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would Mother want federal evidence moved?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter answered, \u201cTo protect Robert.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the FBI?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMercer was coming for the package.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did she know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret told her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stared at Walter.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother was talking to Mercer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMercer was blackmailing her with Caleb.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo she knew what he wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Evelyn decided to remove the evidence before he arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy putting it in my truck?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was not the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room sharpened around those words.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was the plan?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret was supposed to drive it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Russell\u2019s truck?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who put it there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell leaned across the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter\u2019s knuckles whitened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Margaret left the Turner house with the bag.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe arrived at my garage twenty minutes later without it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere was Russell\u2019s truck?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the garage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe put it in my truck.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never saw her do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would she?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked her that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she say?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said she panicked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell laughed without humor.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy entire childhood was apparently built from people panicking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said Mercer\u2019s car followed her from Sycamore Street. She was afraid he would search her vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo she moved the bag into mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout telling me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then Mercer photographed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter from Mercer suddenly made sense.<\/p>\n
Bring the blue package from Walter\u2019s garage.<\/p>\n
Mercer believed Russell had it because someone had photographed it in Russell\u2019s truck.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Russell ever drive that truck afterward?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Walter nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe eighteenth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day Robert hit me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou took the truck to Sycamore Street.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stared into space.<\/p>\n
A memory surfaced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI parked behind the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the bag was outside in my truck while I was in the basement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened to it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter said nothing.<\/p>\n
Russell looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told you. It disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile you were inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
The entire sequence shifted.<\/p>\n
Someone knew the bag was in Russell\u2019s truck.<\/p>\n
Someone came to my parents\u2019 house.<\/p>\n
Someone removed it while Russell confronted my father.<\/p>\n
\u201cMercer?\u201d Rebecca asked.<\/p>\n
Walter shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe claimed he never got it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you believe him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause for the next month he tore apart half the county looking for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward my mother\u2019s cassette.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen somebody else took it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho knew where Russell was going that night?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWalter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell added, \u201cAnd probably Mercer if he was watching us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca started counting on her fingers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone federal?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne agent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cName?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid Harlan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlive?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we find him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca was already reaching for her phone when Walter said, \u201cBefore you do, there is something you should know about Harlan.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost did not want to ask.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the agent who recruited Robert.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter\u2019s gaze moved to the photograph from the county fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was also the man who told Mercer where the blue package was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the FBI had a mole.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did you find out?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c1992.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeon Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
That name seemed incapable of staying buried.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSent me a letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you still have it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell let out a long breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Harlan betrays the operation, Mercer learns about the bag, my mother moves it, somebody steals it from my truck, I get beaten nearly to death, and everybody decides the best solution is to lie to two teenagers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is an ugly but accurate summary.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the Riverglass inventory.<\/p>\n
One sealed envelope containing original correspondence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was in the correspondence?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter\u2019s face went carefully neutral.<\/p>\n
I saw it.<\/p>\n
So did Russell.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Russell said. \u201cWe are not doing this again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe letters were between Mercer and David Harlan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProof the agent was corrupt?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPartly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of them discussed Robert Turner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Robert had agreed to help expose Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot expose his gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heartbeat slowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat, then?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter\u2019s voice dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cExpose who Leon Mercer had killed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody moved.<\/p>\n
\u201cKilled?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many people?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least two.\u201d<\/p>\n
The missing witnesses.<\/p>\n
Neil Sutter.<\/p>\n
Thomas Bell.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Dad know where the bodies were?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe believed so.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlong the Mississippi.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur river?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe same stretch where Mary threw the locket.\u201d<\/p>\n
A cold sensation moved through me.<\/p>\n
All those years I had remembered that place as ours.<\/p>\n
First love.<\/p>\n
A silver heart.<\/p>\n
Loss.<\/p>\n
But beneath that memory, adults had been using the same river for something else entirely.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blue package contained proof of murder.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd whoever stole it may have kept that proof.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca whispered, \u201cFor forty-five years?\u201d<\/p>\n
Before anyone could answer, my phone rang.<\/p>\n
Unknown number again.<\/p>\n
Caleb Mercer.<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou opened the box.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not a question.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Walter is talking.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the old man.<\/p>\n
He shook his head.<\/p>\n
I stepped away from the others.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Riverglass file.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it belongs to my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt belongs to federal evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you afraid we\u2019ll find?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb went quiet.<\/p>\n
Then he said, \u201cYou think Leon Mercer was the dangerous one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe threatened my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father threatened everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why protect him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen help us.\u201d<\/p>\n
A humorless laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou still don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderstand what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blue package wasn\u2019t stolen from Russell\u2019s truck.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Russell.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone replaced it.\u201d<\/p>\n
My grip tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAn identical bag.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell saw something in my face.<\/p>\n
I raised one finger, signaling him to wait.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I saw the real one that night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was twenty-two years old and doing errands for my father. Of course I was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin went cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you see it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Evelyn Turner\u2019s car.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother.<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told Margaret to move it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe changed her mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she found out what was inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe letters?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe murder evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb\u2019s breathing sounded rough.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother realized one of the dead men wasn\u2019t dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas Bell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe FBI source?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWalter said he disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he survived?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere was he?\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk Russell.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s expression showed only confusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t know Thomas Bell.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb answered softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, he does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he hung up.<\/p>\n
I lowered the phone.<\/p>\n
Russell approached.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the man I had known first at seventeen and again only weeks ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says Thomas Bell survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter went rigid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he says Russell knew him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never heard that name in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca picked up the Riverglass sheet.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe Thomas Bell wasn\u2019t his real name.\u201d<\/p>\n
The thought settled over us.<\/p>\n
Federal source.<\/p>\n
False identity.<\/p>\n
A man who vanished.<\/p>\n
A person Russell might have known under another name.<\/p>\n
Walter reached slowly for the photograph of Russell leaving St. Anne\u2019s.<\/p>\n
His finger moved toward a figure in the far background.<\/p>\n
Not Leon Mercer.<\/p>\n
Another man.<\/p>\n
He stood beside a dark sedan, half turned away from the camera.<\/p>\n
Walter\u2019s hand began to shake.<\/p>\n
Russell leaned closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter did not answer at first.<\/p>\n
Then he whispered, \u201cThomas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stared at the grainy figure.<\/p>\n
His face emptied.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou recognize him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell sat down hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was he?\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell kept staring at the photograph.<\/p>\n
Finally he said, \u201cMy father\u2019s best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was his name?\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell looked at Walter.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank Bellamy.\u201d<\/p>\n
For several seconds after Rebecca turned over the Polaroid, no one moved. E.T. Two initials written beneath the image of the blue canvas bag in Russell\u2019s red pickup. My mother … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-one-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14233,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14186\/revisions\/14233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}